Customer engagement is how you interact with customers over their entire buying experience. The aim is to build trust and loyalty through proactive communication and transparency. Customers are empowered to find the information they need and take action when necessary. 

In last-mile delivery specifically, customer engagement can look like: 

• SMS and email notifications from order through to post-purchase 

• Real-time driver tracking 

• Two-way communication with drivers and/or dispatchers 

• Feedback surveys  

By providing real-time delivery tracking, businesses can offer the transparent, digital-first experience that customers expect.  

Software automates engagement to ensure customers have everything they need to prepare for a delivery. Proactive communication reduces “Where’s my order?” (WISMO) calls and frees up staff to help customers with more complex questions.  

Customers can confidently plan their day, resulting in fewer missed deliveries. 

In the delivery space, customer engagement software uses location data and job status updates to trigger real-time alerts to customers.  

Because Descartes offers highly configurable workflows, you can update customers whenever there’s a meaningful change to their delivery status or ETA. 

Machine learning models also learn from real-time and historical data to predict ETAs with increasing precision as the driver moves along their route. 

Customers receive messages through SMS, email or a messaging app. These messages include a link to a browser-based customer portal, so there’s no need to download an app.  

When the delivery status is complete or the driver leaves the geofence for the job, this triggers a customer feedback survey. 

At a basic level, customer engagement solutions broadcast information to the customer, without the ability to interact. Features include SMS or email messages when the delivery is confirmed. 

True customer engagement allows customers to self-serve and interact with information about their delivery. Features include:  

• An online tracking portal with real-time status updates 

• Map-based driver tracking 

• Post-delivery feedback surveys 

• Two-way communication with delivery teams 

• The ability to confirm, cancel and reschedule appointments

When selecting a customer engagement vendor, distributors can also consider the following capabilities: 

• Configurable workflows: Are messages one-size-fits-all, or can you create workflows that align with your customer journey? Is there a way to update customers when the job status or ETA changes? 

• Multi-channel support: Can you send messages via SMS, email, messaging apps, or through integration with your own customer app? 

• Instant feedback surveys: Does the platform offer timely feedback surveys that maximize the response rate? 

• Data and insights: Can you monitor customer engagement to improve the workflow over time? Can staff react quickly to negative feedback?  

• Integration: Does the software work seamlessly with your routing, mobile and execution software? Can ETAs update dynamically based on real data from the field? 

Customer engagement is often associated with business-to-consumer (B2C) retail and  ecommerce. Shoppers have come to expect real-time updates and tracking for every online purchase. 

But these expectations don’t disappear in business-to-business (B2B) distribution. If anything, full transparency becomes more important. 

B2B customers such as restaurants, construction sites and healthcare facilities rely on precise timing and inventory availability. To remain competitive, distributors need to keep these businesses in the loop with dynamic, accurate delivery updates. 

With customer engagement technology from Descartes, food, beverage and building supply distributors can offer a customer experience that rivals B2C delivery. Gas suppliers and medical service/equipment providers can also provide reliable delivery updates to customers.