Shipping services are the lifeblood of online stores, and their management is the toughest job for merchants.
The store online themselves provide the shipping services, or they hire shipping companies to do their work.
It is a costly service. The cost is furthered if you provide free shipping and fulfill cash on delivery orders. Add to that the losses incurred from delayed shipping, damaged products, lost items, dangerous shipping routes, weather conditions, etc.
Most businesses are always ready to absorb the minor hiccups in their shipping operations, but too many mistakes do start to burn holes in their pockets.
Some issues you have to deal with long as you are in the business, but some can be prevented. All you need is the right tool. In the case of false order placement, a delivery availability verification will suffice. Similarly, flagged shipping zones can be avoided.
Smartly choosing shipping areas to expand your business is another challenge. While being cautious, you can’t throw your development goals under the bus.
WooCommerce store owners are lucky in this regard because they have the solution to prevent most of these issues using a delivery checker form on their store.
In this article, I will discuss various eCommerce shipping issues and challenges and show you how to use a delivery pincode checker to prevent them.
Table of Contents
Common Challenges of eCommerce Shipping Services
The matter of eCommerce shipping is an existential one. You need to understand the shipping challenges in order to overcome them.
So, let’s take a deeper look.
1. Complex Shipping Process
Product delivery and fulfillment is a mighty task. Various players are involved in the whole eCommerce shopping process. First, the order is received, then from the warehouse, the ordered product is sent to the shipper, and finally, the product is delivered safely to the customer.
Even if one component of this supply chain is not up to the mark then a delay is inevitable.
Furthermore, customers are unaware of these events and are short on patience. Some of them wouldn’t mind writing a stingy review online.
2. Inaccurate Delivery Address
To err is human. Customers entering wrong or inaccurate addresses is quite common. The delivery agents have to do the extensive work of locating the proper address. If the recipient is unavailable, then the package is returned and customers are asked to collect it on their own.
It is exhausting for your and your customers. Even though they have entered the wrong addresses, they still expect you to deliver on time.
3. Delivery Out of Shipping Zone
Customers are unknown to what goes behind the digital storefront. The onus is on you to make them aware of the areas you don’t deliver.
Otherwise, you either have to go a few extra miles to deliver the ordered products or cancel them from your end. The latter will cause huge dissatisfaction to customers.
4. Fake Orders
Fake orders are placed to prank the merchants or lure delivery agents to secluded locations to loot them. In either case, fulfilling such orders only results in financial and human resource loss.
Certain areas are more prone to incidents than others. The only way out is to avoid receiving orders from these shipping zones.
5. Shipping Zone Expansion
Growing one’s business requires a lot of planning and sales data analytics. When it comes to adding a shipping zone, factors like order volume, total order value, transit cost, shipping route, etc., are considered.
If done incorrectly, it can have severe implications for your shipping service. Your brand value is directly connected to your order fulfillment. Add to that the issues from the customer’s end.
6. Shipping Location Limitations
We live in a developing world. Not every place has the best weather, route, or social conditions for the order to be delivered.
Some remote areas don’t have good enough roads for transportation. Secondly, they may be so far off that the usual shipping duration would have to be extended.
All the while, you can charge customers more money. All cost escalations have to be managed by you.
7. Return Delivery Cost
In 2019, return deliveries in the Asia-Pacific region amounted to around 256.4 billion U.S. dollars. The total value of merchandise returns reached over one trillion U.S. dollars globally in that year.
Investing your shipping resources for return orders is a financial gut punch. One of the reasons for a return order is the order for an area outside of your shipping zone. By human or mechanical error, insatiable orders are also fulfilled.
8. Free Shipping
Free shipping requires huge amounts of capital. It’s not the go-to option for you, but customers have a liking for it. Seeing customers’ preferences, store owners provide free shipping options.
However, it is not free. The cost is carried either by the customer or the merchant. In most cases, stores bear the cost of free shipping.
So, these were some of the common eCommerce shipping issues. And to solve most of them, the delivery pincode checker form is sufficient.
Before we go any further, you must be wondering that you’d have to invest so much time looking for the right WooCommerce Zip Code Checker plugin.
But my dear readers, I’ve got you covered.
Delivery Checker for WooCommerce plugin enables your customers and guests to check the availability of product delivery on their zip code before placing the order. The users can also verify the delivery days, weekend delivery, and COD availability.
Major features WooCommerce Delivery Checker:
- Import Zip Codes And Delivery Details Manually and In bulk
- Delivery Checker Analytic Report
- Shortcode Codes for Pincode Checker Form
- Customize the Delivery Checker Form Layout
- Check COD Order Availability
- Weekend Delivery Check
- Check Delivery Days
- 15 Preloaded Delivery Checker From Layouts
Delivery Checker For WooCommerce
If the plugin meets your requirements, download the plugin. Or try the demo. Read the documentation to learn more.
The features are beneficial to both customers and users. In the next section, I will show you how to configure different settings for optimizing your shipping services.
How to Apply the Delivery Pincode Checker Form to Your WooCommerce Store?
The setup process is elementary. First, you have to activate and enable the plugin to use every feature of this plugin.
Pincode Checker Form Appearance
No matter what they tell you, looks do matter. Usability is crucial, but it has to look the part too.
Our delivery checker plugin has fifteen different types of pincode checker forms that are attractive and fully customizable.
You can update the following elements of the WooCommerce Delivery Pincode Checker form:
- Button color
- Zipcode field background-color
- Button text color
- Zipcode/PinCode text field color
- Button border-color
You can keep the color theme of your forms consistent with that of your brand. The visual appeal is necessary to drive engagement towards your form.
Adding Zip/Pin Codes
Now, we are talking about business.
Adding zip codes is one of the primary features of this plugin. You can add zip/pin codes manually and in bulky. Along with that, you can also update the delivery details such as COD Availability, Delivery Available on Weekends, and Delivery Time.
These delivery details are just as important as the pincode checker form. In all areas, you can’t fulfill cash-on-delivery orders due to security and financial issues. You can add the zip codes of such areas to this list and prevent them from placing COD orders on
Flexible delivery has become the norm. Customers now expect to receive their products on weekends too. Update ‘Delivery Available On Weekends’ details to let customers be aware of your flexible delivery routine.
Lastly, you can inform your customers of the normal delivery time according to their area.
To update the pincodes and their delivery details in bulk, you have to download the CSV file. You can edit this file and upload it back to create bulk entries.
Our plugin creates a list of all the zip/pin codes that you feed into it. The table contains the added zip codes and their delivery details. You can add an update or delete table entries directly.
Reporting Module of Delivery Pincode Checker Form
You can’t attain growth without assessment. The same goes for the shipping services. You have to analyze the existing status of shipping operations and then decide to add or remove the areas from the zip code list.
But manually collecting all these intricate shipping details will be a chore. To save your time, we have given a reporting module in our plugin where you can see a tabular report of all the zip codes that customers have entered in the pincode checker form for verification.
The table contains the following details:
- Zip Code Searched
- Product Name
- Product ID
- Status
- Reason
Here you will be able to understand product popularity according to areas, zip code search volume, and in what areas you do or don’t provide your services.
All these details are crucial to consider when you are planning to expand your shipping area. To cover more ground profitably, you need more customers.
Apply the Delivery Pincode Checker Form Anywhere
The usability of the form also depends on its placement. Normally, you can add the pincode checker form on the shop page of your WooCommerce store.
If you are looking for some flexibility, then you can use the Delivery Checker Shortcode [delivery-checker prod_id=”123″].
It will allow you to implement the form anywhere on your website. Make sure that all users can check their delivery availability before placing the order.
Alternative Use of Delivery Pincode Checker Form
Up until now, I’ve only talked about the pincode checker form in terms of its applicability for products.
What about services?
Well, you can implement the delivery checker for both products and services.
For example, there is an electronic hardware business selling electronics goods online. They also offer to set up their hardware for a decent price. It’s not a delivery service but they have to operate almost the same way to locate their clients.
In this case, a delivery pincode checker form will work as a tool to let customers know if they can avail of your hardware services at their locations.
And that’s it. You can use these steps to smoothly set up the Delivery Checker for WooCommerce plugin.
Benefits of Adding the Pincode Checker Form on Your WooCommerce Store
Our WooCommerce Pincode checker plugin is beneficial for both merchants and customers. It makes it easier for your customers to place correct orders and also solves some common delivery issues for merchants.
You will understand that the usability of this extension is far greater than just being a delivery availability checker.
Let’s dive into details.
1. Informed Purchase Decisions
This is the age of information. Customers want to be more involved in the shopping process than ever before. They love researching products, drawing comparisons, seeking cheaper alternatives, and so on. It’s almost therapeutic to them.
A nice addition to this process would be enabling them to check if they are within your shopping zones or not.
Usually what happens is users find out that they can’t receive the product later in the checkout process. Or sometimes the order is confirmed, but it is shipped to a nearby location and customers have to go out to receive their orders.
Come on! That is exhausting.
But with the help of a pincode checker form, customers can check the availability of delivery of their products before ever proceeding into the checkout. It will help them make smart purchase decisions and save them from unnecessary hassle.
2. Improve Security And Mitigate Shipping Risks
“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place”
A quote from the Rocky Balboa movie applies to the eCommerce space as well.
The digital mediums aren’t safe either, and so we have to take security measures. Speaking of which, the Delivery Checker for WooCommerce also lowers the risks for store owners.
You can add zip codes to the list along with delivery details (COD Availability, Delivery Available on Weekends, and Delivery Time).
As a preventive measure, it automatically blocks users from placing orders for zip codes that aren’t present in the zip code list.
So, if COD is not available for a particular zip code, then users from that area won’t be able to place cash-on-delivery orders.
You can make COD unavailable for areas with high crime rates and theft incidents. It’s ultimately your responsibility to ensure the safety of the delivery agents.
It’s better to be safe than sorry.
In conclusion, our plugin will reduce the risks involved in shipping services and improve the security of your WooCommerce store.
3. Expanding Shipping Business
Businesses don’t run on guesswork or by shooting arrows in the dark. You got to know what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Adding new zip codes to the list is a matter of a few clicks. It’s easy but the on-ground implementation is a tough job.
You are bound to lose money and brand reputation if you have miscalculated the order requirements from the areas you are going to add.
To avoid this scenario, you have to analyze the delivery checker report. It presents an organized report of all the pincodes that customers have run a verification for.
You can summarize from the reporting module the most common zip codes, most popular products, and the areas that are not included in the list.
The effectiveness of this report will help you determine new areas to add to your shipping zones and expand your business.
4. Better User Experience
User experience is how a customer feels after interacting with your website.
[Source: The Trillion Dollar UX Problem]
The Delivery Checker for WooCommerce gives your customers an experience that compels them to return to your online store.
First, it allows your customers to retrieve a piece of information that is crucial to their purchase decision. It will save them from going through the experience of order cancellation.
Second, The delivery checker form does good work and looks amazing at the same time. It’s got style and meaning.
Lastly, your users will love to see a feature on your WooCommerce store that they are used to seeing on big eCommerce sites. So, it will improve your brand’s reputation.
Considering all these amazing benefits, it’s true to say that the Delivery Checker for WooCommerce will definitely improve your UX.
Why should you wait when most prominent online stores have implemented the pincode checker form?
On a Final Note
WooCommerce pincode checker form is essential to an online store. It helps your customers check the availability of shipping services in their area and place genuine orders.
In this article, I have explained the common eCommerce shipping issues, the application of the pincode checker form, and the benefits of the ‘Delivery Checker for WooCommerce’ plugin.
Follow the steps mentioned in this article to add a delivery check form to your WooCommerce store. It will help you mitigate risks, expand the shipping business, increase your transparency, and improve the overall user experience.
And hey, check out our blogs If you want to learn more about the best eCommerce practices.