For any business, keeping its customers happy is a key component of financial success. One of the easiest ways businesses can improve customer service is to use vehicle tracking.
Vehicle tracking – normally used to keep tabs on your fleet’s movements and the driving habits of drivers – can also be a valuable tool to improve customer service.
Vehicle tracking uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) and gives fleet managers up-to-date information about the location of vehicles and assigned deliveries. Delayed or late deliveries can create an unwanted reputation that a company is unreliable and unprofessional, which leads to decreased levels of customer satisfaction.
Use this guide to learn all you need to know about vehicle tracking and how you can employ vehicle tracking to improve your customer satisfaction levels.
Real-time monitoring and ETA updates
Installing a vehicle tracking device in company vehicles, vans, trucks, trailers, or motorbikes helps a fleet manager obtain real-time information about a vehicle’s movements and location. This helps employees stay informed and updated about the location of the business’ vehicles.
Fleet tracking devices help companies calculate accurate estimated times of arrival (ETAs) and reduce delivery times. The technology can also be used to communicate potential delays to customers in advance, increase productivity, and save valuable time and money.
Companies that do not use fleet tracking often have to phone their drivers to get updates on their location and the progress of deliveries. This takes time, costs money, and can distract drivers which may lead to an accident or traffic fines.
Optimised routing and faster deliveries
A fleet manager can use fleet tracking systems to monitor traffic and plan the quickest and most efficient routes. This helps drivers to avoid congested roads that can severely impact their delivery time, helping to keep them both on time and on track. Additionally, fleet managers can dispatch the vehicle closest to the customer’s location, quickening customer service and deliveries.
Drivers are not always navigating familiar routes, which can lead to drivers getting lost. Vehicle tracking systems help to reduce route confusion, helping them to find the easiest and more direct route.
In the event of any breakdowns or stalled vehicles, tracking systems enable fleets to have a prompt reaction and send out replacement vehicles in a timely manner to keep deliveries from being delayed.
Enhanced communication with customers
Fleet managers can use real-time tracking information to communicate with the customer service department about the location and ETA of clients’ goods.
Client care agents can then relay this location data to clients and give updates about the whereabouts and estimated delivery times of packages.
The customer service desk can also communicate with drivers and clients to provide updates on any changes in routes and delivery times.
This helps build trust, ensures better customer service, helping to build long-term relationships and leads to future business.
Engaging with unhappy customers takes time and resources. Avoiding this means that the same time and resources can then be spent elsewhere to improve your business offering or attract new customers.
Proof of delivery and transparency
Fleet tracking systems allow great transparency during the delivery process: The customer receives a delivery note which indicates the product they ordered, when it was ordered, and when the goods will be delivered.
Further transparency is provided by noting the delivery vehicle’s registration number, the make and colour of the vehicle and the name of the delivery driver.
Once goods have been delivered, both the company and the client get an immediate notification of delivery. These notifications can also be sent via email to both parties for record-keeping purposes, further enhancing transaction transparency.
Improved fleet maintenance and reliability
Besides improving your customer satisfaction levels, using fleet tracking also improves your fleet’s maintenance and reliability.
Using a tracking system helps to ensure greater driver safety when on the road. From time to time, drivers may be hard pressed to meet delivery deadlines and engage in more dangerous driving. Vehicle tracking systems help to monitor driving habits and identify any dangerous driving such as speeding to help minimise the risk of accidents, fines and penalties. This helps to make your fleet more efficient, and ultimately more reliable.
Vehicle tracking systems also provide complete oversight over the condition of your fleet, allowing drivers to immediately and regularly log any damages or maintenance issues with vehicle defect reporting apps. This helps to reduce vehicle downtime by identifying faulty vehicles and getting them repaired.
Fleet managers can also monitor and maintain regulatory compliance with their vehicles, ensuring that their vehicles all comply with any changes to regulations to avoid fines and vehicles being deemed unfit for the road.
Occasionally, employees may be tempted to use company cars for personal use. When this happens, companies run the risk of being less reliable as they may need to refuel on their journeys when they otherwise wouldn’t have, leading to them potentially being late to deliveries. Vehicle tracking systems help to minimise this by allowing fleet managers to track the movements of their vehicles to identify if any cars are being used out of working hours.
Feedback and performance analysis
Using a GPS tracking system, fleet managers can easily assign and track drivers’ daily tasks.
The collected data can thus be used to analyse driver behaviour and performance in order to give drivers feedback on their driving, time taken to do deliveries and overall performance. This information is also useful when doing year-end staff appraisals. Good driver performance can be a motivating factor when promoting employees or rewarding them with yearly cash bonuses.
Additionally, using the information in collaboration with fleet tracking systems fleet managers can calculate driver scores to gauge employees’ on-road behaviour. These driver scores are used to identify areas for driving improvement and promote safer driving habits.
Customer satisfaction and loyalty
For any company, dispatching and delivering a customer order as soon as possible is very important. This helps to reduce delivery times, keeping customers happy and more likely to become a returning customer.
When customers are unhappy, they can make use of online platforms to voice their dissatisfaction. These negative reviews can deter potential clients from making use of your services. Vehicle tracking systems help to prevent this by providing them with complete clarity so that they are not left in the dark, wondering where their goods are.
Using vehicle tracking, both the company and the client can “see” when the goods leave the storage warehouse, which route the driver has taken, how far away the delivery is and what the expected ETA is. Being able to inform customers of when their delivery will arrive helps boost customer trust and ensure happy, satisfied customers.
Customers can also phone the customer service line or their delivery driver when needing assistance or when they have any queries.
Responding quickly to customer concerns helps increase customer satisfaction which can ensure repeat future business and customer loyalty. It also helps the business look more professional, reliable and competent.
Conclusion
Vehicle tracking is a useful tool to track one’s business fleet, monitor the on-road behaviour of drivers and help reduce fuel usage. Most importantly, it can also be used to boost your business customer service.
Using GPS tracking systems, fleet managers have immediate access to their drivers’ location and the progress of deliveries. This helps companies provide customers with more accurate ETA updates, quickens delivery times, and boost customer trust and business reliability.
If you are serious about improving the speed of your deliveries and increasing customer service and satisfaction, contact Crystal Ball today. Inquire about and request a demo of their vehicle tracking solutions to find one which best fits your fleet and budget.