4 REASONS WHY CUSTOMERS ARE “NOT GOING BACK” AFTER THE FIRST ORDER

There are many suppliers who gain orders from foreign customers, but only after the first order, the customer "disappeared" and here are four main reasons:

1. Poor quality products, unlike the introduction and commitment:

The first order can be seen as the door to many subsequent orders. If the quality of goods is good, customers will gain enough trust to order next shipments. However, there are still a lot of suppliers that do not really understand this, they simply think about the one order itself. This leads to a situation where the supplier does not pay attention to preparing the goods perfectly for the first order. Managers can be so subjective that they put their trust in the workers without monitoring, checking how the goods are being done. In addition, due to the fact that the first order is usually a trial order, the quantity of orders is not large, some suppliers might take it lightly and do not pay enough attention to make the goods perfect.

A Vietnamese-American customer’s feedback after buying poor-quality masks for the first order from a Vietnamese supplier

A American customer was disappointed when receiving the fabric mask with poor-quality nose brace from a Vietnamese supplier

Advice: Always have a person in charge of checking and closely monitoring the production process to promptly ask the workers to remake standardized products in case of finding defected products.

2. Unpunctual delivery:

I have worked with a number of suppliers. They got excited and quickly went into production when getting their first order. However, during the shipping process, there are some problems that lead to prolonged production time and as a result the supplier does not deliver their goods to customers on time. However, the suppliers tend to not inform the other party in advance so the customer could understand the situation, instead, until the delivery date is close, they only told the customers that the delivery would be delayed for a few days. This makes customers feel frustrated and concerned about the reputation of the suppliers. Most of the importers are trading companies: importing from abroad and redistributing to the domestic market. So a late delivery will lead to a delay of the importer's goods towards their customers. A professional importer will not want to cooperate with a supplier with a late delivered trial order.

Customers want to cancel orders if the supplier does not deliver goods on time

Advice: Always try by all means to deliver goods on time to customers. In the event of a problem that affects the shipping process, clearly notify the customer about the new delivery schedule in advance. Avoid the case when it is close to the delivery date then to notify the customer about the late shipment.

3. Not updating production status regularly for customers:

What buyers want is to buy good quality products at the lowest price, to be served with attentiveness and to receive the goods early. So in the production process, the exporter should report the condition to the customer on a regular basis so that customers can be assured. Avoid the case when the customer asks for updated information. Especially for orders with long delivery time, updating the production status regularly will make customers less worried and have more faith in the partners they are working with.

Tip: Proactively report the commodity production process to customers by summarizing the current progress via email, messages, photos and videos.

4. Careless packing:

A point, although not too big, but is also significantly affecting the reputation of the exporter is the packaging of goods. Some suppliers only take care of the goods but forget this detail: packing. It should be noted that, this is the packaging of goods for export to foreign countries, not for domestic shipment. So the supplier should pay close attention to the packing of their commodity. If the goods are packed in carton boxes, use cartons that are plain and strong enough, without any irrelevant information or writing on the outside. For example, candy or cake box should not be used to pack clothing for delivery. Especially when packing, it is necessary to prepare an outside stamp with the information and phone number of the sender and receiver, and number the boxes to avoid the goods being lost during the shipment.

Bad packing leads to torn boxes in transit

Tips: If the goods are packed in cartons, choose a good quality box and there should be a stamp with recipient and sender’s information on the outside of the box.

The above are the basic mistakes to avoid not only in the first export order but in all deliveries for foreign customers. The path to export is not easy, but it is not difficult for those who are truly determined and persistent.