MAKING THE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE HUMAN
Tracey Higgins, Operations Director at World Options, discusses why the best digital shipping services combine efficient technology with accessible, knowledgeable human support.
Organising shipping has been a digital experience for the majority of business customers for many years now. With a generation of users who have practically grown up with the power of smart phones in their pockets, the expectation of a smooth and fault-free process is high.
At World Options, customers use a single portal to compare and book services, produce documentation and manage shipments through multiple carriers. The platform also connects with leading ecommerce systems and marketplaces, bringing order and shipping data into one environment.
These functions simplify the predictable parts of shipping. But the perceived quality of a shipping service is often determined elsewhere – in a place called “the real world”.
When exceptions are the rule
No matter how well operations are run, every parcel network generates exceptions. Collections are missed, scans are delayed, addresses require correction and customs authorities request additional information. Capacity constraints, weather disruption and local delivery conditions may alter a shipment’s progress after the service has been selected.
Digital tracking updates provide a level of visibility for customers in these circumstances. But visibility and resolution are not the same thing.
A tracking event can identify where a shipment was last scanned. It may not explain why movement has stopped, whether intervention is required or which party is best placed to provide it. This is where the complete customer experience becomes more significant than the number of functions within the platform.
A human voice in a digital world
Based on an understanding that we live in a world of exceptions, World Options customers have access to a dedicated account manager, supported by UK-based customer service and key accounts teams. The account manager’s role is to understand the wider context and help the customer apply the technology accordingly.
World Options’ franchise structure adds a further dimension to this model – and one that taps into a deeper benefit of retaining the human factor.
Heading up this customer service level, our franchise partners are real people, running their own businesses. In doing so, they develop direct commercial relationships with customers. That creates scope for a more informed conversation about margin pressure, customer retention and operational risk than a purely transactional or digital service is likely to provide.
Franchisee business ownership brings customer service into crystal clear focus: every satisfied customer strengthens not only the brand experience, but the franchisee’s own business.
Digital and humans in sync
However, while human input is essential, in the modern world, the best results come from how it integrates with the digital experience.
From that standpoint, World Options is proud to be at the very forefront of innovation. Like many digital platforms, we have embraced smart use of AI, including the creation of transcripts and summaries that help teams understand queries and respond more efficiently to complex queries.
Accurate summaries can reduce the time spent building an understanding of a case from potentially fragmented information, and allow the person handling it to concentrate on diagnosis and resolution. They can also help preserve important details as a query moves between an account manager, a customer-service team and other parties involved in the shipment.
The objective is not automation for its own sake. It is to ensure that information gathered digitally improves the quality of human intervention.
Service recovery and accountability
When a shipment is moving to plan, tracking updates and automated notifications may provide all the reassurance required. When it is not, the customer needs a clear explanation of what is known, what remains uncertain and what action is being taken.
Effective service recovery therefore depends on more than access to data. It requires judgement, escalation and ownership.
A measure of digital maturity
The future of shipping will involve more automation, deeper integrations and more sophisticated use of data. That should make routine transactions faster and reduce avoidable administration.
Digital maturity should not be measured by how completely people have been removed from the process. A better measure is how precisely human expertise is deployed; whether customers can operate independently when the shipment is straightforward, and whether knowledgeable support enters the process quickly when it is not.
At World Options, keeping the digital experience human means designing both parts of that service together. Technology manages scale, speed and visibility. People provide context, judgement and accountability at the points where those qualities matter most.
For more information about how World Options franchise partners build growth businesses by adding human value to robust digital systems, go to https://franchise.worldoptions.com/uk/.
