4 ms·

> Customers, particularly ADHD tech types, are very sensitive to shipping delays. Just to expand on this: very /very/ sensitive. However providing them an accu

by _Lemon_ 16y ago

> Customers, particularly ADHD tech types, are very sensitive to shipping delays. Just to expand on this: very /very/ sensitive. However providing them an accurate date upfront is a great way to combat this, even if it is a week away. Adjust it accordingly and don't break your first promise to a new customer. The moment the clock ticks over the 7th day (and I mean, they will wait /exactly/ 1 minute past 7 days for this). They will open up every support channel and complain loudly and demand a lot from you. It's just not worth the hassle!

KirinDave 16y ago
Unfortunately these same ADHD types can't seem to read the webpage they're ordering from. It's said "shipping in 4-6 weeks" forever.
- citricsquid 16y ago
  Surely if the page says that they're shipping on x date when the customer ordered and the person with this problem can prove that to google this is a non issue. Isn't the issue here that the person hasn't got any evidence of the shipping? If he could say to google "customers ordered on 28/04/2010 and it stated the item would be shipped on 28/07/2010" that would be enough?
- patio11 16y ago
  Unfortunately these same ADHD types can't seem to read the webpage they're ordering from. This is a constant among all customers, everywhere. Even English teachers have the literacy sucked straight out of their eyeballs. Trust me. (There are also pervasive trust issues, such that folks will ask me to confirm whether the three places in bold that say "Every card will be different" means that every card will be different or will every card be the same instead because that would be very inconvenient if it were true.) Incidentally, something I have learned about customer psychology: no promise is so binding as the one the customer imagines you made them.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    > Even English teachers have the literacy sucked straight out of their eyeballs. Trust me. I was about to say the guy is being overly optimistic. Users can't bother to read a dialog box before pressing OK will never, ever, read, much less recall, a web page that contradicts their wishes.
- ladyada 16y ago
  OK but...4-6 weeks is a very long time. Customers are used to Amazon-style shipping. If you aren't going to ship in < a week, you should auth and not capture or have a mailing/waiting list. (We don't capture till the moment they get a tracking number.) Taking customer money to finance the current manufacture is a fools' game - all it ends with is pissed customers Note that Authorize/paypal (and google?) have a limit on how long you can wait to refund (~90 days), and LIKEWISE, paypal (and google?) have a limit on how long you can wait before filing a claim (45 days iirc). Guess when you should ship packages after capturing? -Well- before 45 days. AND WHILE IM AT IT...While customer literacy is always a bit questionable, if you're finding a lot of confusion about your shipping policies - you should probably change them! YES even if you think you are right. For example, we used to (like everyone else) say that USPS packages were not insured. Guess what? They'll chargeback anyways. So now all packages are insured at a very reasonable rate. We get no complaints about the extra $ - but we DID get complaints when packages were lost.
  - tibbon 16y ago
    I agree. 4-6 weeks is too long these days. Unless I'm ordering a special order of parts on a slow boat from China, it shouldn't take that long. I've had problems recently ordering motorcycle parts. Very few motorcycle parts places are all that professional. Many list things on their site as 'in stock' when they don't really have them, and they wait for 10 orders to queue up before putting through an order to their supplier. Then even after they have them in hand, they don't ship them out quickly. I'd pay much more for parts with Newegg/Amazon style shipping that I knew I could have tomorrow if I wanted them.
    - mkull 16y ago
      Hey Tibbon, unfortunately the motorcycle industry is about a decade and a half behind the rest of the eCommerce world ;) We are working on changing that. You wouldn't believe how hard the suppliers make it to get real inventory and catalog data. Check out my business, linked in my profile.
      - tibbon 16y ago
- bd_at_rivenhill 16y ago
  I haven't looked at your web page, but living in a world saturated with advertising and lawyer-induced disclaimer/warning/contract pollution has caused me personally to develop a very powerful filter. If there's something on the top or sides in text or flashy colors or dancing animations: ignore. If there's some checkbox associated with terms and conditions that I have to check to get where I want to go: ignore the text and click the box. If you have "SHIPPING IN 4-6 WEEKS" in flashing red 28 point characters with a giant check box that I need to click before you will process my order, I guarantee you that the checkbox will be clicked without me actually reading and understanding that it will take 4-6 weeks for my item to arrive. You can thank the people who bombard me every day with this useless visual spam for the fact that I probably won't notice when you're trying to tell me something important about your service that is different from what I would naturally expect.
adavies42 16y ago
for the record, i'm an ADHD tech type, an iPhone and iPad owner (and the sort to pre-order the iPad and stand in line for the original iPhone) and I knew perfectly well that my DodoCase (yes i ordered one) wasn't coming anytime soon. anyone who failed to note the expected shipping delay is a moron and deserves to spend a month and a half gnashing their teeth in frustration.

by _Lemon_ 16y ago

KirinDave 16y ago

Unfortunately these same ADHD types can't seem to read the webpage they're ordering from. It's said "shipping in 4-6 weeks" forever.

citricsquid 16y ago
Surely if the page says that they're shipping on x date when the customer ordered and the person with this problem can prove that to google this is a non issue. Isn't the issue here that the person hasn't got any evidence of the shipping? If he could say to google "customers ordered on 28/04/2010 and it stated the item would be shipped on 28/07/2010" that would be enough?
patio11 16y ago
Unfortunately these same ADHD types can't seem to read the webpage they're ordering from. This is a constant among all customers, everywhere. Even English teachers have the literacy sucked straight out of their eyeballs. Trust me. (There are also pervasive trust issues, such that folks will ask me to confirm whether the three places in bold that say "Every card will be different" means that every card will be different or will every card be the same instead because that would be very inconvenient if it were true.) Incidentally, something I have learned about customer psychology: no promise is so binding as the one the customer imagines you made them.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  > Even English teachers have the literacy sucked straight out of their eyeballs. Trust me. I was about to say the guy is being overly optimistic. Users can't bother to read a dialog box before pressing OK will never, ever, read, much less recall, a web page that contradicts their wishes.
ladyada 16y ago
OK but...4-6 weeks is a very long time. Customers are used to Amazon-style shipping. If you aren't going to ship in < a week, you should auth and not capture or have a mailing/waiting list. (We don't capture till the moment they get a tracking number.) Taking customer money to finance the current manufacture is a fools' game - all it ends with is pissed customers Note that Authorize/paypal (and google?) have a limit on how long you can wait to refund (~90 days), and LIKEWISE, paypal (and google?) have a limit on how long you can wait before filing a claim (45 days iirc). Guess when you should ship packages after capturing? -Well- before 45 days. AND WHILE IM AT IT...While customer literacy is always a bit questionable, if you're finding a lot of confusion about your shipping policies - you should probably change them! YES even if you think you are right. For example, we used to (like everyone else) say that USPS packages were not insured. Guess what? They'll chargeback anyways. So now all packages are insured at a very reasonable rate. We get no complaints about the extra $ - but we DID get complaints when packages were lost.
- tibbon 16y ago
  I agree. 4-6 weeks is too long these days. Unless I'm ordering a special order of parts on a slow boat from China, it shouldn't take that long. I've had problems recently ordering motorcycle parts. Very few motorcycle parts places are all that professional. Many list things on their site as 'in stock' when they don't really have them, and they wait for 10 orders to queue up before putting through an order to their supplier. Then even after they have them in hand, they don't ship them out quickly. I'd pay much more for parts with Newegg/Amazon style shipping that I knew I could have tomorrow if I wanted them.
  - mkull 16y ago
    Hey Tibbon, unfortunately the motorcycle industry is about a decade and a half behind the rest of the eCommerce world ;) We are working on changing that. You wouldn't believe how hard the suppliers make it to get real inventory and catalog data. Check out my business, linked in my profile.
    - tibbon 16y ago
bd_at_rivenhill 16y ago
I haven't looked at your web page, but living in a world saturated with advertising and lawyer-induced disclaimer/warning/contract pollution has caused me personally to develop a very powerful filter. If there's something on the top or sides in text or flashy colors or dancing animations: ignore. If there's some checkbox associated with terms and conditions that I have to check to get where I want to go: ignore the text and click the box. If you have "SHIPPING IN 4-6 WEEKS" in flashing red 28 point characters with a giant check box that I need to click before you will process my order, I guarantee you that the checkbox will be clicked without me actually reading and understanding that it will take 4-6 weeks for my item to arrive. You can thank the people who bombard me every day with this useless visual spam for the fact that I probably won't notice when you're trying to tell me something important about your service that is different from what I would naturally expect.

adavies42 16y ago

for the record, i'm an ADHD tech type, an iPhone and iPad owner (and the sort to pre-order the iPad and stand in line for the original iPhone) and I knew perfectly well that my DodoCase (yes i ordered one) wasn't coming anytime soon. anyone who failed to note the expected shipping delay is a moron and deserves to spend a month and a half gnashing their teeth in frustration.