Manual vs Automated Courier Claims for Ecommerce

Health, fitness and nutrition are popular all year-round (it's a $2 trillion global industry for a reason), but it's most popular at the start of the year. While this is great for the Sales department - i.e. sales of exercise equipment rise 60% in January - it's a double-edged sword for Logistics and Ops managers in Health & Fitness e-commerce as more orders = more delivery issues = more strains on your team's time.

But by automating courier claims processes, Health & Fitness e-commerce can cut claims processing time by 80% (and recoup lost revenue for the business). Here's the difference between manual and automated claims in Health & Fitness e-commerce.

The 5 stages of claims processing for lost & damaged shipments

It's apt that there are five stages of manual courier claims processing and five stages of grief. Anyone that's manually submitted a damage compensation form for DPD or lost package claim with Royal Mail knows that it's a thankless task: complex, time-consuming and rarely successful. Here's why.

The five stages of manual claims processing

1. Discover delivery issue. Wait for a customer complaint (via email or your CRM). Find the corresponding order number and logistics data. Verify with the courier that your package is lost, delayed or damaged.
2. Check claim eligibility. Trawl through the courier-specific Ts&Cs to check you can make a claim - i.e. it corresponds with the sending restrictions, item exclusions and claims deadlines. For example DPD does not allow Health & Fitness e-commerce to ship sports watches or liquids.
3. Submit claim. Compile supporting evidence and complete the courier claims form - for each missing package. Depending on the delivery issue, a damage report and verified product valuation, as well as in-depth description of the package's contents, are required.
4. Track claim. Keep on top of every submitted claim manually through spreadsheets or through CRM software tools. Reach out to the courier for status updates if the processing time exceeds the courier's self-determined deadline.
5. Get paid. If successful, wait for courier reimbursement for up to 90 days (or longer depending on the courier's Ts&Cs). If unsuccessful due to human error (i.e. a typo on the serial number or missing a document), restart the process all over again.

The five stages of automated claims processing

Ok - now compare that experience with the five stages of claims processing using an automated platform like Claimit.

1. Discover delivery issue. Automatically spot discrepancies and shipping errors with an AI-powered tracking tool (i.e. Claimit scans 50+ potential shipping errors). Receive alerts before the end-customer knows there's a problem.
   
   Example: Claimit's system automatically picked up invoice discrepancies for the UK-based fitness sports retailer, Sigma Sports, identifying and resolving 22+ discrepancies per month in the first year.
2. Check claim eligibility. Automatically cross-reference the package/product with the courier's Ts&Cs and claims requirements. Receive instant claim eligibility before compiling evidence or submitting a claim.
   
   Example: Healf ships a huge array of wellbeing products - from electrolytes and coffee to probiotics and ice baths. Claimit's platform instantly checks individual couriers' claims requirements to make sure undelivered products are eligible for compensation claims (and advises which evidence is required if so).
3. Submit claim. Directly file a claim from a support ticket or CRM. After choosing the courier, the platform will auto-generate a list of required documents to upload from your CRM using drag-and-drop.
   
   Example: Bulk delivers 10 million nutrition products per year. The logistics team used to spend hours manually processing claims and only got compensation around 16% of the time due to submission errors. With Claimit, their claims success rate rose 4.4x and they saved 80% of the time.
4. Track claim. Get one single source of truth for all current claims' status with a centralised dashboard view of each claims progress in real-time.
   
   Example: Sports Direct is the UK's largest fitness retailer. As part of the Frasers Group, the logistics team has to monitor thousands of monthly claims. With Claimit, they can keep track of all of them in one place.
5. Get paid. Get payouts 40% quicker than manual claims process (due to faster claims resolutions). The Claimit platform has a 70%+ success rate and generates credits on the platform as soon as the claim is resolved.
   
   Example: Since using Claimit, Sigma Sports has received £240,000+ in compensation credits.

Logistics and Ops: Get up and running with zero integrations

Get up and running faster than your fitness-conscious customers.

There's a reason why Logistics, Ops, and IT teams love Claimit. There's no integrations (the platform plugs in directly to your existing CRM or e-commerce site) and no lengthy onboarding (due to the simple layout and usage).

"It was remarkably easy. We were up and running with Claimit in seven days, with almost zero work required on our side and no painful integrations. The platform is really simple too, so there was no lengthy onboarding time." - Bulk Logistics Director, John Beazley.

Find out more about how Bulk got started with Claimit (and saved 80% team time) with our interview with Bulk's Logistics Director, John Beazley.