How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Businesses often lookout for the best routing app that can improve their delivery process. They look for an app that can help them prepare and drive the most efficient fast routes. The longer the driver spends completing the daily routes, the less profit will be earned.

A routing app can boost delivery efficiency with route planning and optimization, real-time route monitoring, and advanced features to streamline daily deliveries.

We have performed a small survey and came up with a conclusion that the majority of the business need the following features in their routing app:

  • Route optimization: Almost every business agreed that they need route optimization software for the delivery process. They want applications that can work on multiple devices and provide the delivery agents the option to add stops, skip-stop, and add priority stops.
  • Route monitoring: This feature helps you to track your drivers when they are out for delivery. It helps you to save time on the back end in case your company needs to adjust any routes (such as adding last-minute stops) or if a customer has called asking for an update.
  • Order tracking: This tells your customer when their package arrives, which lets the customer prepare for its delivery and reduces the number of redeliveries your team will need to make.
  • Proof of Delivery: It can be either a signature or a photo of where your driver left the package. This helps resolve disputes between the customer, driver, and company. And depending on what you’re delivering, signature POD may be required

The right routing app is going to be cost-efficient for your business. There are many routing applications today, but the only problem with them is that they offer features at a very high rate, or they offer the features you do not need.

We designed Zeo Route Planner as a multi-stop route planner customized to help every size company, from individual couriers to small businesses to courier teams. Our tool creates optimal routes, empowering delivery drivers to make their stops as quickly as possible, and it synchronizes communication between driver, dispatcher, and customer.

How Zeo Route Planner Makes Your Delivery Team More Efficient

Zeo Route Planner has been developed to serve all kinds of businesses, and therefore, it offers the features that suit you and your business. Let’s have a detailed look at how Zeo Route Planner can boost efficiency in your delivery process.

Managing Addresses

To start route planning, you need to upload all your addresses to the app. You can do this by importing your spreadsheet list, using image capture, using QR/Bar code, or manually typing in your addresses. If you add your addresses manually, Zeo Route Planner uses the same auto-complete feature like Google Maps, which means you don’t have to type in the entire address to get the correct stop to pop up. Drivers can do this on the mobile app, which is great for when they need to add a last-minute stop to their route.

We have already mentioned that you can also import your addresses from a spreadsheet. This is the most efficient way of doing it, designed for delivery teams planning larger multi-stop routes. But apart from this, Zeo Route Planner also lets you capture image OCR and import the addresses.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Managing addresses in Zeo Route Planner

Route optimization

Once you are finished uploading the addresses, the Zeo Route Planner will take a minute to optimize the routes. Zeo Route Planner will provide you with the fastest route possible.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Plan optimized routes with Zeo Route Planner

We have also included the feature “Navigate as entered” in the app. This feature is included in case if you want to proceed to the delivery without optimized routes. It sometimes happens that the drivers want to proceed to the addresses as they have got it from the dispatching office, and thus this Navigate as entered feature comes into play.

After you have the optimized route, your drivers can proceed with the delivery. Zeo Route Planner works with the most popular GPS navigation platforms, such as Google Maps, Waze Maps, Yandex Maps, Sygic Maps, TomTom Maps. Our Zeo Route Planner app works with both iOS devices and Android devices.

Additional details

Zeo Route Planner also provides you with the option to add several additional details for your stops. These include adding customer details such as customer name, mobile number, and email address. You can also set your delivery priority, stop duration, delivery slot, and stop type in the app.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Adding Additional Details in Zeo Route Planner

In addition to these, Zeo Route Planner provides you a list of preferences that you can choose according to your needs and make the best out of our app. These preferences include changing the distance unit, choice of navigation maps, theme, fonts, and various other features.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Changing Preferences in Zeo Route Planner

Route Monitoring

Once the route is in progress, the dispatchers can follow along using the Zeo Route Monitoring feature. Route monitoring gives you a real-time update of where your drivers are within the context of their route. Instead of just reporting your driver’s cross streets or geographical location, Zeo Route Planner tells you where your driver is and what stop they’re going to next.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Route Monitoring with Zeo Route Planner

Proof of Delivery

As we have mentioned that Zeo Route Planner provides the feature of POD. This is beneficial to all businesses as it helps you provide transparency in the delivery process with the customers. With Zeo Route Planner, you can send an SMS message or an email to your customers notifying them their package is on its way. As the driver gets closer to their stop, the customer gets an updated notification with a more specific time window.

How to Boost Efficiency in Your Delivery Process Using a Routing App, Zeo Route Planner
Proof of Delivery in Zeo Route Planner

We also offer two different types of proof of delivery functionality:

  1. Signature capture.
    With signature capture, your delivery driver can use their smartphone to collect the customer’s signature. You don’t need any smartpen, and the customer can use their finger to sign.
  2. Photo capture.
    If you need to leave a package, but the customer isn’t home, you can still collect proof of delivery by taking a photo. The driver snaps the photo with their smartphone, and the picture is then uploaded into Zeo Route Planner. Besides, a copy of this photo is sent to the customer and a notification that their package has been delivered.

To sum up, our route planner app is designed to make your deliveries more efficient by providing you these features:

  1. Creating the best route.
  2. Letting dispatch know where their drivers are in case they need to make route adjustments.
  3. Allowing you to add additional details as well as change preferences according to the need.
  4. Giving drivers the information they need to complete their stops quickly.
  5. Providing customers with accurate updates of routes in progress and proof of delivery.

Try it now

If you manage a team of drivers and want a simple, cost-effective way to manage plan deliveries, manage their routes, and track them in real-time, then go ahead and download the app and use it to raise your business and profits bar.

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Comments (1):

  1. Rick McInnis

    August 2, 2021 at 2:47 pm

    Still not sure how to work it with Waze. It would be great if you had some help files. My sub will depend on getting this to work for me. Also for some reason your website cannot remember my password. I keep getting an invalid info every time I try to login via windows 10

    Reply

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    Zeo Questionnaire

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    Read More FAQ’s

    How to Create Route?

    How do I add stop by typing and searching? Web

    Follow these steps to add a stop by typing and searching:

    • Go to Playground Page. You will find a search box in top left.
    • Type in your desired stop and it will show search results as you type.
    • Select one of the search results to add the stop to list of unassigned stops.

    How do I import stops in bulk from an excel file? Web

    Follow these steps to add stops in bulk using an excel file:

    • Go to Playground Page.
    • In top right corner you will see import icon. Press on that icon & a modal will open.
    • If you already have an excel file, press the “Upload stops via flat file” button & a new window will open up.
    • If you don’t have an existing file, you can download a sample file and input all your data accordingly, then upload it.
    • In the new window, upload your file and match the headers & confirm mappings.
    • Review your confirmed data and add the stop.

    How do I import stops from an image? Mobile

    Follow these steps to add stops in bulk by uploading an image:

    • Go to Zeo Route Planner App and open On Ride page.
    • Bottom bar has 3 icons in left. Press on image icon.
    • Select the image from gallery if you already have one or take a picture if you don’t have existing.
    • Adjust the crop for the selected image & press crop.
    • Zeo will automatically detect the addresses from the image. Press on done and then save & optimize to create route.

    How do I add a stop using Latitude and Longitude? Mobile

    Follow these steps to add stop if you have Latitude & Longitude of the address:

    • Go to Zeo Route Planner App and open On Ride page.
    • You will see a icon. Press on that icon & press on New Route.
    • If you already have an excel file, press the “Upload stops via flat file” button & a new window will open up.
    • Below search bar, select the “by lat long” option and then enter the latitude and longitude in the search bar.
    • You will see results in the search, select one of them.
    • Select additional options according to your need & click on “Done adding stops”.

    How do I add a using a QR Code? Mobile

    Follow these steps to add stop using QR Code:

    • Go to Zeo Route Planner App and open On Ride page.
    • You will see a icon. Press on that icon & press on New Route.
    • Bottom bar has 3 icons in left. Press on QR code icon.
    • It will open up a QR Code scanner. You can scan normal QR code as well as FedEx QR code and it will automatically detect address.
    • Add the stop to route with any additional options.

    How do I delete a stop? Mobile

    Follow these steps to delete a stop:

    • Go to Zeo Route Planner App and open On Ride page.
    • You will see a icon. Press on that icon & press on New Route.
    • Add some stops using any of the methods & click on save & optimize.
    • From the list of stops that you have, long press on any stop that you want to delete.
    • It will open window asking you to select the stops that you want to remove. Click on Remove button and it will delete the stop from your route.