Consumers and businesses alike are all asking: When will my order arrive?
It’s up to the courier and delivery businesses to answer that question accurately. If your business is consistently able to answer that question efficiently and accurately, you will instill your customers with a greater sense of trust and confidence. On the other hand, if you can’t provide the answer, have constantly changing answers, or vastly inaccurate ones, you’ll be liable to garner displeasure and lose the trust of your customers. Altogether, that’s why the estimated time of arrival (ETA) lies at the heart of all delivery businesses.
So, what can you do about this tightrope walk? How can you ensure that you’ll end up on the right side of it?
In this article, we’ll explore what an ETA is in detail and go over some easy ways to immediately improve yours.
What Is an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)?
An estimated time of arrival (ETA) is the time at which something is expected to arrive at its final destination. In the context of logistics and shipping, ETA refers specifically to the estimated time of arrival of the delivery vehicle at this location.
ETAs are calculated based on factors like distance, speed limit, number of other stops on the route, and more. It’s essential to have a robust system for calculating accurate ETAs and communicating them to your customers, as accurate ETAs give your customers confidence in your service and build your business’s credibility.
ETA vs. ETD
Alongside ETA, you may also have heard of ETD. ETD stands for estimated time of delivery, or estimated time of departure, depending on the context.
While ETA and ETD are two terms that sound similar, they have nuanced meanings because “arrival” and “delivery” are not the same. While the estimated time of arrival refers specifically to the arrival of the delivery vehicle carrying the package, the estimated time of delivery refers to the time at which the package is dropped off, handed over, signed for, or so on.
While ETD is a fascinating realm in and of itself, ETA is the more commonly used signal for delivery and courier businesses communicating with their customers.
Factors that Affect ETA
Several factors can affect your ETAs. They include:
- Weather and Traffic
- Environmental Factors
- Information Accuracy
- Driver and Vehicle Availability
- Route Planning
Let’s dive into each one a bit further.
Weather and Traffic
It doesn’t take extreme weather for it to cause delays. Rain can slow drivers down and impair visibility, while winds can blow obstacles into the road, all without becoming unusual for your area.
Traffic can occur due to weather conditions, peak hours, construction, or accidents. When planning routes, be aware of large-scale construction projects and plan to avoid congested areas during peak hours—alternatively, factor in additional time when calculating your estimated time of arrival (ETA).
Environmental Factors
Whether you deliver in an urban area, a rural area, or both, these environments can have different affordances that affect how fast or slow your deliveries arrive. Different speed limits, building density, parking time and space limits, and road qualities can all impact the amount of time each stop takes.
For example, dense urban areas may not have parking spaces available for larger delivery vehicles, meaning that drivers will either need to spend additional time searching for parking and unloading zones or park further from the final delivery address. Meanwhile, rural areas may have more dirt and gravel roads that require delivery vehicles to move at slower speeds in order to traverse them safely.
Information Accuracy
The accuracy of the information provided during the submission of an order can make or break the accuracy of its final ETA.
Errors in order information can result in missed delivery windows, location misdeliveries, and the need for second attempt deliveries. All of these can significantly impact ETAs.
Driver and Vehicle Availability
Deliveries can’t be made without drivers or vehicles. That’s why the availability and health of your drivers and fleet can’t be overlooked.
Unexpected events such as flat tires or a driver calling in sick can create cascading delays in the ETAs of numerous orders. Regular maintenance and vehicle checks can enable you to plan around temporarily out-of-commission vehicles. At the same time, ensuring a quality workplace and good interpersonal relationships can encourage drivers to communicate with you in a timely manner when calling in sick, allowing you to pivot as needed.
The size of your fleet and the number of drivers you employ should also suit the number of deliveries you expect to handle every month. Too few of either can cause stress, overwork, and delayed ETAs; too many can cause unnecessary expenses and expenditures without tangible improvements on ETAs.
Route Planning
The final factors that can impact your ETAs are route planning and route scheduling. These are the cornerstones for providing accurate and satisfying ETAs for your customers.
Planning optimized routes maximizes productivity and minimizes costs by reducing unnecessary travel time. It also helps avoid extended delivery time by factoring in delivery windows. Without features like this, drivers and vehicles can spend unnecessary extra time waiting to deliver packages even after arriving at the delivery location.
Ways to Improve Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)
Now that we understand the five critical areas that have the power to throw off ETAs drastically, let’s explore several fast and easy ways to improve the consistency and accuracy of your ETAs.
Leverage Historical Data
Leveraging historical data specific to your delivery area will help you avoid unnecessary delays in your ETAs. Staying informed of these trends will keep you and your drivers from being caught off guard.
Historical data can include internal information from drivers and locals about peak traffic times and areas of congestion. For example, certain intersections, one-way streets, or on- and off-ramps may experience different volumes of traffic at various times of the day or days of the week.
Other traffic patterns can be predicted with the help of websites that offer live statistics and historical data about your city or region. One accessible and commonly used tool is Google Maps, which displays live busy areas. By tracking this information over days, weeks, or years, you can build a picture of regular traffic patterns in your area.
City-wide construction projects should also not take you or your drivers off guard. City websites and news outlets are essential places to keep apprised of construction projects that may create additional traffic and delay deliveries but knowing when and where construction will be happening around you will allow you to adapt.
While not all traffic conditions can be preempted, by understanding the area and working with known patterns in any way you can, you will be in a better position to adjust to unforeseen circumstances due to weather, crashes, or other factors.
Robust Information Verification
When taking orders, verify the information provided by the customer. For new customers, this may involve asking them to double-check information such as street addresses, gate or lockbox codes, and so on, before the order date. For existing customers, this may involve reviewing new orders and referencing information from previous orders to catch issues.
Verified information is a two-way street. Your business needs accurate information from customers, but customers need accurate information from your business as well. Setting up accurate and specific delivery options allows customers to set their expectations for their delivery’s estimated time of arrival.
For example, your company may not offer overnight deliveries on weekends. Without this information, a customer might try to submit an overnight order on Friday and expect an ETA of Saturday morning. In reality, the ETA will be Monday morning.
To avoid dissatisfied customers and provide them with accurate ETAs from the moment they place an order, consider scheduling access to various price sets or delivery options. Meanwhile, creating an address book of verified addresses or using auto-complete data to verify customer information not only makes order entry quicker but also more accurate.
Fleet and Driver Management
The last thing you want is an unexpected mechanical issue causing a cascade of delays throughout your delivery schedule. By staying on top of the maintenance your fleet needs and when it's due, you can stay ahead of preventable delays.
OnTime 360 comes equipped with fleet management features, allowing you to easily track vehicles by type, schedule tasks such as oil changes, and view odometer readings.
Additionally, maintaining an appropriate fleet and driver size per the number of deliveries and routes you handle regularly will allow you to adapt to unexpected changes. Whether a driver calls in sick or a vehicle gets a flat tire, having enough employees to redistribute orders and deliveries is vital to reducing delays. Working together and supported by robust software, a well-rounded team can prevent ETAs from getting off-base.
Route Schedules
Where applicable, create recurring routes and route stops with a tool like the Route Stop Scheduler. Knowing when regular orders will come in enables you to be one step ahead. Armed with information such as delivery location ahead of time, you can provide your customer with even more accurate ETAs, which only improve as time goes on.
Route Optimization
The final aspect of improving your ETAs is route optimization. This multi-faceted tool addresses many of the areas we’ve already discussed above.
Route optimization is the process of determining the most efficient routes for drivers to complete deliveries. It utilizes algorithms and software to examine factors such as distance, traffic, vehicle size, and delivery times. Smart route optimization and dynamic scheduling are powerful tools, and with them at your fingertips, the estimated time of arrival that you can provide to customers will always be as accurate as possible, based on real-time conditions.
Enabling drivers to optimize routes on the fly will further your accuracy. This allows drivers to respond to unexpected roadblocks, such as a crash on the interstate. These features will enable your business to respond to real-time conditions and maintain accurate ETAs that run smoothly.
Communicating Estimated Time of Arrival
An ETA means nothing if it isn’t communicated to the customer. Customized and automated notifications are a must when it comes to keeping customers apprised of ETAs and satisfied with the service they receive. Thankfully, OnTime 360 offers transparent delivery tracking to fill this need.
Send customers automated notifications to keep them apprised of the movement of their delivery. To complete the order, give them peace of mind with your choice of proof of delivery (POD).
Staying On Top of ETAs with OnTime 360
With OnTime 360, you can access a powerful suite of tools designed to streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and support business growth. These tools include essential features for accurate ETAs, such as smart route optimization, dynamic scheduling, transparent delivery tracking, automated notifications, and more.
The software’s robust features provide the efficiency and reliability necessary to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced delivery industry. Verify delivery information to prevent misdeliveries, track vehicle maintenance needs, and leverage historical data. OnTime 360 can benefit your business.
Experience the benefits of OnTime 360 by purchasing, booking a demo, or starting a free trial today.