Somebody is buying something expensive for an anniversary. She adds it to a basket, reaches the delivery page, and thinks about a parcel sitting on a doorstep in a street where things go missing.
She closes the tab. The purchase was real and it was lost to an unanswered worry.
The checklist
Publish these and the order completes.
1. How items are sent
The service used, whether it is tracked, insured and requires a signature. Named specifically rather than described as secure.
2. Whether it is insured in transit
To what value, by whom, and what happens if something is lost. It is the question behind the hesitation and it deserves a direct answer.
3. What the packaging looks like
Whether it is discreet, whether the contents are identifiable from the outside and whether branding appears. Customers worry about a parcel that announces itself.
4. Whether a signature is required
And what happens if nobody is in. Customers need to know it will not be left somewhere.
5. Whether it can be left in a safe place
And your position on it, which for high value items should usually be no. Saying so plainly is reassuring rather than inconvenient.
6. The delivery window
How much notice, whether a time slot is given and whether it can be scheduled. It lets somebody arrange to be home.
7. The collection option
In store, with what identification is needed and how long it is held. It removes the risk entirely and many customers prefer it.
8. The delivery to an alternative address position
Because gift buyers send directly, and because some retailers restrict it for high value items. Either way it should be stated.
9. What happens with a damaged parcel
Whether to refuse it, what evidence is needed and who to contact. Customers need a procedure rather than a panic.
10. The international position
Where you ship, what changes, duties and what is not covered. Overseas buyers need it before building a basket.
11. How returns are sent back
Because returning something valuable carries the same anxiety and frequently more, with who pays and how it is protected.
12. What happens with a repair being posted
Because sending something for repair is the same worry, which is the handling in jewellery repair and resizing questions.
13. The documentation included
Valuation, certification and receipts, and whether they arrive with the item or separately, as in valuation appointments and insurance questions.
13b. Say when it will actually arrive
Somebody buying for an anniversary needs a date rather than a range of working days. Publishing cut off times, what guarantees a date and what happens if something is made or sized to order is what prevents a present arriving the day after it was needed.
13c. Explain what happens with a delayed order
Items are sized, engraved or ordered in, and timescales slip. Committing to tell a customer as soon as a date moves, rather than letting them discover it, is what turns an unavoidable delay into something forgivable.
14. Answer these questions before checkout
Because the worry arrives at the delivery page and the order is lost there, the same buying moment as gift buyers need different answers than everyday shoppers, and the same scrutiny you should apply in AI chatbot security questions to ask a vendor.
Getting started
Publish how items are sent, insured and packaged, offer collection and answer delivery questions at any hour. SpideyChat for retailers answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.