Your Domestic Shipping Guide

Building Repeat Business with FirstMile Shipping

If you hope to see first-time customers become repeat customers, your shipping choices need to be in sync with their preferences. Your approach to shipping is more than an overhead issue; it helps you build a positive relationship with your customers. In terms of encouraging repeat business, shipping is a return-on-investment item.Purchasing trends and customer preferences are not unchangeable. Only a few years ago, businesses assumed the quality of their products represented the number one factor motivating shoppers to buy from them.

The Impact of Shipping Costs on the Customer Experience

Today’s consumers, however, have a different take regarding purchase motivation; what often counts now is the quality of the customer experience. Also referred to as CX, it can beat the pricing and product quality when customers choose a business for their purchases. Overall, the majority of companies view the ability to provide a positive customer experience as a competitive advantage.

Providing your customers with a positive purchasing experience and generating repeat sales requires an awareness of what their pain points are. A major customer experience pain point - one that can derail an online purchase before the buyer completes the transition - revolves around the issue of shipping.

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The driver came with a smile on his face, a cheery welcome, and handed the package right into my hands and left with a wish for a good day.

Paula Maddock, Google Review

Shipping: The Pain Point That Leads to Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment in the online sales sector is often a matter of consumers who are “just browsing” with no intent to purchase anything. In the research collected and examined by the Baymard Institute, the “just browsing” segment was not considered so that the number of cart abandonments would only reflect those shoppers who had intended to make a purchase. The Baymard research demonstrates the role shipping can play in either supporting or undermining a company’s efforts to provide a positive customer experience.

Shipping Factors Contributing to Cart Abandonment

Cost: Out of the consumers who intended to make a purchase, the single biggest reason for them to abandon their carts was learning the cost of shipping and other fees. In 2022, 48% of cart abandonments involved issues related to domestic shipping costs.

Delivery Times: Baymard also found that discovering the delivery window was longer than expected accounted for 22% of the cart abandonments.

High shipping fees alone reflect a major consumer pain point, but discovering those costs at the point of checkout makes matters worse. Shoppers typically resent finding out “at the last minute” what the options, delivery times, and costs are for shipping. Stating your shipping costs and options upfront can eliminate a significant pain point, provide a positive customer experience and help grow repeat business.

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The driver came with a smile on his face, a cheery welcome, and handed the package right into my hands and left with a wish for a good day.

Paula Maddock, Google Review

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What Is the Cheapest Way To Ship Domestically?

If you plan on offering online shoppers shipping at no extra cost, you will most likely need to consider which carrier works best for both customer expectations and your operating budget. If your number one priority is using the most affordable domestic shipping method, you will find it hard to beat the United States Postal System.

The USPS offers a range of cost-effective ways to get your domestic shipments out to your customers, but you will need to weigh the delivery time against the cost. Your customer’s delivery time frame expectations could also play a role in your choice.

If your business is shipping smaller-sized products, the USPS offers the convenience of its Flat Rate Box Priority Mail, and the boxes are also free. You can stock up on the USPS boxes at no cost and then choose the delivery time when you ship. The delivery time frame you select will determine the cost. There are, however, two drawbacks to this domestic shipping method: the customer’s purchase must fit inside the particular flat-rate box, and it must also not exceed the box’s weight limit.

If you would rather have your business ship its products in branded or special packaging rather than supplied flat-rate boxes, the USPS also offers the options of First Class and Priority Mail shipping. First Class Mail packages can arrive at their destination within two to five days, but you may find the weight restrictions limiting. Priority mail can get your customer’s order delivered within one to three days, and your package can also weigh as much as 70 pounds.

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The driver came with a smile on his face, a cheery welcome, and handed the package right into my hands and left with a wish for a good day.

Paula Maddock, Google Review

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How Long Does It Take for Domestic Shipping?

How long it takes a package to arrive between any two points within the continental USA will depend on the domestic shipping carrier and the cost acceptability. How much does your business or your customer want to spend on shipping? If cost is no problem, an overnight premium delivery option is definitely within the realm of possibilities.

If cost is an issue, most carriers offer some form of basic ground shipping option. The package’s weight and size will affect the cost as will the distance between the shipping zones involved. Domestic shipping carriers base their rates on the distance between the point-of-origin and destination shipping zones.

If, for example, you ship a package to a Zone 8 location, which reflects a domestic delivery point greater than 1,800 miles from the point of origin, the delivery time frame could be as long as five to seven days.

If you are just starting in the online sales sector, you may be wondering “What is domestic 2-day shipping?” Because it frequently shows up as a purchase enticement and reflects a typical delivery speed, you may be thinking about offering it as part of your online sales promotion. Unless you fold the cost into your selling price or pass it on to the customer, however, you may find that delivering a package across several shipping zones may raise your operating costs way beyond your comfort level.

If your warehouse or product inventory is on the East Coast and you plan to ship to customers on the West Coast, keep in mind that the USPS, Fed-X, and UPS all use the 8-zone distance calculation to set their rates.

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The driver came with a smile on his face, a cheery welcome, and handed the package right into my hands and left with a wish for a good day.

Paula Maddock, Google Review

Is Offering Free Shipping the Answer?

Offering online customers free shipping can help drive sales, but it could also require taking into consideration the cost factor. Because an online delivery time frame of two to three days is a popular shipping preference, you can reasonably assume that your customers will expect you to offer it even if you provide it as part of a free shipping option.If, however, you can comfortably fold your free shipping costs into your selling price, you may have a clear path to offer it as a competitive advantage that also translates into repeat sales. You will, of course, benefit from choosing one of the most economically feasible domestic shipping services to keep your overhead costs down.

Although the majority of retailers offer free shipping options, few of them meet their customers’ expectations regarding delivery time frames. A lack of the preferred delivery speed, however, remains a major cause of cart abandonment. Ideally, online shoppers want their purchases delivered fast and at no extra cost. Free-delivery retail subscription services, such as Amazon Prime and Walmart Plus, have conditioned many online shoppers to expect fast and free shipping.

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The driver came with a smile on his face, a cheery welcome, and handed the package right into my hands and left with a wish for a good day.

Paula Maddock, Google Review