Don’t take the initial setup phase for granted - Clients sometimes rush or don’t put enough effort into the initial setup phase of the fulfillment engagement. This can lead to miscommunications and mistakes that have long-term ramifications. It’s especially important to communicate who all of your vendors are, and make sure all offers and file exchanges are thoroughly tested.
Understand how the decline cycle works - Companies who are outsourcing their payment processing and fulfillment need to have a clear understanding of how the decline cycle works. New clients who don’t understand the difference between soft and hard declines, or that multiple charge attempts are being made always surprise me.
Make sure your refund policies are clear and reasonable - I see many situations where clients try to save money by imposing strict or unclear refund policies. These can lead to increased chargebacks and customer service calls, as well as BBB and FTC complaints.
Consult with your fulfillment company regularly regarding packaging - Packaging is very important when it comes to freight costs. Your fulfillment company can help you come up with the best packaging to keep your freight costs down. Remember, once a package is above one pound, an extra ounce can push you to the next weight tier.
Work with customer service to plan for call spikes and backorder situations - Avoid backed up call queues and long hold times by proactively planning for call spikes and backorder situations. Fulfillment centers don’t have infinite numbers of customer service agents, so you need to work with them in advance to make sure that staff is properly allocated. In backorder situations, sometimes it is better to outbound clients or send them e-mails to let them know what is going on and thereby reduce inbound customer service calls.
Be prepared for dry spells and unanticipated storage costs - Many DRTV marketers think they will never have a dry spell and are often caught flat footed when retail orders dry up or campaigns slow down. If they have over-ordered inventory, they can end up with higher than expected storage costs, which can definitely impact their bottom line. My advice is to develop a contingency plan and build adequate cushion into your budget for storage.
Tony Sziklai is president of Moulton Logistics Management.
