The National Retail Federation revealed that 87.3 million Americans shopped online last Black Friday (2024). Yes, BFCM is still a huge opportunity for ecommerce businesses, but it’s also a challenge for the order tracking system.
In every purchase made, there’s a customer excitedly waiting for their order to come. They’re refreshing tracking pages, checking email notifications, and constantly wondering “Where’s my package?”
When order volume goes up 300-500% in BFCM, the stores that could keep customers informed of their order statuses and solve delivery exceptions for the first time become the biggest winners.
By turning customer anxiety into additional engagement points, proactive order tracking strategies reduce WISMO tickets, increase repeat sales, and help you drive customer loyalty during (and after) the holiday season.
In this article, we’ll first show you how costly WISMO inquiries can be for your business. After that, we’ll share five proven strategies to improve your customer post-purchase experience and boost BFCM sales.
The Real Cost of Poor Order Tracking During BFCM
Each WISMO ticket costs about $3 to $6 in support time. If your team is handling 200 calls a day, that’s a $400–$1,200 daily cost. Besides the direct impact, poor order tracking can also create these “hidden” costs:
- Wasted labor: Your team has to spend hours checking tracking errors, chasing down lost shipments, and resolving delivery issues.
- Emergency shipping fees: Because you discover the delays too late, you have to pay for fast delivery service (like next-day freight) for customer satisfaction… and to avoid refund requests.
- Higher return rates: Customers who don’t know when their order will arrive or receive it later than expected might initiate returns or dispute charges.
- Damaged reputation and brand loyalty: Poor delivery experiences can bring negative reviews and scare away potential customers. There’s a huge chance that you’ll lose them to competitors with a good order tracking system.
- Lost repeat business: Online buyers who have a bad experience with your store during BFCM might not come back. You lose the chance of encouraging repeat purchases and turning them into loyal customers.
One of our clients, SHEIN, used to face a situation where over 60% of their customer emails were WISMO inquiries, leading to a significant increase in labor costs.
By sending real-time shipping notifications and creating an order status page for customers, they reduced WISMO ticket volume and were able to focus more on revenue.
Want to know more about how their order tracking strategies work? Read on!
5 Best Order Tracking Strategies for BFCM
These five strategies will help you stay ahead of customer questions, cut down on “where’s my order?” emails, and turn the waiting period into a chance to build lasting relationships with your holiday shoppers.
1. Send Automated Notifications to Reduce WISMO Tickets
Here’s what you can do here.
# Automate Notifications at Key Shipment Milestones
Send email and SMS delivery alerts when specific events happen. Most shipment-tracking software lets you choose which stage triggers notifications and control the timing.
You can decide whether your customers receive a message only at major checkpoints (when the order is shipped and delivered). Or you can add in-between stages like in transit, out for delivery, delivery exceptions, or failed delivery attempts.
By sending the right update at the right time to every BFCM customer, proactive notifications will surely cut down complaints and support tickets.
# Customize Email Templates for Each Delivery Status
Different shipment stages require different details. This is what you need to include for each delivery status update:
- In Transit: Include the estimated delivery date, current package location, carrier name, and a tracking link where online shoppers can check updates themselves.
- Out for Delivery: Let them know their package arrives today, provide the delivery window if available, and remind them to be there to receive it or leave delivery instructions.
- Delayed: Explain what caused the delay (weather, carrier backlog, customs), give a new estimated delivery date, and offer a solution if the delay is too long.
- Delivered: Confirm the package arrived, thank them for their purchase, and ask them to rate their experience or leave a review.
We also recommend that you use your branding here.
Add your logo, colors, and custom messaging to promote your brand identity and make the experience feel consistent even outside your store. You can also feature personalized product recommendations to engage customers and drive repeat purchases.
Customized notification emails make your customers feel valued and strengthen their loyalty to your brand.
2. Create Branded Tracking Pages for Cross-selling
Another great order-tracking strategy to reduce your WISMO calls is a branded tracking page. This is a custom page on your website where customers can track their orders’ status by tracking numbers or order numbers.
But do you know what really makes branded tracking pages popular for ecommerce brands? Cross-selling!
While your customers check their order status on this page, show some of your best-selling items or relevant ones from their past purchase. It’s a great way to maximize sales without being too pushy. You’re just like making a “suggestion” on what other items they might like.
Forbes’ marketing report mentioned that conversion rates for existing customers can be as high as 60–70%, while converting a new customer typically ranges from 5–20%.
After placing an order, customers usually check their order status 3–5 times, and a branded tracking page serves as an excellent touchpoint to increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Pro-tips: Adding an FAQs section on the tracking page can reduce most of your customers’ confusion about their order status. Here are some common questions they may ask:
- How can I check my order status?
- When should I expect delivery, and what if it’s delayed?
- What’s the last day to order for holiday delivery?
- What should I do if my package is lost or damaged?
- Can I change my delivery address after my order has shipped?
You can also include a link to your customer support team in case customers encounter any issues.
3. Implement Multi-carrier API
If you want to make sure that the tracking updates you send to customers are always accurate and in real-time, you need to integrate with shipping carriers’ systems.
You know how time-consuming and complex this can be if you’ve tried managing orders before. Each carrier has different API authentication requirements, data formats, and update schedules.
It’s hard to manage multiple carriers, especially during this holiday season. The huge order volume calls for more effective order tracking solutions.
A multi-carrier tracking API changes this. With it, you can access real-time data from multiple carriers through a single integration, instead of managing separate setups for FedEx, USPS, DHL, and others. This means you can track all your packages in one dashboard and ensure a reliable tracking experience for your customers.
Consistent tracking data also makes it easier to see how your carriers are performing. All exception events can be labeled clearly as “exception,” instead of using confusing terms like “Delayed,” “Shipment Late,” or “Failed Delivery.” This way, you can quickly identify delays or missed deliveries and optimize your shipping process.
4. Set the Alerts for Delivery Exceptions
Most WISMO queries come from delivery exceptions. These are problems that happen during shipping: failed delivery attempts, packages stuck in customs, weather delays, address issues, or when a carrier marks a shipment as “undeliverable.”
What you can do is set your tracking system to alert your team the moment an exception occurs. You can then contact the customer first and offer a solution (like reshipping) before they send a complaint that can affect your online store.
Pair this with automated notifications to your customers about what went wrong and what you’re doing to fix it. Customers are often frustrated simply because they don’t know what’s happening.
By keeping them in the loop, you prevent refund requests and lost sales while they come away with a positive impression of your service. And this definitely cuts down the number of support tickets your team needs to handle during BFCM weekend.
5. Equip Your Customer Service Team
Last strategy–prepare your customer service team. Black Friday, Cyber Monday bring more support tickets in four days than you’d normally see in two weeks, and customers expect fast responses, or they start doubting your brand.
Start with the basics: equip your team with a help desk that uses automation tools and saved replies for the most common shipping questions, such as what this order status means, what should I do if my packages are missed, how to return the package, etc.
Your customer service team needs access to your order tracking system, and it’s important that the system supports multiple accounts. Each department can have its own account, so customer service can monitor real-time tracking data and exception alerts, while other teams only see what matters to them. This way, your team is always ready to act on any issues.
This BFCM, Deliver More Than Orders
TrackingMore helps ecommerce brands handle BFCM order tracking with confidence, increase customer engagement, and deliver a seamless post-purchase experience.
We help you:
- Track and monitor packages across 1,500+ global carriers
- Create branded tracking pages that keep shoppers on your store
- Reduce WISMO tickets with automated shipping notifications
- Analyze delivery performance to improve customer experience
Trusted by over 10,000 global brands, including SHEIN and DJI, TrackingMore streamlines shipment tracking to boost efficiency and lower operational costs.
The TrackingMore team shares insights on logistics tracking technology, industry trends, and e-commerce logistics solutions to help businesses streamline shipment tracking and enhance customer post-purchase experience.
