The delivery experience in 2025: What shoppers expect
Vaishali Ravi
·April 17, 2025
Trying to impress online shoppers?
Clever, personalized marketing campaigns are a great way to get customers in the door—but once they place an order, it’s no time to let your guard down.
The post-purchase experience is one of the most essential elements of the customer journey. In fact, 84% of shoppers say they’re not likely to revisit a retailer after a negative delivery experience.
So how can your brand ensure a great delivery experience that helps you boost brand satisfaction and customer loyalty? In this article, we’ll look at what’s involved in wowing your shoppers after they check out.
What’s involved in the delivery experience?
The delivery experience refers to all of the brand interactions that take place between the time a shopper has placed an order, and when they receive the package. These should include:
- Order confirmation: The customer should immediately receive an order confirmation and receipt, which includes the details of their order and an estimated delivery timeframe. Within the message, you should tell shoppers when they can expect a shipping confirmation.
- Shipping notification: Once the order is packed and scanned by the carrier, you should update the shopper with an order tracking number and the estimated delivery date provided by the carrier. They should have the opportunity to view real-time order tracking details at any time.
- Pre- and post-delivery alerts: Alert the customer when the item is within several hours of being delivered, via their choice of SMS and/or email, so that they know to be on the lookout. They should also receive an immediate follow-up when the package has been delivered, including a note about where it was left (i.e., at door, in mailbox).
How to create a superior delivery experience
All of those touchpoints are important pieces of the delivery experience—but there’s a big margin for error, with some brands failing to impress their customers while others go above and beyond.
Here’s how to get it right:
- Fast (and ideally free) shipping: Amazon has long set the standard for the delivery experience, offering many of their products with two- or even one-day shipping, which is available free for Amazon Prime members. To follow in their footsteps, provide options for ultra-speedy shipping, even if they come at a premium, with additional options for free or low-cost ground shipping. Partnering with a 3PL with multiple regional warehouses will help you create a network for quick delivery at affordable shipping rates.
- Proactive order tracking and updates: It’s not enough to provide the shopper access to the carrier’s shipping updates and leave it at that. What if the shipment gets lost en route or slowed down? The customer will simply be left wondering what happened, and be frustrated when they need to reach out to your CX team for an update. Loop’s Order Tracking makes it easy to proactively address deliveries gone wrong, by updating the customer and shipping them a new package if the original order is no longer going to arrive in time. These actions are directly triggered by carrier updates, using automation to ensure superior and timely customer service.
- A fun unboxing experience: The unboxing experience should be a delight for the customer, with hassle-free and on-brand packaging that’s aesthetically pleasing enough for their Instagram reels. Consider including a surprise bonus gift, such as a product sample or a promotional coupon, directly within the box.
- A thoughtful follow-up message: Once you know the item has been delivered, it’s a great idea to check in with your customer to thank them for their purchase and ask for their feedback. You can provide a link to write a product review, or a referral code to share the product link with a friend in exchange for a future discount. This is also a great time to provide additional education on the product if applicable: For instance, if the shopper has just bought a casserole dish, you can provide links to some of your customers’ favorite casserole recipes.
- Easy, convenient returns: With up to 30% of online sales ending in a return, returns are an important element of the post-purchase experience—and if you don’t make it easy for shoppers, they’re not likely to consider your brand again in the future. With Loop, you can give your shoppers access to an intuitive returns portal, where they can self-service return requests and easily choose between a refund, exchange, or store credit to apply towards a future purchase. They’ll even be able to choose between self-mailing the return, or bringing it unboxed to a nearby drop-off center for a more convenient reverse logistics experience.
Your shoppers are likely to move on if they’re let down by slow shipping or miscommunications in the delivery process. To make sure that doesn’t happen, it’s essential to build a streamlined delivery experience that’s enhanced with automation and seamless workflows.
Get the delivery experience right, and you’re likely to win over customers for life.
In this article
Stay in the loop
Subscribe for product updates and Loop's biweekly newsletter.
2025 Trend Report
Retain more revenue with Loop today
With Loop, your brand can offer everything from refunds to direct exchanges to shopper incentives and more. Even better? These exchanges build your business.