Tracking Multiple Carriers

For the eCommerce companies we work with, accurate shipment tracking is extremely important to their customers and for daily operations. If you are shipping all your products with the same carrier, you're less likely to have issues when it comes to sharing and understanding tracking information. However, what do you do when you are faced with a single order that needs to be fulfilled by more than one carrier? We call this the proverbial “couch and a ring” scenario. It baffled me when I learned that some eCommerce companies still display a vague “tracking from multiple carriers” to customers when faced with this.

If you’ve ever juggled multiple carrier tracking on your own, the following might sound familiar:

You go to the carrier website. Each carrier has their own special website, and you’ll scan every heading to find the tracking section. Is it the top left, middle, bottom right? Is it called “track” or “trace?” Finally, you enter the PRO number you have been given, the statuses are listed in each carrier’s own cryptic language. If the shipment hasn’t been picked up yet, the PRO isn’t even visible, which leads to feelings of panic that your shipment is forgotten. And if your vendor accidentally gave it to the wrong carrier, good luck chasing down the BOL for the carrier sticker.

For smaller carrier or local delivery providers who don’t have websites, you would need to call their office or wait until you receive the invoice to know if it was picked up or delivered. If there are any exceptions with your shipment, there are often no further updates as claim progress without having to call or email someone there.

At ShipHawk, we have felt your pain and created a solution. ShipHawk’s tracking software provides clear and simple tracking updates for all carriers processed through the platform, from the smallest parcel to the largest truckload. If your customer dares to purchase a couch and a ring, there will be no mystery in tracking and both you and the customer can relax through to delivery. Check out a few of ShipHawk’s benefits below:

• Visibility of raw carrier tracking numbers, updates, and comments
• Normalizes tracking events into primary shipment statuses with pickup and delivery dates
• Branded tracking page and embeddable tracking widget available for eCommerce
• Flexibility to track direct carrier relationship shipments or ShipHawk carrier accounts