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Example case study · Operations & Logistics

Late shipments caught before customers notice

How agents gave a 25-person online brand an early warning on every order, and took “where is my order?” off the support team.

Industry
E-commerce, home goods
Size
25 people
Systems
Shopify, a 3PL portal, Gorgias
Timeline
6 weeks
35%Fewer late deliveries
60%Fewer “where is my order?” tickets
$310KA year in refunds avoided and customers kept

The challenge

About 3,000 orders a week shipped through one warehouse partner and four carriers. When a package stalled, the team heard about it from an unhappy customer, and two people spent most of the day answering “where is my order?” emails.

  • Delays surfaced only after a customer complained
  • Refunds and reshipments kept climbing
  • The founder was pulled into support every week

The timeline

6 weeks

AuditWeeks 1–2Traced every order from checkout to doorstep and sorted a month of support tickets.
Architecture & designWeek 3Designed the alerts, the customer messages and the links to Shopify, the 3PL portal and Gorgias with the team.
ImplementationWeeks 4–6Launched order watch first, then customer updates, then the support agent.

The audit

Weeks 1–2

  • 4 in 10 support tickets asked where an order was
  • Most delays showed a warning sign in the carrier data a day or more ahead
  • One carrier route caused a third of late deliveries

Architecture & design

Week 3

Order watch agent

Checks every open order against the carrier’s tracking, every hour.

Follow-up agent

Chases the warehouse and carriers about stuck orders, and logs the answers.

Customer update agent

Emails customers about a delay before they ask, with a new delivery date.

Support agent

Answers “where is my order?” tickets with live tracking, and hands anything else to the team.

Implementation

Weeks 4–6

Order watch and follow-upsWeek 4Every open order checked hourly, and stuck orders chased with the warehouse and carriers automatically.
Customer updatesWeek 5Delay emails sent before customers asked. Complaints about late orders fell by half.
Support and handoverWeek 6“Where is my order?” tickets answered automatically, and the team trained to run it.

Results & ROI

Before and after

Late deliveries
Before: 9% of orders
After: 6% of orders
“Where is my order?” tickets
Before: 1,100 a month
After: 440 a month
Warning on a delay
Before: On delivery day
After: 48 hours ahead
Support time on order questions
Before: 2 people, full time
After: A few hours a week

Return on investment

$310K a year

Paid back in under 3 months

Refunds and reshipments avoided$140KFewer lost and late orders refunded or sent again
Customers kept$85KRepeat orders from customers who would have left after a late delivery
Support hire avoided$65KOrder questions handled without adding a third support person
Carrier credits claimed$20KLate-delivery credits now claimed automatically
Total, each year$310K

Example figures, for illustration.

Next case study

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