How to Send Tracking Emails Automatically 

The fulfillment and shipping process can seem overwhelming for any business. For small businesses with limited time and resources, providing tracking emails may seem like an added hassle. However, the right shipping solution can allow any business to easily automate this process and ensure customers have insight into the status of their package. 

How Tracking Emails Work 

ShippingEasy makes sending automated tracking emails quick and easy. So how does it work? Your business’ ShippingEasy account will manage all of your orders in one place—including everything from your customers’ information to carrier rates and tracking links. No need to worry about shipping confirmation and tracking emails. Instead, simply set them up to send automatically through the platform. Once you have created a label and processed an order to be shipped, ShippingEasy will automatically send your customer an email with the correct tracking information for their shipment. 

Tracking emails can also be automated and sent for drop-shipped orders that are fulfilled someplace other than your business or warehouse. 

Branded Tracking 

Package tracking emails have some of the highest open and click-through rates of any emails your business will send. Incorporating your business’s unique brand elements in these emails will ensure that this customer touchpoint not only provides value for your customer but for your business as well. ShippingEasy makes it simple for you to create branded tracking emails and pages. This heavily trafficked touchpoint should feel consistent with the rest of your e-commerce experience. Your logo, brand colors, and brand messaging can bring credibility and trust to this important part of the post-purchase experience. 

Your branded tracking page is a great place to incorporate relevant backlinks or social media handles. This will keep your customers engaged with your business even after they’ve made their purchase. You may also choose to include a return label or return instructions on your tracking page or email for your customer’s convenience. 

Your customers demand visibility into the status of their orders. With the consistent improvement of e-commerce, consumers expect a sophisticated customer experience from every business they patronize. With smaller teams and limited resources, it’s crucial for small businesses to optimize their shipping processes in order to keep up and deliver a competitive customer experience. A shipping solution like ShippingEasy can make package tracking a seamless, automated part of any business’ fulfillment process—large or small. 

Want to offer your customers package tracking in a branded environment? Click below to start your 30-day free trial of ShippingEasy—with Branded Tracking included!

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These peak surcharges are a result of the growing strain that increased package volume is putting on carriers. These rate increases allow FedEx to keep up with expected delivery timeframes while also scaling increased fleet maintenance and staffing demands.  

FedEx Peak Surcharges for 2021

Ways to Save on Shipping

Luckily, ShippingEasy offers discounted shipping rates that help you avoid these surcharges. Our UPS rates are discounted and do not come with all the surcharges you would get with a standalone UPS or FedEx account. 

USPS Rates from ShippingEasy

Our USPS rates are already among the lowest available to anyone. Furthermore, USPS doesn’t apply surcharges to their rates in the same way that FedEx and UPS do. ShippingEasy’s partnership with Stamps.com offers discounted USPS rates that are available to all customers upon signup.

UPS Rates from ShippingEasy

UPS from ShippingEasy offers affordable UPS shipping rates for both Ground and Express shipping options. Like our USPS rates, these rates are available to all ShippingEasy customers upon signup.

Click below to start saving time and money on your e-commerce shipping!

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There are a few things you will need to know before you begin your venture selling and shipping vitamins and supplements. 

First off, let’s differentiate between the two:

• Vitamins are chemical compounds or groups of chemical compounds like vitamin C or zinc 
• Supplements are generally a combination of vitamins, herbs, amino acids, or other natural/synthetic ingredients taken to supplement one’s diet 

Generally speaking, the term “vitamin” has better SEO and traffic. The Vitamin Shoppe is the #1 Google result for most search terms. Both terms are equally difficult to rank for, but “vitamin” is more commonly used in brand names. That is something you’ll need to keep in mind when naming your vitamin and supplements business. 

The term “vitamin” is frequently used interchangeably with “supplement.” Furthermore, “vitamins” is a simpler word to spell and this can help with SEO to avoid misspellings that aren’t autocorrected. If you have to choose a term to use in your branding, it’s probably best to go with “vitamin.”

Do I Need Approval to Sell Online? 

Unlike pharmaceuticals, supplements and vitamins do not require FDA approval to sell. Supplements are not subjected to the same tests that drugs are to prove effectiveness or side effects. This makes it an easier product to sell, however, merchants are liable for damages their products cause.

Is Shipping Vitamins and Supplements Internationally Legal?

Supplements and vitamins are commonly prohibited from shipping internationally. Factors such as prohibited compounds or stricter regulations on growing, harvesting, and selling the compounds make many customs offices return or discard supplements. For simplicity’s sake, you’ll want to focus on shipping vitamins and supplements to domestic customers. For more information, check with a desired country’s import restrictions. 

Can I Ship Pharmaceuticals & Prescription Drugs

Pharmaceuticals are an entirely different beast due to regulations and FDA approval. 

Shipping pharmaceuticals involves certain requirements you need to fulfill in order to ship them. If you have to ask if you’re able to ship prescription drugs, you’re probably not. Before attempting to ship pharmaceuticals, it’s crucial to check with individual carriers on their stipulations and guidelines. We’ve linked the three major carriers’ guidelines below. 

UPS

FedEx

USPS

Which Carrier is Cheapest?

There is no “one size fits all” answer for the cheapest carrier when shipping vitamins and supplements, but lightweight parcels are generally most affordable through USPS First Class Package Service (under 15.999 oz). 

Heavier parcels are sometimes more affordable through UPS or FedEx. That being said, ShippingEasy’s Flat Rate Green is a very economical way to ship parcels weighing between 2-20 lbs so long as they are under .50 cubic feet. This could be particularly useful for larger orders of capsules or more dense packages such as tubs of supplement powder.

Flat rate shipping may also be an alternative so save on shipping vitamins and supplements. Flat rate shipping is offered by all three of the major carriers, each with their own guidelines. USPS and FedEx provide preapproved boxes for free, and UPS allows merchants to use their own packaging at flat rate pricing. 

Download our free guide to flat rate shipping, complete with tables and charts to help you find the cheapest option by weights and zones.

Offering Returns

Returning merchandise is never a fun topic, and with supplements, it’s even trickier. You can’t offer returns on used or opened supplements, but many supplement companies offer returns for orders that are less than 14 days old and if they are unopened. Make sure to be clear and upfront about your return policies, and note that 11% of people abandon carts based on a business’s return policies!

Offering returns on unused merchandise is a great way to boost sales. Even when customers are planning on keeping their merchandise, seeing that a business offers returns is a great way to elevate your brand. This can even move customers from marketplaces with stricter returns on supplements and onto your own website. Luckily, returns can be affordable and easy with the right shipping platform. 

The Case for Repeat Business

One element of selling and shipping vitamins and supplements is the high likelihood of repeat customers. If your customers enjoy the products, they’ll want to reorder. But sometimes people forget or, even worse, shop a competitor’s similar products. That’s why it’s important to get ahead of this situation with buy-it-again reminder emails. 

Building repeat business is a crucial part of maintaining your customers’ lifecycles, and email is a major part of that. ShippingEasy offers Customer Marketing as part of our suite of small business tools. We make it easy to build custom emails or use a prebuilt template. Set-it-and-forget-it automation means you turn on automated emails and they trigger at the right time to your customers.

Sell vitamins and supplements with a typically 30-day supply? Set up automated buy-it-again reminders for approximately 20 days after delivery to make sure your customers have time to replenish before they run out. 

There is potential in selling and shipping vitamins and supplements online, and the shipping portion of that doesn’t have to be a pain. ShippingEasy helps you automate tasks, sync orders across stores and marketplaces, and save on every single package. Plus we have add-ons that help you brand the entire shipping experience, build your business, and create repeat business. Try it all, free for 30 days, by clicking below!

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Scan-Based Return Labels

Scan-based return labels are the preferred method of return labels. These are labels that are only charged upon use—when a carrier scans them into their system. If you pay a monthly invoice for your shipping labels, then your returns will follow the same billing. Carriers that offer scan-based returns are FedEx and UPS. If you sign up for UPS through ShippingEasy, keep in mind that our integration is prepaid. We will discuss that more later. 

Advantages of Scan-Based Returns

The advantages to scan-based returns largely come down to convenience. Since they are only charged upon use, you can print them out and include them with outbound parcels. Furthermore, the event of a return requires less back and forth with customers; and saving time of course equates to saving money. As it turns out, including a pay-on-use return label is a major incentive for customers when buying from a merchant. In fact, 78% of consumers prefer to have a prepaid return shipping label with the return cost deducted from their refund. So, while there are some disadvantages to scan-based returns, their pros can outweigh the cons. 

Disadvantages of Scan-Based Returns

Scan-based returns seem like a good thing, no doubt. And overall, they offer a better experience. However, many of the more affordable shipping options for parcels weighing under about 5 pounds don’t have access to scan-based returns. This makes the convenience of scan-based returns a more expensive option for many smaller businesses—particularly if you sell lightweight items. 

Furthermore,  scan-based carriers not only have more expensive initial rates, but they also can add additional surcharges and fees onto your invoice. Frequently, these are things like fuel surcharges and residential surcharges (roughly $3.75 per delivery). One way to look at it is that carriers who invoice are more likely to apply additional charges onto a shipment. 

Prepaid Return Labels

Prepaid return labels are how USPS and UPS from ShippingEasy offer returns. As with their standard outbound labels, you pay for the label upon creation. While there are a few disadvantages to these, there are also advantages to prepaid returns. Furthermore, ShippingEasy gives you the ability to offer these to your customers with ease. 

Advantages of Prepaid Return Labels

Prepaid return labels may require a bit more work to send to a customer, but they also tend to be more affordable—particularly for lightweight parcels. What you pay upon creation is generally the final amount. Take UPS from ShippingEasy for example. While these labels are prepaid, they also avoid many of the common fees associated with standalone UPS accounts. For instance, residential surcharges are heavily discounted with ShippingEasy. 

Disadvantages of Prepaid Return Labels

The obvious disadvantage of prepaid return labels is that you pay for them even if you don’t use them. Furthermore, printing prepaid return labels require more action on the customer’s part. If a customer doesn’t have a printer, it may be challenging for them to print a prepaid label out. Luckily there are ways to provide customers with a returns process that they want! 

Email Customers Return Labels

The most common way to authorize and send a customer a return label is to do so through email. ShippingEasy makes that process straightforward by providing you with default return shipment email templates. Additionally, scan-based return labels may be preferable for large retailers, but many small businesses don’t have the order volume to effectively offer scan-based returns. 

We’re behind you

Here at ShippingEasy, we understand that these are trying times for small business owners across the country and world. Our team has been working to help business owners adapt—whether that means better understanding fulfillment processes or getting started with their first online store. Click below to read our tips on surviving COVID-19 as a small business.

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