We often see that every route planner app provider claims that they provide the best route planner app for small and medium businesses. Some claim that they provide the best free route planner for delivery drivers, while others claim that they provide the best multi-stop route planner app for delivery drivers.
Making such claims makes your job more difficult. So, how do you know which app is right for your business?
Before selecting any route planner for your business, you must ask few questions to yourself:
- What is your company, and what kind of features you need?
- Who are the customers of your route planner providers?
- What are the monthly charges by the route planner app?
- Do the charges grow as your business grows?
- How good is the customer service of the route planner provider?
Getting the answers to the above questions will definitely bring a clear picture of your needs, but there are still many factors that you need to have a look at before getting the best routing app for your business.
We have formulated some points to understand what you should look into a route planner app. These points will definitely help you to choose the best multi-stop route planner app for your delivery drivers.
Route Optimization and Real-Time Tracking
The route planner can be said to be the best if it offers dynamic route optimization. With the help of dynamic route optimization, you can cover a vast range of addresses, thus saving much money on fuel and labor. With dynamic routing, you can manage highly unpredictable operations and ensure that they fulfill customer expectations without sacrificing performance.
Another essential feature that is needed in the delivery process is real-time tracking. With the help of real-time tracking, you can get to know where your drivers are heading. Your customers will have a negative experience if you promise them deliveries at particular times and then your driver arrives later. With GPS tracking, you will be updated about your driver’s location and can then provide your customers with accurate ETAs, thus forging a bond of trust with them.
It would be best to consider that your routing app doesn’t take a long time to optimize the route. It should be able to optimize the route within a minute. The routing app should also provide various settings/features that can be used by the drivers when they are out for delivery because that can be the icing on the cake. The service route planner should come with a mobile app for Android and iOS to help you plan routes and monitor on-road activities while on the go. The delivery route planner app should have an eSignature feature to help your drivers capture and store customer signatures on the app and facilitate proof of delivery.
Ease of Use
It would help if you always tried not to use that routing app, making your and your drivers’ job harder instead of simplifying it. While choosing the routing app, you have to see that it provides tutorials and guidance so that your drivers can easily refer to it if they need it and continue with the delivery process.
The delivery planning software should require little learning for both your drivers and you, which means it has to be extremely easy to use. Moreover, the route optimizer shouldn’t require buying new hardware. It should also offer in-depth training materials that explain every feature and process step by step with images and screenshots that are easy to comprehend.
Additional Features
You might want to consider a driving trip planner that supports your business growth and is scalable. Today you might be okay using a multi-stop route planner app that only plans a certain number of routes, but what happens when your business grows, and you need to plan thousands of routes for a hundred drivers?
So it would help if you looked for routing apps that can provide scalability and limitless route planning and saved routes for future usage. Also, consider if the routing app is capable of evolving with your business, removing unnecessary routes and drivers as you move along. This is only possible when the multi-stop route planner collects and uses information from your on-road operations instead of depending on pre-compiled data. It will then be able to provide the best service to you.
Support
One of the most crucial things you should look into in the routing app is customer support. It must offer easy and quick accessibility to the support staff so that you can contact them whenever you need assistance, rather than having to waste hours being on hold for answers. They should offer multiple contact options, such as email, phone calls, and live chat.