It’s no secret that a great customer experience contributes to a business’s success in sales and recognition. For e-commerce stores, product delivery is one of the aspects that contribute to the consumer experience. When potential buyers add an item to their cart, they need that seamless shopping experience. And the shipping policy contributes significantly to their shopping experience.
Your buyers need to know every shipping-related detail to know when they will get their order delivered, what options they have, how much they are paying for the delivery, and much more.
As an e-commerce store owner, you need to know the ins and outs of shipping policy. It can benefit you by getting your potential customer’s trust and help your target audience by providing them with all the information they need before confirming their order.
A shipment policy contains every piece of shipping-related information your consumers may need. It tells the time it will take to ship the buyer’s order, the estimated time for domestic and international orders, shipping cost, shipping fee, and much more.
Shipping policy differs from refund or return policy but can include information about shipment fee refund.
If you have no idea how to create a shipping policy template, we’re here to help. Even though shipping policy templates are readily available on the internet, creating your own will sprinkle uniqueness into your template, giving you a point over your competitors.
Below we’ve discussed the importance of shipping policy for e-commerce stores, shipping policy examples to give you a clearer idea, and what your shipping policy template should contain.
Importance of Shipping Policy for E-commerce Stores
Here are some reasons to create a winning shipping policy from scratch or use shipping policy templates.
1. Offers Transparency
Imagine yourself as a consumer. You go to an online store and add an item to your cart. But you notice that the website doesn’t have a shipping policy page. Consequently, you won’t have the time to deliver your order, the shipment fee, and other details about your order unless it arrives. Would that create a good user experience? From what we know, it’s incredibly annoying.
A well-written shipping policy burns down those walls and offers transparency about shipping details.
2. Reduced Customer Service Issues
If your online store has a shipping policy, your customer service representatives won’t be kept busy by customer calls and emails asking for their product delivery details. Further, when potential buyers make decisions based on your shipping policy, they’re less likely to complain because of misunderstood policies.
3. Encourages Customers to Purchase from You
Before completing their purchase, most people check the shipping time. But that sale is probably lost if your website doesn’t offer that information to your potential buyers. Eight-seven percent (87%) of online shoppers consider shipping time a crucial in deciding whether to buy from your store.
4. Keeps You Out of Legal Trouble
Suppose one of your customers faces serious trouble with their product delivery and decides to take legal action. In that case, your shipping policy can prevent you from falling deeper into the legal issue. You can show the authorities your regulations about product delivery to prove that you’re not responsible for the damage done.
What Should Your Shipping Policy Template Include?
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Your shipping policy aims to be as transparent about product delivery as possible. Things you cover and your way of communication play an essential role. And always remember to keep your shipping policy updated. You wouldn’t have to change the whole template. You can leave the text as it is and change the primary information.
Another critical thing to remember is to keep your shipping policy template scannable. People won’t scan the page to find the information they want. Therefore, use clear subheadings, bold vital details, and tables and lists to display your points.
Here are the critical components your shipping policy template must contain.
1. Order ProcessingTime
One of the essential things in your shipping policy template is your order processing time. You must include the following details under this heading:
- After placing an order, how much time will it take to deliver it?
- Include if you count weekends or holidays in that time.
- Mention the order processing cut-off time (if any). For instance, orders placed after 7 pm will be processed the next day.
- If the delivery time can change because of workload.
2. Shipping Cost
If you offer free shipping, make sure to style that information in a way it stands out because free shipping text is the magnet that attracts many customers. Moreover, mention that if you charge different shipping fees within larger parameters.
If the shipping cost can vary due to taxes and duties, that is also worth discussing in your shipping policy.
3. International and Domestic Shipping Options
Your website will be accessible to all Internet users worldwide. Therefore, it’s worth mentioning in your shipping template if you deliver internationally. If you do, break down international delivery by listing the countries you ship to. Also, don’t forget to mention your shipping options for domestic and international deliveries.
Further, display the delivery timeline for international shipping through different methods. You can display this information in a table, so it’s scannable.
4. Pickup In-store Options
If you allow your users to place orders online and pick that up from your brick-and-mortar store, you must mention the steps in your shipping policy template.
5. Possible Service Interference
Product delivery may encounter disturbances due to situations out of your control, such as extreme weather conditions. Your shipping policy template must contain information about potential service interference, such as where customers can contact to know how long their order will take to arrive.
6. Information About Returns, Cancellations, and Exchange
Another thing your shipping policy template must contain return, exchange, and cancellation information. You can discuss the process if a customer wants to return something or get an exchange. How will you receive the order? Will your company be sending someone to get the product back, or the customer has to send it to your store/warehouse?
Further, talk about if the buyer can cancel their order. If they can, discuss the process and till when they have the time to cancel their order after placing it. You should also mention your refund methods. In case of order cancellation or product returns, how do you give a refund? Is it through bank transfer, store credit, etc.?
7. Delivery Restrictions
There may be certain areas you cannot deliver to. For instance, you ship orders to California but can’t in one of its cities. Your shipping policy template should also include that information not to get the customers from those areas excited, only to disappoint them at the checkout.
8. Courier Service
If you’ve partnered with a courier service to ship your products, it’s worth mentioning the company’s name. Some customers may not have a good experience with particular courier companies and may be careful when getting their services.
Shipping Policy Examples
You will better understand shipping policies when you see examples from other brands. Below, we’ve displayed a few sample shipping policies from different brands.
- Nike
Image taken from Nike
This sample shipping policy shows the importance of structure in your shipping template. They have listed the critical information (prices for different methods) so that it doesn’t blend in with less important details.
- Dinner Belle
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Dinner Belle has an innovative way of telling their prospects if they ship in their area. Entering your ZIP code in the bar is more accessible than reading a whole page. This is an excellent example of an optimized customer experience.
- Bookniture
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Bookniture’s shipping policy does an excellent job of attracting customers by styling free shipping text so that it’s the first thing that catches the customer’s eye the moment they land on that page.
What Shipping Features Does Strikingly’s Online Store Offer?
Strikingly has packed its E-commerce store with numerous features so that its users can create an excellent user experience for their buyers and prospects.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
In Strikingly’s Simple store, you can set up multiple shipping options, in-store pickup options, flat shipping rates, and additional shipping fees (if you charge extra as the number of items increases).
Moreover, you can create shipping labels and a free shipping policy.
You can start setting up your shipping information for your Simple Store in the following steps:
- Open your website in the Strikingly site editor and “Store” in the top-left corner.
- Go to shipping and click “Add shipping options” to add options or tap the already existing options to edit them.
Apart from shipping options, Strikingly offers other features for your e-commerce store, such as displaying product reviews, creating custom checkout forms, selling digital products, and more.
In conclusion, having a shipping policy for your online store does nothing but good. It creates a good user experience by conveniently conveying information your prospects want and can also protect you from getting tangled in legal matters for a long time.
To launch your e-commerce store successfully, sign up for Strikingly and build an online shop using read-to-use website templates. Believe us; it’s as easy as a walk in the park.
