Real-World Case
Tackling the Tracking Numbers Problem
From complaints to happy customers and employees: how I tackled the tracking-number problem in our online store.
Role
Idea, Research, Visuals
Duration
Oct - Dec 2018

Tools Used

Sketch, Pen & Paper
Problem
The Handwers online store ships worldwide. Once an order is sent, a manager emails the customer the package’s tracking number. At some point I noticed that help-desk tickets from customers asking for their tracking number were far too common. I started digging, and it turned out managers were simply forgetting to send them, or sending them late. The problem was made worse by the fact that we didn’t ship directly but through an intermediary, which usually passed tracking numbers on to us a day or two late. The store engine’s interface had its own flaws, too. Something had to be done.
Research
This wasn’t a task that called for comprehensive research, but I still gathered some data to understand what customers and managers needed.

First, I interviewed the managers and learned, among other things, that:
  • Assigning a status to an order and then separately sending a notification with the tracking number (sometimes more than once) was a hassle
  • They had to keep a running list of orders still waiting for tracking numbers
  • The main order list didn’t show tracking numbers or carriers
  • Overall, they wanted a separate tab for working with tracking numbers

Then we surveyed regular customers. It turned out that:
  • Almost nobody read the package-tracking information on the site
  • Customers expected the tracking number to arrive with the shipping notification
  • Even when it arrived right away, it was hard to find in the email
  • Customers didn’t like having to look up the carrier’s tracking site themselves
Ideate
The problem was clear, and the outline of a solution was starting to take shape. After discussing it with colleagues, I came up with this list:
  • Add a dedicated tracking-number feature to the manager’s interface
  • Along with the tracking number, the manager sets the carrier the order was shipped with (DPD, DHL, Russian Post, etc.)
  • Show the carrier and tracking number in the main order list
  • Once added, the tracking number appears in the customer’s account
  • The email notification includes the tracking number, the carrier’s name, and a link to the tracking page
  • If the parcel has shipped but the tracking number hasn’t arrived yet, the email says it will follow shortly, and the manager gets a reminder that the order still has no tracking number
  • If the manager entered the wrong tracking number or carrier, the customer is automatically notified once it’s corrected
  • For orders delivered by our own couriers (no tracking number), the field is disabled and the email says so
Implementation (aka Solution)
I wrote up the task and handed it to our development team.
Here’s how the new solution looked from the manager’s side — the core of the whole thing:
I also designed the notification emails…
…and a rough layout for the manager interface.
We also changed how information is displayed in the main order list, and added the tracking number to the customer’s account.

A few things had to change because of technical limitations; the developers proposed workarounds, and I agreed. In the end, we shipped:
  • A new tab in the manager’s interface dedicated to tracking numbers
  • Sorting orders by carrier and by whether a tracking number is present
  • The tracking number (with a link) in the customer’s account
  • Six new email templates for customer notifications, plus the scripts that send them
Results
Several years have passed since this feature went live, and requests for tracking numbers have all but disappeared. Managers use their time more efficiently, customer service and customer happiness have improved, and the help desk can breathe easier. Win-win!
Afterword
All of this could probably be fully automated through carrier APIs, but we didn’t have the resources for that, so we simplified the process as much as we could without spending too much. Ideally, a manager shouldn’t think about tracking numbers at all: the carrier would push them straight into our database, which would trigger the customer notification automatically.