An Introduction to Over Delivery – What is It? In business there are many adages and sayings which can be helpful in guiding some of the more obtuse decisions. One of the most popular sayings is that you should always seek to 'under-promise and over deliver'. What this means is that you should tell your customers that you're going to do one thing and then do something better instead. This has a ton of potential benefits for you as a business and is a great way to grow your popularity and thus your profits. Here we will take a look at how you go about doing it and why it's such a valuable strategy… Examples of Over Delivery The most obvious example of over delivery is probably over delivery as it applies to actual delivery. In other words, if you are sending someone a product, you can over deliver by giving them a low estimate as to when it should arrive. Tell them their parcel will be with them in three-four days but then send it first class and make sure that it actually arrives in one-to-two days. Another example is giving your customers freebies when they buy from you. If ever you've bought a phone case on Amazon, then you'll probably find that you end up getting a free stylus or screen cover as well. This is classic over-delivery. Advantages If you were browsing phone cases and you saw that one came with a free stylus, would you then be more likely to buy it? Chances are that you probably wouldn't. On the other hand though, if you were to find that stylus in the package unexpectedly then you would probably be over-the-moon that you got something completely for free and you would then feel a little indebted to the seller. As a result, you'd then be more likely to leave a positive review (which is incredibly important for Amazon sellers) and you'd be more likely to use their service again. From the perspective of the seller, they have now lost a few cents out of their profit but if you encourage one more person to buy from then they'll have gained that back and then some. Giving away freebies then offers excellent ROI typically and is even more effective if your customers/clients aren't expecting what they receive. 5 RRW Start thinking about what you could include as a freebie in your business and how you could over deliver and you will build lots more loyalty!
