As your delivery business continues to grow, you have more and more orders to handle. It is imperative to not only get each customer’s package to the right person but also to the correct address in a timely manner.

It can get hectic trying to manage dozens and dozens of deliveries per day using manual processes like spreadsheets, phone calls and old-fashioned paper maps

Delivery zones and geo-fencing can help you organize your growing number of deliveries while preventing misrouted or even missed orders. With a delivery tracking app and the right delivery management software, delivery zones and geo-fencing can play a vital role in ensuring the efficiency of your last-mile delivery operations.

What Are Delivery Zones?

Delivery zones are commonly used by delivery services and companies to organize where their drivers should deliver. These zones can be broken down however your business sees fit. Some organizations might break their delivery zones up by street or neighborhood. Others might use postal codes or even the distance from a central warehouse or storefront. Even food delivery services will sometimes use delivery zones for different areas of the city they service.

Delivery zones are an easy way to organize incoming orders while also helping drivers better understand what areas they are responsible for. When combined with a delivery tracking app and the right delivery management software, delivery zones can help ensure drivers are given the right orders and the orders aren’t missed or misrouted.

What Is Geo-Fencing?

While delivery zones are usually manually created, geo-fencing can be used to automatically notify both drivers and the back office when a driver reaches certain areas. While delivery zones define where drivers should deliver, geo-fencing can be used to help define the process for drivers and provide important information to the operations team or customer.

Geo-fencing is typically created using a combination of GPS and mapping services. The GPS identifies when a driver has entered or exited a specific area and provides information to either the driver or the operations team.

Some businesses might geo-fence entire delivery zones. As a driver approaches a specific zone, information concerning that delivery can be provided. Geo-fencing can also be used to identify if a driver was sent to the wrong area. In short, geo-fencing is a powerful tool that can be coupled with delivery management software to provide important information to the operations team and customers rather than just a standalone delivery tracking app.

Avoid Misrouted Orders

Sometimes an order can be incorrectly routed to a driver. This can happen when addresses are misinterpreted or when a dispatcher incorrectly assigns an order to a driver. This is especially common when drivers have to navigate to multiple stops before reaching their final destination. Delivery zones can help solve this problem by designating specific areas for drivers. Instead of manually assigning each order to a driver, the delivery zones can be loaded into the delivery tracking app.

By organizing your delivery zones, you give drivers more information about the orders they are supposed to deliver.

Without delivery zones, drivers might have multiple orders from different parts of town. This means they have to stop several times before reaching their final destination, increasing the overall delivery time. In food delivery services, delivery zones may be created for different parts of town. Using delivery zones and a delivery tracking app, drivers can be given the right information at the right time.

Avoid Missed Deliveries

There are multiple reasons why an order might be missed. Customers provide incorrect addresses, drivers reach the wrong location or a driver might even miss an order altogether. Geo-fencing can help prevent missed deliveries.

When a driver approaches a specific area, a geo-fence can be used to identify that they have reached the correct area. As with delivery zones, there is an option to also send automatic notifications to the operations team or even the customer. Using a delivery tracking app can provide drivers with the information they need to get to the right place and confirm that the delivery was successful.

Instead of calling customers to find out their exact location, delivery tracking apps and geo-fencing can be used to identify if a driver missed the delivery. Delivery zones and geo-fencing work hand-in-hand with delivery management software to ensure each delivery is completed and the customer gets the product or food they ordered in a timely manner.

Optimized Driver Allocation

It can be challenging to properly allocate drivers with so many orders to complete. Delivery zones can help simplify this process for you. Your dispatchers can assign drivers based on zones, available space, the driver’s current location, and other variables. The right delivery management software can simplify this process by combining the delivery tracking app with the drivers’ current location.

If one driver is currently in the middle of your delivery zone, you might want to assign that driver more orders to optimize their delivery route

Delivery zones and route optimization go together. Instead of viewing orders as standalone items, managers and dispatchers should think about how those orders fit together to create a proper delivery route for a specific driver.

Optimize Your Delivery Routes

Delivery zones and geo-fencing are two of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Not only can they help you organize your deliveries, but they can also simplify the entire process. When combined with a delivery management software, they can help simplify your operations and provide your drivers with more information about their deliveries.

When using a delivery tracking app, drivers can use their phones as navigation devices to help them get to the right stop. Rather than viewing orders as single items, drivers – and the operations team – should think about how those items fit together to create a cohesive delivery route. Delivery zones and geo-fencing can help you organize your orders before you begin the day.

If a driver gets too far off course or leaves a specific zone unexpectedly, the operations team will be alerted so they can make any necessary adjustments. Delivery route optimization and delivery management software are some of the best ways to ensure your operations run at peak performance.

Improve the Customer Experience

Customers likely don’t think about delivery zones or even geo-fencing, but they do care about whether their order was delivered correctly and on time. Delivery zones and geo-fencing can work together to give you more control over your operations and provide a positive customer experience. By providing your drivers with more information about their route – and the proper delivery address – you can avoid misrouted or even missed deliveries.

Customers appreciate a positive delivery experience. After all, your delivery drivers are the face of your company. They represent your business and the quality of your service. By organizing your delivery operations using delivery zones and geo-fencing, you can ensure each customer receives their order on time and with a smile.

For businesses that operate in a highly competitive space, the customer experience can be the difference-maker that sets you apart from the competition.

As your delivery business grows, you will need to make changes in order to adapt. Delivery zones and geo-fencing can help you simplify your operations, prevent misrouted or missed deliveries, and improve the customer experience.

While a few delivery drivers might be manageable, the same process can’t be used when there are several drivers handling dozens of deliveries every single day. Delivery zones can help you organize your deliveries by area. Geo-fencing can be used to provide drivers with the information they need to navigate to the right stop. Combined with the right delivery management software, delivery zones and geo-fencing can prevent misrouted or missed deliveries. These tools can help optimize delivery routes and prevent drivers from going to the wrong area. By giving drivers more information about the delivery, you can improve the customer experience while also giving your operations team more insight into the delivery process.

Last-mile delivery efficiency starts with making sure every order is routed to the right driver and that driver knows exactly where to go.

With the right delivery tracking app, geo-fencing, delivery zones and a powerful delivery management software, your business can become more efficient, organized and customer-focused.