What is WISMO? (Where is My Order?) - 2024 Guide

Introduction to WISMO

More than 20% of retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2023. But while customers love online shopping, they don’t enjoy waiting for their order quite so much.

From the moment they hit the “buy” button, 96% of customers track their package online, while 43%2 check their delivery status daily, anxiously waiting to receive their order.

That’s when they start reaching out with WISMO requests. The e-commerce acronym WISMO, which stands for “Where Is My Order?” is one of the most common requests from customers who make an online purchase.

While WISMO inquiries are inevitable for any retailer, they’ve reached an all-time high in the past few years. With the rise of online shopping and Amazon’s same-day delivery service raising the bar for shipping standards, customer expectations have understandably shifted.

Many WISMO requests affect your customer satisfaction and burden your customer support team. Let’s learn more about WISMO, how it affects your business, and how to efficiently manage it.

What is WISMO?

WISMO is one of the most common customer service questions you’ll get. In fact, it can account for up to 50% of calls to your support team. 

Customer patience is at an all-time low, and retailers are increasingly flooded with “WISMO?” or another version of this question. Here are a few examples:

• Why hasn’t my package arrived?

• Is my order delayed?

• Can I get an update on my order?

• When should I expect my package to arrive?

Many obstacles could occur between the “buy” and “delivered” stages, from shipping issues to order delays. At the same time, customers have high expectations regarding the post-purchase delivery experience and want retailers and couriers to keep them in the loop at all times. 

Customers use a variety of channels to reach out and seek support. Your customer service team may receive WISMO requests via email, calls, social media, chatbots, SMS, or messaging apps. Most customers today prefer using messaging channels like WhatsApp, SMS, or Facebook Messenger to contact you. 

So, you must make it easy for your customers to reach your support team and resolve their concerns at the first point of contact. 

Think of WISMO as a benchmark for a reliable delivery experience. For example, a continuously high number of WISMO requests signals that your post-purchase experience needs some improvement.

Why are WISMO requests on the rise?

Research shows that 93% [2] of customers want to stay informed throughout the delivery process. While the customer’s tendency to follow up on orders is not new, the sheer volume of WISMO requests has increased recently - and there are a couple of reasons – both in and out of your control – that might be causing this.

Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 37% [3] increase in the number of parcels shipped within the US. Pair this shipping boom with post-pandemic delays and supply chain issues; you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Delivery issues like these lead to a higher volume of WISMO requests. 

Shipping disruptions are also common during the holiday season. As the number of shipments skyrockets, parcels face significant delays, which leads to upset customers. These disruptions can quickly turn your customer’s experience sour if not addressed properly.

Why WISMO is increasingly important for e-commerce businesses

As e-commerce continues to rise, so too do customer expectations. Much of this could be due to giants like Amazon, who offer quick and relatively inexpensive shipping as standard and offer even speedier service for Prime customers. 

This level of service has made customers expect more.

• Almost 90% of customers expect faster delivery and shipping from all e-retailers, not just Amazon. 

• 63% of customers expect three-day shipping as standard

• 40% would not shop with brands that didn’t offer three-day deliveries.

• Nearly 80% of customers expect regular shipping updates – or they will switch brands.

It’s therefore, essential that you nail your delivery process to reduce WISMO queries. With heightened customer expectations comes increased anxiety too. To keep your customers on side, you need to keep them posted about their order every step of the way.

5 ways to increase CSAT with WISMO

With the importance of minimizing WISMO at the front of your mind – how do you do it? Here are a few tips. 

• Address concerns before checkout. Providing clear delivery estimates, returns information and addressing other key queries before checkout will help your customers know what to expect. This can reduce WISMO from the very beginning. 

• Comprehensive, real-time order tracking. This is a great way to answer WISMO questions without tying down your support staff. Providing a tracking link with every order can help your customers quickly get the status of their order.

• Notifications. Reaching your customers across different channels with handy, up-to-date notifications is also a great idea to reduce WISMO queries to your support team. Smartphone, email, and laptop notifications can all help keep your customers in the loop, and show off your proactivity as a business. It takes your customer service a step further than simple tracking emails. You can also offer shipping notifications on social media, or FAQs on your website. 

• Insurance/protection. Alongside a tracking service, providing package protection and/or insurance can help you provide a comprehensive, belt and braces approach. For one, it helps your customers trust that their order is properly accounted for and cared for. Secondly, if an item goes missing, it will help you smooth out the issue quickly. 

Ultimately, the above all come under the umbrella of post-purchase care. Providing an open, considerate, and communicative service, as well as perks Ultimately, the above all come under the umbrella of post-purchase care. Providing an open, considerate, and communicative service, as well as perks like free shipping/returns, to your customers is like money in the bank. If something goes wrong, they’re likely to be a lot more tolerant.

4 practical solutions to manage and reduce WISMO queries

If you’re an e-retailer, WISMO calls are not your friend. For one thing, they cost you money. You’ll need to pay the price of a ticket, plus the cost of human labor. One study calculated this to be around $12 per inquiry.

Then, there’s the potential loss of business. Remember, it costs five times more money to generate a new customer than to retain an existing one. In fact, Forbes estimates that US companies lose almost $137 billion every year due to their customers switching. 

The good news is that there are ways to reduce your WISMO requests and delight customers with an exemplary after-sales experience. 

1. Set clear expectations from the start 

Prevent unnecessary WISMO calls by providing customers with an estimated date they can expect their package to arrive. 

For example, let your customers know their order will take three to five working days and avoid overpromising a faster shipping time unless you can commit to it. If you’re inundated with online holiday orders and anticipate delays, give them a heads-up. 

Without clear communication from the beginning, customers won’t know when to expect their order to arrive. When this happens, they’ll get understandably antsy and contact you asking — you guessed it — WISMO. Setting clear expectations from the start eases customers’ anxiety and reduces the number of delivery-related inquiries. 

2. Offer fast and convenient support through chat and messaging apps 

When customers reach out with questions about their order, they expect instant support on the channel that they reached out on - not to be passed onto other channels or agents. However, it can be extremely resource-intensive to be available all the time, across all channels. So, you need to find what works for your business and your customers. 

Customers today prefer communicating with businesses on digital channels like messaging apps or in-app and website chats that offer conversational and real-time communication. Engaging with customers on these channels can help you answer questions and resolve delivery issues quickly.

If you find a spike in repetitive WISMO requests, you can also deploy AI-powered chatbots to give instant updates or automatically transfer them to a customer support agent if needed. 

Freshworks has helped thousands of businesses provide a seamless customer service experience, including the all-in-one 24/7 delivery platform, Dunzo. With impressive delivery turnaround times of 24 to 45 minutes, Dunzo wanted to bring that same speedy response time to order-related customer inquiries. 

Using Freshcat’s AI-powered bot, Dunzo was able to resolve 48% of requests without human interaction, helping them save 30% in support costs and reducing response time from 4 minutes to 46 seconds.  

By enabling their team to efficiently address order-related requests at any time, Freshdesk Omni helped Dunzo boost their team performance and deliver a high standard of customer service.  

3. Real-time order tracking

Today’s customers expect to have access to a tracking page where they can follow their order’s progress. 

Give them access to a tracking page that’s easy to navigate and enables them to keep track of their package from the moment it leaves the warehouse until it’s at their doorstep. 

Bonus points if you make it accessible across different devices like mobile. 

4. Proactively engage customers with delivery updates 

Messaging channels now allow customers to opt-in for delivery notifications when their parcel is dispatched. 

Automated updates ease a customer’s nerves throughout the delivery process, creating a better post-purchase experience. Simple notifications like “order sent” or “on its way” keep customers in the loop and reduce the number of WISMO inquiries. 

Freshworks enables you to send delivery notifications with ease on messaging channels such as WhatsApp. 

Customers who opt-in for notifications receive order, payment, and delivery updates directly on WhatsApp. Freshworks’ WhatsApp Business Integration also allows you to monitor your team’s performance and metrics.

Conquer WISMO overload with a seamless delivery journey

A high volume of WISMO inquiries is a symptom of a post-purchase experience that needs your attention. Managing and ultimately reducing the volume of package whereabouts requests will strengthen your customer experience and brand loyalty. 

To do so, your customer support team needs to meet customer expectations and provide a quick and effortless delivery experience. 

Modern messaging software helps your team deliver on those expectations and overcome the challenges that come with an increasing number of customer support requests. 

Reduce WISMO with Freshdesk Omni

The first step to reducing WISMO calls is having a great after-checkout experience. With Freshworks, you can create an incredible customer experience without the overheads and labor. Tracking numbers, push notifications and more are all part of the post-purchase package with Freschat. Try it for yourself today.