Critical Features Your Delivery Scheduler App Should Have

If you’re running or starting a delivery business, you’ll need to consider what technology stack will best serve your delivery operations. Products such as delivery scheduler applications can help you improve your efficiencies, avoid costly mistakes, and optimize your routes to ensure you get to every required stop on time.

Giving your customers the convenience of ordering goods from the comfort of home is now an essential part of every business. Ensuring your fulfillment processes stack up to your competitors’ and meets your customer service demands means choosing the right applications and software solutions for your delivery drivers. Digital offerings grew exponentially during the last year, and the trend will only continue over the coming decade.

5 Features to Look for in Your Delivery Scheduling Software

More people now expect your company to have an online presence and to be able to shop at your store from the comfort of home. You may have been able to manage every order and delivery manually at first, but it simply won’t be sustainable in the long run.

To ensure you can keep up with your customers’ expectations, consider these five features before deciding on your delivery scheduling software or application.

1. Support for Multiple Mobile Devices and Handsets

If your delivery scheduler supports all devices, you can quickly optimize your routes without needing to issue new hardware to your delivery drivers. An app that works on iOS, Android, and devices like an iPad will ensure you can deploy your solution with minimal effort and training.

With Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) still a rising trend and Software as a System (SaaS) platforms remaining the most efficient solutions, choosing a delivery scheduling software that supports all your needs without increasing your overheads is vital. Select a delivery scheduling software that supports all major operating systems (OS) on all popular handheld devices to help you streamline all your fulfillment processes quickly.

2. Easy and Error-Proof Address Entry

The next element you should consider is how easy it is to capture an address in the delivery software. Once you have a scheduled delivery, you’ll want to ensure you can match the customer’s address with online maps and generate a route that saves time and money.

When taking orders over the phone, you’ll want a delivery management software that detects the address quickly and efficiently. Typing in the full address before searching for the location (which is common in most apps) won’t suffice. You should also consider how your chosen delivery application would support you during your order-capturing tasks.

3. Route Optimization and Planning Features

Once you have your addresses, you’ll need to plan every delivery route to reduce your time on the road. Route creation should be as easy as assigning deliveries to a driver, with the management software optimizing the trip’s details through real-time driver and GPS tracking, all while cutting down on your costs.

For repeat customers, saving and duplicating routes for future convenience should also be part of the feature set. With an easy-to-manage trip planner that automatically optimizes your delivery operation, you can ensure your customers remain happy and satisfied.

4. Bulk Address Imports

Excel is still one of the most versatile business tools available for small businesses. Being able to import your addresses in bulk from an Excel spreadsheet can cut down on your overheads and help you avoid resorting to duplicate data entry.

When you consider which application to use, it should be compatible with your historic data after you spent some time sanitizing the information. Creating a list of customers and their current delivery addresses shouldn’t require a new data capturing workflow. Look for an app that comes with Excel address import as standard.

5. Intelligent and Insightful Reports

Data is essential for optimizing your operations and workflows in the future. Your route planning and delivery software should generate the types of reports that allow you to evaluate your current processes and improve on your efficiencies where necessary. This is especially useful if you rely on proof of delivery for your service.

Assigning deliveries to specific resources based on past performance and addressing any customer concerns as they arise are the other vital parts of your outbound logistics workflows. Connecting the relevant data points in your reporting system to improve your processes depends on how good your app’s analytics engine performs.

Using Upper Route Planner for All Your Delivery Scheduling

When looking for a delivery scheduling app that does it all, consider Upper Route Planner for all your needs. With route optimization, easy address entry, and detailed reports at the touch of your finger, you can ensure you keep your customers happy and cut down on daily delivery overheads, no matter what industry you’re in.

Planning your routes, capturing new information, and scheduling your deliveries is quick and easy with Upper Route Planner. You can also eliminate errors when capturing new addresses, import locations in bulk from a spreadsheet, and use the latest navigation information to optimize your delivery routes.

To transform your delivery business, get started with Upper Route Planner today.