Q2 product release highlights – faster deployment and customer journeys

This quarter we’ve been making Doddle products faster – whether that means crafting user flows that help customers get their items dropped off more quickly, or by helping carriers to deploy our Digital Returns solution in less time than ever.

For our Drop-Off Kiosks, this includes optimising the consumer journey and adding sends functionality, resulting in a 25% reduction in journey times and a 3-point increase in NPS. And thanks to new tooling for our Digital Returns platform, our carrier-branded portals can be configured and ready to go live in as little as a week. For our PUDO platform, we’ve also created a new flow that enables stores to hand over parcel containers to drivers, saving time scanning individual parcels.

The Drop-Off Kiosk is our automated parcel drop-off solution, allowing customers to quickly drop off parcels without overburdening staff at PUDO locations, post offices and retail stores. This quarter, we’ve optimised the user flow to provide a quicker and more effective journey, and implemented sends functionality for users to drop off both returns and sends from a single kiosk. 

We believe that there’s always room for improvement. Our kiosks could process returns in as little as 60 seconds, but we knew we could make this even faster for consumers. Reviewing the overall journey, we combined the start screen with the scan item screen, removing a step from the journey and encouraging users to have their QR code ready before starting. This also included warnings on items unsuitable for self-service, halving the drop-out rate.

We also sped up the animations and transitions between steps, and automated the completion step, increasing the overall efficiency of the flow while reassuring users that their parcel had been accepted. In addition to reduced journey times and halving the drop-out rate, these improvements also increased satisfaction, increasing NPS by an average of 3 across our US locations.

Our team have launched send functionality across all our kiosks allowing consumers to drop off any valid parcel in as little as 30 seconds. Just scan, drop and go.

Consumers can send as many sends and returns as they like in just one transaction, maintaining a great consumer experience while also allowing carriers to tap into and serve micro-shipper audiences, comprised of small SMEs and recommerce sellers who ship multiple parcels per week. 

In addition, parcels sent through the kiosk also link with carrier tracking systems, automatically enabling full track and trace from the second the parcel is dropped off.

Our Digital Returns product supports the entire returns process, from post-purchase communications and returns booking to refund authorisation. This quarter, we’ve added drop-off location promotions within the digital returns journey to help drive volume and footfall to specific drop-off locations. 

Pre-built and battle-tested with millions of transactions, our Digital Returns solution saves carriers months (or years!) of building in-house. Continuing our focus on speed, we’ve developed more internal tooling to ready our industry-leading solution in just 1-2 weeks.

This tooling allows us to toggle features on or off according to carrier specifications, delivering fully branded solutions in a matter of days – perfect for proof-of-concept trials where carriers can see the value of our portal first-hand. In addition, this tooling allows us to easily roll out new features and make alterations when needed, instantly adapting to carrier or merchant needs. 

The Doddle PUDO Platform powers the creation, roll out and management of a PUDO network. Our tools help add new locations, improve the customer experience, and increase parcel volume into PUDO. This quarter, we’ve made the collection flow even faster with the new hand-to-driver flow that allows stores to exchange parcel containers.

Rather than drivers scanning individual parcels on collection, PUDO stores can now hand over containers of parcels for faster and more efficient handovers. The new flow enables PUDO staff to create new containers, place parcels inside and close them ready for dispatch when full. This makes managing large quantities of parcels easier and faster for staff, giving users a better experience.

When ready to be collected, the containers are scanned and handed over to driver, saving time and improving efficiency, particularly in high-volume stores.