Keeping your customers informed about their delivery Tracking notifications for eParcel - October 2017

Your customers’ experience doesn’t end at the checkout. We know that being kept in the loop is important to them – but while 96% of parcel receivers expect to be able to easily track their deliveries online, only 64% of retailers make it possible for them to do so1.

Our tracking notifications make it easier to track and choose delivery options Your customers will be given their tracking number and the date their parcel is expected to be delivered – as well as the chance to choose how and where they’d like to receive it2 .

We send notifications when the parcel is:

• Accepted into our network

• Due for delivery the following day3

• On board for delivery later that day

• Awaiting collection at a Post Office

• Delivered

More ways to notify your customers We know that 80% of parcel receivers want SMS notifications at key points in the shipping process.1

This is why we are now sending SMS when an eligible parcel is due to be delivered the next day and where you’ve allowed Safe Drop to be requested, early on the day of delivery.

And if the parcel is taken to the Post Office or addressed to a Parcel Locker, we’ll send an SMS when the parcel: 5

• Is ready to be collected

• Has been at a Parcel Locker for 24 hours, or at a Post Office for 5 days

• Has been collected

Our notifications don’t just give your customers peace of mind. They give them the chance to request their parcel be left in a safe place, or redirected to another address if they know they won’t be home to receive it.2

And best of all, it doesn’t cost a cent.

The numbers add up When looking at the Australia Post delivery Net Promoter Score (NPS) – used to measure customer satisfaction – it is typically around 14 points higher when they receive a notification. And 92% of parcel receivers expect those tracking updates to come from Australia Post, rather than the sender.4

Changes from October 2017 Receivers have told us that they prefer to keep things simple, so we’ve made some improvements to how and when we notify your customers about their delivery.

From October, we will be making the following changes: • Giving each notification a primary channel. This will stop

your customers receiving both an email and an SMS for the same notification

• Introducing a new text notification on the day of delivery where you have allowed receivers to request a safe drop

• Removing the dispatch notification (previously sent for eParcel online only)

• Refreshing the look & feel of notifications to make sure your customers can get the information they need at a glance.

These are just some of the ways that we are working to help you provide the best delivery experience for your customers.

How to enable notifications All you need to do is include your customer’s email address and/or mobile number when you’re creating your eParcel manifests, and opt in. They’ll enjoy keeping track of their parcel’s progress through email and SMS notifications – and you’ll enjoy the benefits of a better delivery experience.

You can find out how to set this up on pages 2 & 3 of this fact sheet.

Source 1 http://temando.com.au/en/research-2016 2 Customers can change their delivery address at no cost. Service only available for

parcels in transit, when the sender has included the customer’s registered email address, mobile phone number or MyPost customer number in the shipping information. Depending on the location, this may result in a delay in delivery.

3 Day Before Notification is not available for all destinations. Availability also depends on our assessment of the confidence of next day delivery being achieved.

The notification is sent via email and/or SMS when an email address or mobile number is included in the manifest. It does not require the sender to opt-in to tracking notifications.

4 Australia Post customer research, November 2016. 5 The notification is sent via email and/or SMS when an email address or mobile number is included in the manifest. It does not require the sender to opt-in to tracking notifications.

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Customer Fact Sheet

Tracking notifications for eParcel – October 2017

What tracking notifications will my customers receive?

Name Estimated Delivery Date

Day Before Delivery

Day of Delivery Awaiting Collection Delivered

Description Sent when the parcel is first scanned in our network, and lets your customer know when to expect it.

Sent the day before the parcel is expected to arrive.

Sent the morning of delivery, this is the last chance your customer will be able to request Safe Drop.

Sent once the parcel is ready to collect from the local Post Office.

Sent once the parcel has been delivered to your customer’s address.

Primary Channel

Email SMS* SMS* NEW SMS* Email

Secondary Channel

n/a Email* Email* Email n/a

Conditions We’ll only send one if the first scan is on the day before delivery

• Sent in selected areas only.

• For street addressed parcels only.

• SMS only sent when parcel eligible for receiver Safe Drop, and customer has not already requested it.

• Only sent when your customer is not home and the parcel is taken to the Post Office for collection.

*Notifications will be sent whenever you include your customer's email and/or mobile number when creating your manifest, and doesn’t require opt-in. ’

How to make sure your customers are receiving tracking notifications:

If you’re a sender using the eParcel online portal

All you need to do is include your customer’s email address and/or mobile number in the Create Consignment screen, then tick the Email Tracking Notification checkbox.

If you import your consignment information via CSV file, all you need to do is populate the following fields with your customer’s details:

• Mobile number in the (CNSGNEE_PHONE_NBR) column

• Email address in the (CONSIGNEE_EMAIL) column

• TRACKADV or DESPATCH in the (EMAIL_NOTIFICATION) column

For more details, see the “eParcel New Consignment Import Guide” available on application via Customer_Connectivity@auspost.com.au

Your business or contact name will appear in the notifications exactly as it’s entered into eParcel Online, so it’s worth double checking that this is the trading name that you want to have included.

Updating the business name that appears in tracking notifications:

These details do not need

to be updated

These are the details that need

to be updated.

You can edit the sender name that appears on the notifications your customer receives in the Edit Location – Return Address screen.

Just enter the name exactly as you’d like it to appear in the Business or Contact Name field. Because this will be your default name, it’ll show up in the return address on your parcel label too.

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Customer Fact Sheet

Tracking notifications for eParcel – October 2017

If you’re a sender who’s directly integrated with eParcel by Secure FTP or SOAP

To make sure that your customers receive tracking updates, you’ll need to populate the relevant fi elds in your XML manifest, by including the Track Advice flag in the following ways:

a For each consignment at pcmsPCMSconsignment level that you’d like to provide notifi cations for, just add the optional element EmailNotification with a value of “Y”

b Add the optional element DeliveryEmailAddress with the value of your customer’s email address, and the optional element DeliveryPhoneNumber with the value of your customer’s mobile phone number

c Make sure that the mandatory element ReturnName includes your trading name – this will be included in the tracking notifi cation as the sender of the delivery.

If you’d like to find out some more information about XML schema and eParcel Integration, you can look over the eParcel Integration via SFTP and SOAP guide – which you can get by emailing Customer_Connectivity@auspost.com.au

a

b

c

Still have some questions? Our eParcel support team are here to help Customer_Connectivity@auspost.com.au

If you’re a sender who uses our Shipping APIs to directly integrate with eParcel

Making it possible for your customers to receive tracking notifications is as easy as providing their email address and/or mobile number when you’re creating your manifest.

For email addresses, just populate their email address in the optional email field (under the to element). Enabling SMS notifications is a similar approach – all you need to do is populate the phone field with their mobile number in the to element.

Once that’s done, you’ll need to set the email_tracking_enabled field to TRUE – once that’s done, notifications will be enabled.

To find out more, contact Customer_Connectivity@auspost.com.au

StarTrack is a business of Australia Post October 2017 03

Customer Fact Sheet