What it Means to Offer Contactless Delivery to Your Customers

Contactless delivery is no longer an added benefit but rather a must in the realm of shipping and delivery operations in a post-COVID-19 world.

Previously a matter of convenience, contactless delivery has become an issue of safety.

It’s a delivery technique that aims to keep both personnel and consumers safe by reducing the spread of germs between them. This new operating method is now the industry norm. 

Customers want their orders delivered without having to interact physically with delivery agents. 

Furthermore, drivers demand a safe working environment that restricts interaction with clients and co-workers throughout the delivery process. 

Let’s go through everything you need to know about contactless delivery and what contactless delivery looks like for your business.

The Workings of Contactless Delivery 

No-contact delivery is based on the premise that there is no need to sign for, handoff, or exchange items in person. There should be no interaction with the delivery driver at all.

The order is delivered to its pre-set location, and the consumer is notified of its delivery through a call, text message, email, or push notification. 

Often, a consumer may select from various no-contact delivery alternatives while being informed about their order.

Some choices include choosing the exact location their order should be left. This could either be the front desk or reception of an office, in the mailbox, on the front steps, etc. 

Customers can also often choose whether or not they want the delivery personnel to ring the doorbell, make a phone call, or send a text when they come to deliver the order.

Setting Up Contactless Delivery 

You now know what no contact delivery means for your business, but what does setting up such a delivery module look like?

Certain elements need to be incorporated into your business module to offer your customers a contactless delivery.

Here are the necessary elements to set up no contact delivery in your business. 

Set Up an Online Ordering Platform:

The first step to offering contactless delivery is to provide a platform from which your customers can order their products online. 

This online ordering platform can be in the form of online ordering on your website or an app for your brand. 

Using an online ordering system, you’ll be able to receive orders from your customers via the website or application. 

Customers may select goods from a menu and submit their orders to you. Customers can be more detailed about their requests with an online ordering system, whether a restaurant delivery app or an online grocery pickup system.

An online shopping setup may also send and receive important zero contact delivery messages and notifications.

Blink is quick commerce enablement and engagement platform. With Blink, you gain back-end access to your own branded mobile application and website, allowing any consumer retailer to offer direct-to-customer online ordering and instant deliveries. 

Blink’s platform is built to help your business digitize order processes and reduce order fulfillment time.

Blink’s platform lets your business provide your customers with a seamless online ordering experience with same-day deliveries. 

Use Contactless Payment Options:

Thanks to technological advancements, customers may quickly pay for their orders online.

Customers may transfer money online using various payment methods, including debit cards, credit cards, Apple Pay, and PayPal. 

Both parties involved benefit from digital payments since they make it easier to complete transactions.

Blink’s online ordering platform gives businesses the ability to offer their customers contactless payment options with online payments debit or credit cards. 

Blink’s platforms are integrated with different globally operational payment gateways::

Some of the payment gateways already integrated with Blink include:

• Mada
• Visa
• MasterCard 
• Stripe 
• Pay2m
• Checkout.com 
• CCAvenue

Business Analytics, Order Date, and Reporting: 

You will keep track of all your online orders and simplify your order flows if you have the right tools and dashboards in place.

In addition, to secure record-keeping, the tools provide reports on your logistics operations weekly, monthly, and annual basis.

These tools give you the information you need in real-time about how your logistics process works.  You can also understand whether you need to adjust to how your business functions or what you offer your customers. 

You have total control and ownership of your user data with Blink’s branded website and mobile applications for your customers.

Blink provides you with data on both registered and unregistered customers so you may optimize your customers’ experience with your brand. You may also get a breakdown of their ordering history and tendencies.

You may get an overall breakdown of your customers’ orders with Blink’s dynamic dashboard. 

You obtain branch-specific data about what customers like and what things sell.

With Blink’s business intelligence solutions, you can access sophisticated system-generated business insights split by branch, product, and customer. These analytics aid businesses in making data-driven decisions. 

Specific App for Delivery Drivers or a Fleet Management Solution: 

Blink’s Fleet Management System is an excellent delivery aid. Dispatchers use a fleet management portal to schedule deliveries across fulfillment centers. In contrast, drivers or riders use the Blink Delivery app to get their schedules anywhere, find optimal routes to customers’ locations, and mark their attendance. 

This software allows drivers to travel to their destinations, verify customer information, and deliver on time, among other things.

Blink’s quick commerce fleet management platform enables you to make more informed and timely delivery decisions.

The solution provides businesses with the tools they need to organize and track deliveries, whether they have their rider fleets or not.

With Blink’s all-in-one fleet management system, businesses can efficiently manage deliveries, determine the quickest routes, allocate deliveries to riders, and more. 

Through Blink’s geo-fenced fleet management system, you can track your riders’ attendance and identify their positions in real-time.

Other features of Blink’s fleet management solution include:

• A geo-fenced delivery portal to manage deliveries
• A dynamic dashboard with real-time data updates
• Rider profile management
• Live rider tracking
• Two-step rider assignment
• Route optimization in the Blink Delivery app
• Dispatched orders’ updates sent to customers via SMS in real-time
• Rider attendance visibility

Benefits of Adopting Contactless Delivery for Your Business 

Now that you know no contact delivery is as well as what setting up this kind of delivery entails for your business, the question is, why should you do so in the first place?

Here are just some of the benefits that your business and your customers can gain by adopting the no-contact delivery module. 

Making Your Business COVID-19 Friendly 

The COVID-19 pandemic is the primary motivation for developing such a contactless delivery form. 

The current era is vital as the globe battles this highly contagious and lethal disease. The only way to preserve ourselves is to maintain social distance and prevent the spread of the disease.

While the discovery of the COVID-19 vaccines has resulted in breakthroughs, social distance is still recommended.

This form of delivery enables social distance to be maintained by avoiding interaction between the delivery executive and the consumer.

A good brand always looks after its employees in the same manner as its customers. Businesses may attain the same results with such a delivery system. 

Not only is this contactless service safer for your customers, but it’s also safer for your personnel. 

You can ensure that all of your staff are virus-free by limiting contact throughout the delivery process.

Customer Comfort at Its Finest 

The reliance on e-commerce delivery has risen due to the lengthy lockdowns. It puts everyone in danger of contracting the virus, necessitating no contact delivery.

Any internet delivery platform should always prioritize customer convenience. It’s no surprise that any company that provides complete customer comfort and convenience through its services would be successful. 

In the COVID-19 era, the importance of consumer convenience has not diminished. That is why businesses must guarantee that this aspect is not compromised.

Businesses may do the same with no contact delivery since it provides the same convenience and comfort as before the COVID 19 pandemic.

Businesses that provide a stress-free delivery service during these trying circumstances are automatically into the customers’ good books since the brand highlights concern about their well-being.

Expanding Your Business and Letting it Grow 

No contact delivery has been proven to help businesses develop and expand. 

This type of delivery’s enhanced ease and security assist in establishing your clients’ trust, which leads to them using your services again.

Furthermore, when your customers have a positive and convenient experience with your brand, they are more likely to recommend your services to their friends and relatives. This allows you to broaden your customer base, and thus your business can grow. 

Companies need to adapt to survive in a changing market. No contact delivery is the ‘in’ thing right now, and any business that wants to thrive in the long term must provide customers with this choice.

Speedy Transactions 

Contactless payment is becoming more common and will become increasingly popular in the following years, whether through tap and go or app-based solutions.

Because the risk of contracting the COVID 19 virus during a cash transaction is excellent, using a contactless payment option is a prudent choice.

Switching to contactless payment provides the added benefit of speeding up transactions and minimizing touchpoints.

The Rising Need for Contactless Delivery 

Delivery evolved from being a convenience to a need in days. 

Customers avoid stepping outdoors; according to a Technomic report, 32% of consumers leave their homes less frequently and eat out less often.

Restaurant delivery revenues increased by 8.7% in February alone, after growing year over year. According to Gordon Haskett, 30 percent of surveyed customers utilized online grocery pickup or delivery services in the second week of March, which is much higher than the percentage of online grocery usage previously.

It would be counterproductive for consumers to be in direct physical contact with delivery drivers, given that they order online to avoid social contact at busy restaurants and retail venues.

While zero contact delivery technology is not new, the COVID 19 pandemic has made it necessary for restaurants and consumer retailers to provide their customers with contactless delivery as a COVID-19 prevention measure.

Therefore, there is a rising trend of businesses accommodating contactless delivery modes. For your brand to compete in a post-COVID-19 world, you need to offer such delivery options to your customers.