Articles

In today’s connected age, it’s safe to say that most shippers understand the importance of providing an exceptional customer experience to their clients. News of poor service travels fast, and a hard-fought reputation can crumble overnight in the wake of bad service and angry customers. But while shippers know that their clients expect a lot from them, do they expect the same level of service from their providers? The truth is, some logistics providers slack off when it comes to customer service. And unless shippers demand better, they will only ever receive second best.

Seamless integration, sophisticated tools

With logistics management technology, as with any tool that a business relies on every day, performance is everything. It’s not enough for a tool to work. To have a meaningful impact on a shipper’s business, it must work seamlessly—integrating with a shipper’s enterprise technology and delivering the same experience across every browser. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. After signing a contract and going through the complex process of implementing new logistics tech, shippers often find that the provider didn’t perform cross-browser testing, or didn’t do it well. As a result, the web tools don’t function properly on certain browsers, forcing all staff to use the same browser if they want the same experience. Or maybe their tools just don’t talk to one another, creating unnecessary friction and causing important data to slip through the cracks. At best, the client can’t experience the full benefit of using these tools. At worst, the tools may actively hold their productivity back, hurting morale—and the bottom line. It shouldn’t be this way. The bare minimum providers can do to ensure a satisfactory user experience (UX) is perform thorough UX testing. From there, they should work with their clients to ensure tools are fully integrated and working as they should—then consider what they can do to make them even better. This is something we’re highly focused on at CTSI-Global. While we’ve always worked closely with our clients to ensure they can use our tools without friction, we’ll soon be rolling out a brand new enterprise integration platform to make it even easier to use our tools. We’re tireless about innovation and improvement, because we know that tech moves fast; so we have to move even faster. But that’s only possible because we’ve built a solid foundation upon which to stand.

Responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive support

When things go wrong, clients want to know their logistics provider is responsive and helpful. But again, this is the bare minimum that providers should be doing—not a high standard for which to strive. Providing an exceptional experience means anticipating problems before a shipper has even experienced them and taking steps to help them sidestep that issue. It means evaluating shippers’ operations and offering proactive advice and guidance to help them take things to the next level. Perhaps most importantly, it means knowing shippers’ businesses almost as well as they know them themselves—and providing the nuanced support shippers need to make smart decisions that drive their success.

Dedicated to raising the bar

To thrive in today’s competitive market, shippers deserve a logistics provider that doesn’t just meet their expectations but exceeds them. At CTSI-Global, we’ve been named an Inbound Logistics Top 100 3PL Provider multiple years running. This recognition, in addition to the countless other awards we’ve won over our 60+ years of service, lets us know that we’re on the right track—but the feedback from our customers is an even better indicator. We’re raising the bar on customer experience. Find out how high it can go. Contact us today.