A Guide for Smart Management of NDR Issues

One of the biggest challenges with the ecommerce deliveries are meeting with the customers’ demand for convenience and quick delivery. One late delivery can change the whole customer experience to the biggest turn-down for the brand. To stay ahead in the competition and meet customers’ needs, businesses need to manage their fulfilment process with precision.

However, there are times when even the best put efforts can lead to significant challenges, such as unserviceable pincodes, customers’ unavailability, or product loss during transit. All such incidents result in a major setback, i.e., Non Delivery Reports (NDRs).

NDRs are the key element in ecommerce businesses, which if not resolved promptly, can lead to operational inefficiencies, increased costs, and unsatisfied customers. Here, in this blog, we’ll walk you through the best strategies to manage the NDR while explaining the common triggers for NDR to help prevent Return-to-Origin (RTO).

NDR (Non-Delivery Report) Explained:

A non-delivery report is a formal notification, generated for the failed order delivery due to exceptions like incomplete addresses, customers’ unavailability, delivery refusals, or fake delivery attempts. These reports help identify the root causes behind failed delivery which further helps maintaining a smooth fulfillment cycle and seamless delivery experience.

Common triggers of NDR issues

There are multiple factors that trigger the NDR issues, including but not limited to the followings:

1. Incorrect or incomplete delivery address: If the customer enters wrong or incomplete address while placing the order, it can lead to failed delivery.
2. Incorrect customer contact: If the customer’s contact number is not right, the courier agent will unable to contact the customer to request delivery details, ultimately resulting in Non-delivery.
3. Recipient Unavailable: When a customer isn’t available at the location to receive the order, it could lead to failed delivery
4. Customer refusing order: If the customer is not satisfied with the delivery experience or the product quality, they may refuse to accept the order, leading to NDR. This is usually the case when the payment mode is COD.
5. Unserviceable Pincode: If a particular zone becomes unserviceable post the order shipment, the courier partner might fail to deliver the order, marking the order as ‘failed delivery’.
6. Fake delivery attempt: If the delivery agent doesn’t deliver purposely and marks the order as ‘failed to deliver’, it leads to NDR. This could damage the customer’s post-purchase experience with the brand, prompting them to cancel the order.
7. Customer is unable to pay: If the customers are out of cash at the time of delivery after choosing COD as payment mode, it will lead to failed delivery.
8. Customer rescheduled delivery: If the customer is unavailable to receive the order and wants to reschedule the delivery for another time or date, it will initially fall under ‘failed to deliver’ category.
9. Lost or damaged shipment during transit: If the package is damaged or lost during transit, the customer can choose to cancel the order, which will be marked for NDR.

All the above discussed situations can lead to NDR, eventually turning into RTO (Return-to-origin), and affecting a seller’s bottom line and disrupting operations.

The ripple effect of NDR on ecommerce business’s profitability

Each undelivered order, getting marked as RTO, sure hurts the brand reputation. However, that’s not all. There are several other key elements of NDR that can drastically affect the brand’s profitability, including:

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1. Delayed Delivery

Delayed delivery is definitely an unpleasant experience for customers and brands. Be it a missed shipping deadline, a product packaging or logistic issue, delays in delivery can completely disrupt the plan. This further result in increased disappointment, impacting future sales opportunities and customers’ loyalty towards the brand.

2. Unwanted shipping costs

Unwanted shipping costs is another element that plays a significant role in NDR and can directly impact a business’s profitability. While excessive shipping costs are added to customers’ order, it causes dissatisfaction, and lead to cancelled purchases or returns. It eventually erode the profit margins, and results in reduced sales or a loss of competitive edge.

3. Loss of product during reverse shipping

When the products get lost or damaged in transit, businesses directly face the financial losses for products along with additional costs for shipping and processing the returns. This doesn’t only increase the NDR, but brings dissatisfactions in customers and affects retention.

4. Handling the cost of recalled inventory

Restocking or recalling the products due to safety concerns, defects or even the compliance issues impact businesses’ profitability. It causes businesses to face the cost of removing/replacing the items and address logistical challenges of managing the returns. It further can delay order fulfillment, lead to higher NDR and customers’ disappointment, eventually eroding profit margins.

5. Poor customer experience

When products get lost during transit, or are not delivered on time, they lead to consumer’s dissatisfaction and result in bad reviews and loss of trust with the brand. Additionally, it results in abandoned sales, increased customer churn rate and less repeated business. Moreover, the additional costs with handling complaints, reshipping funds or processing refunds add financial strain on the businesses.

How can Eshopbox help in resolving NDR issues?

NDR is inevitable, yet a crucial part that should be addressed promptly by any ecommerce brand. identifying the root causes behind failure in fulfillment journey and managing delivery failures aan be tedious. However, since it affects the business’s financial and overall profitability, it shouldn’t be left unaddressed.

At Eshopbox, our goal is to work on resolving the core issue behind every failed delivery to improve delivery success rates and customer experiences. We offer an integrated platform that allows your customers get real-time updates throughout their order lifecycle via different channels like WhatsApp, SMS, and email. Customers track their orders and stay informed in case of any exceptions or delays.

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1. Identifying NDR reasons

Eshopbox’s AI-based smart NDR automation tech monitors and identifies the possible reasons for NDR based on courier updates. Every undelivered order is labeled with a specific reason, offering you clear visibility over order status and taking appropriate action by informing the customer.

2. Let customers take action

Eshopbox's platform provides a unified view of orders to manage failed deliveries better.  After sharing updates about a delivery exception with the customer, Eshopbox allows them to act upon the issue. Customers can report fake delivery attempts via WhatsApp, request to reattempt delivery or cancel the order.

3. Resolving the delivery issue

After receiving customer feedback, sellers can address issues directly through the Eshopbox platform. When customers report a fake delivery, Eshopbox schedules another delivery attempt to ensure the package reaches its destination. Similarly, for incorrect address cases, customers can provide updated delivery information to help couriers complete the delivery successfully.

Bottomline

Effectively managing non-delivery reports is not just about minimizing logistical challenges—it's about creating a seamless, customer-centric delivery experience. When businesses use good customer communication, efficient delivery systems, and modern technology together, they can turn delivery problems into efficient way to deliver better and keep their customers happier.

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