5 Tips to Make Delivery More Convenient for Your Farm
Farmers across the country are leveraging a direct delivery service to cater to the expectations of their customers. As 70% of your customers will choose direct delivery over local pick-up to access your products, it’s essential to have a convenient delivery system to increase profitability, cater to buyers’ needs, and save time.
Successful Farmers have shared their tips to streamlining the delivery process – which has led to 35% savings on fuel costs and up to 2+ hours saved per day:
1. Stay Organized with Pick and Pack Lists
Pick and Pack Lists are Farmer’s secret weapon to know exactly which items need to be organized for delivery. The Pick List is what needs to be ‘picked’ or harvested for a specific delivery day (or a handful of days combined with a multi-day Pick List). The Pack List is used to ‘pack orders’ for each customer and put in the truck. Pick and Pack Lists make delivery day seamless, so you can spend less time packing and get started delivering faster.
I went with Barn2Door because we needed a solution to help us with managing orders that understand Farmer’s unique needs. The pick and pack lists and auto-generated customer labels for each order has been a game-changer for our business.
- Protein Farmer, IL
2. Plan Ahead
When Farmers leverage a tool to create their most efficient delivery route, they cut manual route planning by 95% and are able to complete more stops in less time, lowering their delivery cost by up to 40%.
Routing apps like Routific, Optimo Route, and XL Route make the planning process simplified, so all you have to worry about is packing the truck! Farms that run on Barn2Door leverage the Routific integration are able to make more stops in less time and cut their fuel costs by 35%.
The Barn2Door + Routific integration was huge for us! All of a sudden, a single click is saving us 2 hours in a day! I’m able to spend those extra hours having dinner with my family.
- Dairy Farmer, CT
3. Charge A Delivery Fee
On average, Farmers charge $5 - $10 per delivery and up to $15 in some major metropolitan areas. Why? Because when customers value having orders arrive on their doorstep, a delivery service will pay for itself! Americans are used to paying for the convenience of delivery (GrubHub, UberEats), and even Amazon charges $9.95 for grocery deliveries! By charging a delivery fee, Farmers know their time is being paid for, ensuring delivery is a profitable venture.
We charge a $7 delivery fee. It's great because the delivery pays for itself, and I know my time is being paid for.
- Organic Produce Farmer, CA
4. Organize your Delivery Vehicle(s)
Whether you have one vehicle or multiple, the way your vehicle(s) are organized will make a difference in the efficiency of your delivery service. Here are some ways to efficient “pack the truck” to make the process smooth:
Location: If you deliver to multiple zip codes, organize by location, designating one side of the vehicle for one zip code and the other side for another zip code. You can also organize by delivery corridors, arranging by specific neighborhoods or streets within your delivery route in the same way.
Size: If you’re delivering CSA Subscriptions or Bundle boxes, organize your vehicle by box size. Whether they’re stacked on top or side by side, packing the vehicle in this way makes it easy to find the right order to drop off.
Type: Do you deliver Subscription boxes, refrigerated products, or non-refrigerated items? Organize products by type in a large box or cooler making it quick and easy to refer to your pack list and grab items relating to each order. This makes for a quicker (and less error-prone) delivery service.
5. Communicate with Customers
Billion-dollar brands have conditioned your customers to expect a 5-star delivery experience - the ability to track their orders and receive updates for when items arrive on their doorstep. For a true 5-star delivery experience, communication is key. It’s important to send delivery reminders and updates because buyers will want to know their order status!
Farmers who run on Barn2Door automatically send order reminders 24 hours in advance of the fulfillment date. With the Barn2Door + Routific integration, keep customers updated as you deliver products with automatic ETAs (estimated-time-of-arrival) and real-time notifications when packages are delivered to their doorstep.
Creating a 5-Star delivery experience delights your buyers and makes delivering more convenient for you. By streamlining your delivery processes, you can make more deliveries in less time and spend more time focusing on other Farm activities. Leverage these 5 tips that have been proven to help Farmers increase profitability and save time.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution to grow and manage your Farm business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.