By the time a customer calls you for an update on their order, it’s too late. Where Is My Order, or WISMO, calls represent up to 50% of incoming customer service calls and are a symptom of an operations breakdown in an organization. Keeping an ecommerce customer happy is difficult with so many moving parts, and despite efforts to create an exceptional customer journey, if the customer doesn’t receive their order when they expect it, those efforts might be wasted.
Preventing Where Is My Order calls could be the most important thing you do to grow your business.
What is WISMO? What Does WISMO Mean?
WISMO stands for Where Is My Order. Where Is My Order calls happen when a customer feels out of the loop and not informed about a delivery exception. After the purchase, your customer can’t wait to get their hands on your product. Any delay or lack of information about order status will create doubt in the customer’s mind and lead them to call, email, text, or DM you asking, “Where is my order?!” Reducing WISMO calls will help your business cut costs and increase loyalty. You can reduce WISMO calls by identifying what causes them and implementing strategies to help the customer get their orders status before calling.
What Causes WISMO Calls?
Where Is My Order calls are a symptom of a problem in your organization. While the main cause of WISMO calls is a lack of communication, this breakdown can happen for a variety of reasons. Here are some examples:
- Delivery exception from the shipping company
- The initial delivery date was incorrect
- The tracking page is not updated regularly
- Customer did not receive your communications
- Production time delays that affect shipping dates
- You did not respond to customer quickly enough
Even though you may not be responsible for some of these, your customer will still place the blame on you. The bottom line is to give customers a sense of dependability that they expect from a leading ecommerce retailer.
5 Strategies to Reduce WISMO Calls
The best way to reduce Where Is My Order calls, is to anticipate any issues a customer might have while waiting for their order and address them before it becomes a problem.
1. Take Ownership of the Entire Customer Journey
Even if you are not responsible for delivery exceptions or lost emails, you can still react accordingly and show the customer that buying from you is their best option. Sometimes how you react to an unforeseen situation shows more about your customer service than if everything went as planned. Take responsibility for every step of the customer journey even if it is not your fault.
2. Be Proactive and Responsive
A great way to increase trust and brand loyalty is by addressing lost package or delay problems before the customer is aware. Don’t be afraid to message the customer with the unfortunate news and tell them what you’re doing about it. They will appreciate it.
3. Simplify the Customer Experience
Making the customer feel like they’re jumping through hoops just to find out their order status is a good way to increase WISMO calls. Make it easy for your customer to track their package or check the branded tracking page so they feel they have control of the situation.
4. Add WISMO answers to your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The first thing many customers do before they are ready to make a Where Is My Order call is to check the website to find out shipping policies, delivery methods, etc. Create an informative FAQ section and include information about order status. Include the words “where is my order” in the FAQ so your customer can easily find it by searching.
5. Update your branded tracking page regularly
Having a branded tracking page is a must for successful ecommerce retailers. However, if a customer does not see regular updates on their tracking page, they might become suspicious and call you. Make sure you have a “last updated” time and that you have the latest updates available on the branded tracking page.
How WISMOlabs Can Help You Reduce WISMO Calls Rate
WISMOlabs post-purchase experience platform can help maximize your ecommerce post-purchase experience and keep your customers engaged and informed. WISMOlabs offers branded tracking pages to lower WISMO calls and support costs, shipment notifications, including SMS, to let your customer know about delivery exceptions and delivery date prediction which displays accurate order delivery dates even when no information is available from shipping carriers.
Conclusion
You may not be able to eliminate Where Is My Order calls, but by taking the time to anticipate your customers’ needs and communicating regularly and effectively, you can reduce WISMO calls, lower your customer service costs, and even increase customer loyalty.
WISMOlabs can help you manage your customers’ expectations and lower WISMO calls by up to 90% while optimizing customer retention. Find out how to lower your WISMO calls, reach out today to discuss what you can do for your business.
