Why OnShip?
I received an email recently from a prospective client that contained a simple question:
Why OnShip?
Why indeed! There are hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of adequate shipping software products out there, written by hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of what I assume are hard working, intelligent software developers.
Consequently, we are tasked with standing out in a very crowded field, filled with free trials and low-cost subscriptions.
How in the world can we expect to successfully compete in this dog eat dog, buyer controlled marketplace? The simple answer that most software shoppers and buyers don’t consider is this:
“The Devil Is In The Details”
All shipping software creates shipping labels for your customer orders, important legal documents, etc. Some products offer a wide range of carrier “modules” while others only offer one carrier (i.e., “free” carrier software) or limited carriers (i.e., low-cost subscriptions). Regardless of the product you use, every shipper's plan is the same; deliver each package to the correct address, on the correct day, in excellent condition, for the lowest price possible.
Most of the time all goes well, sometimes it doesn’t and the first time you find out is when your high-cost 800 number lights up with an angry customer on the other end or, worse yet, you get a 1 star review that takes years to recover from. Other times you discover “surprise charges” on your carrier bills. These could be related to bad addresses or a variety of other “assessorial” reasons why you need to pay a little more AFTER shipping the package and quoting your customer. It could even be a mistake on the carrier's part. Annoying, right?
Shipping costs are another interesting area to tackle for many businesses. Some businesses offer “free” shipping and wrap shipping costs into the product price. Others set a flat shipping fee that creates regular wins and losses on shipping costs. If you’re doing this now, you are dancing with the devil on every shipment. You need to stop the madness and invest time to seriously consider high-quality, intelligent shipping software, designed to watch out for every precious penny you spend. There are dozens of cheap, unintelligent shipping software products on the market designed to spit out a shipping label, regardless of cost. That’s not what you need, and if you have something like that you are probably already paying for high-quality shipping software in excess shipping costs so it's worth it to look at your options!