You may have heard of the acronym WISMO…well, we’ll start with the basics, WISMO stands for “Where is my order?”. A question you’ve undoubtedly asked yourself when ordering online or had to deal with as part of your inbound customer enquiries at your retail business. 

So, how important is conveying tracking information to consumers? The short answer is – very! In fact, a survey of shoppers states 69.7%* would be less likely to shop with the retailer again if their package is delayed and they are not informed. And a massive 68.5%* of shoppers stated they would prefer more communication in terms of availability and delivery status of their purchase. In the age of next day and express delivery, it is even more important to manage and provide effective communication to customers, especially on items that are made to order or with longer lead times.

60% of retailers’ inbound service calls are ‘Where is my order?’ related

~ Retail Week

Retail Week reported that typically around 60%** of retailers’ inbound service calls are ‘Where is my order?’ related. It’s clear WISMO affects all retailers, yet to some, especially those with smaller margins or longer lead times on their products the enquiries can start to become problematic if managed manually. They can eat up time and money through a variety of customer service platforms such as phone, email, social media and online chats.

At Ampersand we’ve been working with one of our furniture retail clients to develop an automated solution to tackle their incoming WISMO enquiries, reduce their overall customer handling costs, and increase their customer satisfaction by enabling accurate timelines and tracking information. 

The vast majority of their emails to the customer service team were ‘Where is my order?’, this is understandable as the majority of their products have substantial lead times. With the work we are about to launch with them, their customers will be able to track their order at a granular level, from manufacture to shipping container to warehouse right up until it reaches their delivery slot. 

Our work on creating a WISMO solution is in order to break the connection between the number of orders received and having a certain amount of customer service capacity to deal with enquiries relating to those orders. By automating as much of the tracking process as possible, we are able to reduce the cost to the retailer per order and therefore drive larger margins. 

Taking away WISMO enquiries also enables the retailer to handle other customer service issues such as damage or sales enquiries more efficiently and quickly, improving customer relationships and satisfaction levels.

If you would like to discuss your needs relating to WISMO further, please contact us here.

*GetConvey’s Consumer Survey: A Guide to Post-purchase Communication during Covid-19, 

**https://www.retail-week.com/retail-voice/do-you-know-the-true-cost-of-delivery/7032452.article?authent=1