Enhancing Customer Experience in Canadian Freight Forwarding through Advanced Software Features
February 12, 2025 CanadaFreight Forwarding Software
Nowadays, customer experience is becoming the deciding factor for business units regarding whether their products and services will sell or not. In the freight industry, forwarders must remain aware that even a single incident of bad customer handling can affect their customers’ decisions about their products and services. Companies excelling in customer experience management usually have higher customer loyalty, positive recommendations, increased market share, and higher profitability. To measure their “Return on eXperience” (RoX), the financial return a company receives because of providing an exceptional customer experience, companies need to understand their customer journey clearly. They must effectively use data and technologies to support superior experiences, equip employees with timely and accurate information across channels, and implement automation, virtual assistants or chatbots, and self-service options. The evolution began with the digitization of fundamental customer interactions. Simple processes, such as online quotation and booking, track and trace, invoice payment outstanding, and electronic customer support, represent the early stages of this transformation. As technology has advanced, so has the complexity and effectiveness of these digital interactions. Today, we see a complete digitization of the customer journey, from initial engagement to post-purchase support. In this article, we’ll explore Real-time shipment visibility, Personalized customer service using data analytics, Quick response time to customer enquiries, Centralized platform for seamless communication, Customer self-service portal (extension of digital access to forwarders’ customers), Minimize the operational errors and disputes and Automation of all customers’ routine tasks. Here are some best practices that provide exceptional customer experiences through the digitization of services: Real-time shipment visibility Clients want updates at every stage of their shipment’s journey. Freight forwarders can use integrated tracking systems and freight tech platforms to offer visibility from origin to destination. Transparent tracking improves customer trust by informing them and reducing uncertainty about shipment status. Freight Management Software helps forwarders track real-time shipments and provides live shipment updates. Personalised customer service using data analytics Freight Logistics Software helps forwarders achieve personalized customer service in freight forwarding by tracking customer preferences, shipping history, and past interactions. By assessing detailed insights, forwarders anticipate customer demands, provide customized solutions, and improve customer service in freight forwarding. Quick response time to customer enquiries Responding to customer inquiries quickly is important in the freight forwarding business, where time-sensitive decisions impact shipping outcomes. Since customers expect fast replies to avoid delays or missed opportunities, freight forwarders can reduce response times using automated quoting systems. Freight Rate Management software delivers accurate rates instantly, allowing forwarders to provide quality customer service. This streamlined process reduces delays and improves communication speed. Centralized platform for seamless communication Fragmented communication strategies like separate email chains and phone calls disorient and delay the shipping process. Centralized communication tools allow all stakeholders—customers, agents, and carriers—to stay updated and informed on time. Freight audit software ensures every stakeholder remains informed and up to date on shipment progress, reducing uncertainty caused by separate communication channels like emails and phone calls. Origin and Destination teams’ communication can also be easily managed through Chat Communication. Customer self-service portal (extension of digital access to forwarders’ customers) Customers expect autonomy in managing their shipments. Self-service customer portals allow customers to book shipments, track orders, access documents, and receive quotes at any time. These portals cater to customers across different time zones, improving convenience and strengthening customer service in freight forwarding. Freight forwarders can reduce dependence on customer support teams to update customers on different time zones using Freight Logistics Software with a customer portal. Minimize the operational errors and disputes Operational errors, such as human mistakes, incorrect pricing, or delayed shipments, negatively affect customer service in freight forwarding. Freight forwarders can minimize these errors using advanced technology to auto fetch tariffs for rate calculation, quotations, and booking. Freight Rate Management Software also provides the option to share the shipment requirements with external suppliers or vendors and pull the rates into the system. The same can be used for quotation creation with a markup price. Automation of all customers’ routine tasks With the built-in Intelligence Process Automation in Freight Audit Software, forwarders can automate daily tasks such as sending quotations, draft HBL/HAWB approvals, back-office processes, shipment milestone updates, and arrival notifications to destination parties. Because of this automation, customer dependency on the forwarders’ customer success team will be reduced, and customer satisfaction will increase. The alignment of technology and customer service is essential to offering world-class customer service in freight forwarding. With NewageNXT (Freight Management Software) features such as a customer portal, automated notifications, and rate management, freight forwarders provide fast response times, real-time visibility, and centralized communication, all essential to satisfy customers.
