A Simple Guide To Driving Customer Loyalty Through Freight Management
Freight management is key to customer experience, and customer satisfaction is more important than ever. Many companies and e-retailers focus their entire business on it. Today’s customers expect high service levels, pushing the entire supply chain to adapt. Whether B2C or B2B, customers want much the same.
The Four Major Demands of All Customers
Freight management greatly affects customer experience, which is more important than ever. Many businesses focus their entire strategy on keeping customers happy. Today’s customers expect excellent service, forcing the whole supply chain to adapt. Both B2C and B2B customers want similar high standards.
Delivery is where your company meets the customer. It shows your reliability and skill. Late or poor deliveries hurt your reputation and cost future sales. Good freight management not only improves service but also helps cut costs by making operations more efficient, leading to happier customers and better business.
CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS ARE EVOLVING
Providing a great customer experience is more important than ever and will only grow in importance. Soon, 89% of companies will compete mainly on customer experience. Customers are more demanding and informed, making them pickier about what they buy. Meeting every customer need is tough and puts pressure on companies. Still, good customer experience clearly pays off.
Customer satisfaction depends on how well the experience matches or beats expectations. This applies to both B2B and B2C businesses. Because consumers expect high service levels, even B2C companies push their suppliers to deliver better service, affecting the whole supply chain. Both B2B and B2C buyers research carefully, use many channels, and want a simple, personalized buying process.
B2B firms are now focusing on improving customer experience. B2C firms have done this for years by optimizing their supply chains, but B2B companies lag behind. Since B2B deals often involve large sums, improving customer experience can bring big returns.
A good place to start improving customer experience is freight management. Many businesses struggle here due to limited budgets or a mindset that sees transportation as just a cost, not a key part of customer experience. Yet, freight management is crucial for your company’s reputation and customer satisfaction..
“There are four major demands that all customers have, whether they’re b2b or b2c customers. there is a direct solution for each of these demands through freight management.”
THE FOUR MAJOR DEMANDS OF ALL CUSTOMERS
Shipping is a key part of the customer experience and often their first direct contact with the company. Meeting customer expectations is hard because many businesses struggle to manage their transportation well, making it tough to track performance and inventory. Managing freight better helps you meet customer needs and improve operations. Here’s how freight management can tackle different customer demands.
DEMAND #1: FAST DELIVERY
Goal: Deliver shipments quickly to exceed customer expectations.
Problem: Logistics often move slowly, trucks have speed limits, and faster delivery costs more.
Solution: Use a clear logistics plan. Making fast, smart decisions can cut costs by up to 40%. Since supply chains change, keep checking performance. A strong strategy adds flexibility and helps respond faster to problems, preventing service drops.
A good strategy speeds up decision-making, reduces errors, and shortens cycle times. Focus on organizing logistics before trying to optimize freight management.
Next, include expedited shipping in your regular transportation plan. Faster shipping cuts cycle times, protects products, and lowers inventory needs. While expedited shipping costs more, it guarantees faster delivery when your logistics can handle the extra expense.
Every business has unique logistics needs. Sticking to one fixed plan or slow delivery hurts customers and profits. Using a clear logistics strategy and expedited shipping together meets fast delivery demands and can save money.
Example: Car companies faced challenges delivering the right cars during the Cash for Clunkers program. They solved this by using expedited shipping selectively, ensuring cars reached dealerships on time. Even after the program ended, expedited shipping helped keep inventory stocked and customers satisfied.
DEMAND #2: CHEAP or FREE DELIVERY
Goal: Save customers money by lowering shipping costs.
Problem: Shipping costs are hard to control without the right people and software, which can be costly.
Solution: While fast shipping is popular, 67% of customers prefer cheap or free shipping. One way to cut costs is managing inbound freight better—it's often ignored but can save 20–58% on shipping expenses. Most companies struggle with inbound freight since it's complex; 90% say they're unprepared to handle it. You might not manage all of inbound freight now, but starting with parts of it can bring savings.
A simple step: switch from Freight Paid (shipper pays shipping) to Freight Collect (receiver pays shipping). Remember, the person who pays first isn’t always the one who ends up covering the cost..
By managing inbound freight, you control how goods are shipped. Shipping costs are often hidden in product prices, typically 4–7%. Some companies profit from shipping. Taking charge of inbound freight helps you make better transportation choices, pick the right carriers, optimize routes, and save money—savings you can pass to customers.
Cost savings also come from inbound vendor compliance programs (VCPs). These require time and teamwork with suppliers but are often necessary. A VCP is a plan where suppliers agree to meet specific goals to add value for the customer.
These programs work well when both sides focus on solving problems and improving service instead of arguing or charging fees for poor service. Modern VCPs use smart cloud software to predict and prevent issues, improving supplier service and lowering inbound freight costs.
To manage inbound freight well, you need full support from the entire company, especially leaders. Inbound freight is often inefficient because it’s not a priority, it’s hard to manage, there’s little process visibility, departments don’t work together, or vendors resist control.
These problems can be fixed with strong leadership backing. With help from top executives, you can create a plan that uses everyone’s skills to meet service goals.
Successful inbound freight management saves money and improves reliability. Savings can help cover free or cheaper shipping for customers.
Example: A specialty retailer improved vendor compliance by sharing clear guidelines and working closely with vendors. They stopped charging for delays outside vendors’ control, like weather. Compliance rose to 95-100%, cutting inbound freight costs and benefiting customers.
DEMAND #3: EASY RETURNS
Goal: Make returns easy and smooth for customers.
Problem: Returns are hard to handle, costly, and unpredictable.
Solution: Reverse logistics—managing returned goods—is often overlooked and costly. Returns can hit profits hard; a good reverse logistics system gets the most value from each return.
Retailers spend about 8.1% of sales managing returns. In some sectors, like books and greeting cards, over 20% of products are returned. For B2B firms, returns may need repair and resale, raising costs and slowing processes.
Reverse logistics is complex and expensive, so many avoid it. It needs a smart, efficient system and strong leadership support, which is rare. Still, it’s key to improving customer experience since 69% of customers value quick problem resolution.
Customers often buy multiple sizes and colors online, then return what doesn’t fit or isn’t right. If returning is hard, they won’t buy again. To make returns easy and exceed customer expectations:
The shipper must handle returned items
Refunds should be quick
Return and exchange policies should be simple
Operations should be clear and efficient