5 Big Reasons to Move from Manual Order Fulfillment to Automated Order Fulfillment

It’s one thing to attract new business to your website, but it’s another matter entirely for you to retain that new business.  All customers want a streamlined, easy ordering process, but the customers in the B2B segment are often relatively neglected compared to those in B2C.

B2B buyers still want an easy, efficient ordering process – but just like in B2C, the fulfillment process is just as important.

The thing is, it’s no longer acceptable for fulfillment to respond to requests for tracking updates, which can take hours or days to go through the game of telephone to get back to the customer.  In the B2C world, you can place an order, and visit the website you ordered from to get tracking updates.  In B2B, all too often, you have to email or call to get a tracking update, which can cause delays for the end customer to notify their own customers. 

Automated order fulfillment eliminates the delay between tracking data being available, and your customers gaining access to that tracking data.  It offers them the ability to view their B2B orders in a B2C way – visiting your website to see tracking info, instead of having to call in to get updates.

automate order fulfillment

There are more reasons than that to upgrade your order fulfillment process, though.  Here are a few:

1: Automation improves accuracy.

Every time human hands have to type in or copy over data, you’re introducing the risk of an error. 

Yes, you still need your team to review orders and check them for accuracy (sometimes the customers do make typos!), it’s far, far faster to have them reviewing orders than typing each and every one in. 

An automated system eliminates the risk of mistakes being made as a simple result of human error.  No matter how careful your team is, no matter how well meaning, everyone makes a mistake eventually – and automation ensures that doesn’t happen.

The beauty of automating your order fulfillment means that you can offer drop down menus along with preset SKU numbers.  Your customers can easily select exactly what they want, and your staff can be confident there are no mistakes.

2: Reduce returns and refunds.

This is because the entire process is automated – meaning customers input their orders, ensuring accuracy.  There’s no need for additional correspondence with the salesperson, which saves the sales team time as well.

It should come as no surprise that increased accuracy means fewer returns, and fewer refunds.  All your customers want is exactly what they ordered, after all. 

Automating your order fulfillment also means that you can make the order visible to everyone, from customer, to rep, to your internal team, again ensuring accuracy along the entire fulfillment process.  

3: Reduce miscommunication.

If you’ve ever played the game “Telephone”, you know how quickly things can get lost in translation the more people pass a message along.

This kind of miscommunication results in a lot of hilarity in grade school, but it’s much less funny when it’s your business that’s suffering as a result.

Automated systems eliminate the issue with miscommunication.  It’s no longer necessary to decipher handwritten orders, or call in and hope that the person answering the phone can understand what the other person is asking for. 

Instead, it’s those drop down menus and pre-populated SKUs that make everyone’s life easier.  The preset categories ensure that all information is entered correctly, and that there’s no risk of mistranslation. 

No games of telephone between the customer, the sales rep, your office staff, and the warehouse team. 

automated order fulfillment

4: Eliminate time wasted through double entering data.

How many hours a day does your team spend entering the data from orders placed into QuickBooks, then printing out and sending those orders on to the warehouse team to get re-entered into their software?

If you’re a smart business owner, you’ve insured yourself against mistakes by having multiple people entering and reviewing orders at each step. 

Which means…double the amount of time spent managing those orders.

Why make it so hard?

An automated order fulfillment system removes the need for multiple eyes checking an order, and removes the need for your team to spend hours a day managing those orders.

Thanks to how Now Commerce integrates with QuickBooks and your warehouse, your customers simply place their orders, and the automation process takes care of the rest.

No more double entering data, no more double checking, no more errors.

5: Integrate your entire ordering process.

More than just automating your order fulfillment, utilizing a system that automates these kinds of processes makes your entire ordering process more efficient.

Instead of switching between tasks any time an order comes in, the orders are processed automatically.  You never worry about inventory information, bookkeeping, product details, or customer information being out of date.

Instead, it’s just done.  Automatically.

It’s like having a robotic assistant taking care of all the routine tasks for you.  Using software like Now Commerce syncs all of your departments, allowing for the entire business to run in a more efficient, streamlined manner.

Automation software is more than just a nice thing to have for your business, something that alleviates the workload for your office team…

It’s a way to improve the way your business runs as a whole. 

If you’re still using a manual order fulfillment process, it’s time to modernize.

It’s already tough to remain competitive as more and more businesses try to encroach on the established customers you already have.

By sticking to a manual fulfillment process, you’re making it easier for your competitors to steal your customers. 

Automating the routine tasks for your business allows you to offer your customers something they already get on the B2C side of their lives –  access to tracking information, and the ability to place orders easily online.

Now Commerce gives you the ability to offer your customers the online ordering portal (and automated order fulfillment) they’d love to have from your business.

Get a demo of what we offer and how it could help your business – click below:

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