The last hundred metres: coordinating a delivery in a conversation

In most of the world an address is a description, not coordinates. The last hundred metres is a conversation, and the three messages worth sending are a window, on the way, and outside.

Ask for a pin, not a better address

A location pin is unambiguous, takes the customer three taps, and removes the entire class of "the third gate after the chemist" problem. Ask for it at confirmation, before the parcel moves.

Keep the landmark description as well. A pin is precise and a landmark is what the driver actually navigates by once they are in the right street.

The three messages

1. The window, the day before. Narrow enough to plan around. "Sometime Thursday" makes somebody wait in all day and resent you for it.
2. On the way, with a real estimate. Thirty minutes' notice is what lets somebody come down from a meeting.
3. Outside. With the driver's name and what the vehicle looks like.

Keep it on the business's number

Drivers messaging from their own phones is the default and it costs you three things: the conversation is not in the record, the customer's number is on a personal device, and the customer now has a driver's number they will use next time instead of yours.

The alternative is the driver answering from the business number through a shared inbox, which also means the office can see what was agreed - see why a shared inbox.

What the customer sends back

Photographs, mostly, and voice notes. "The gate is locked, come round the back" is faster said than typed. Any inbox used for deliveries has to show media properly and let a driver listen without downloading anything.

The failed delivery message

When it does not work, say what happens next in the same message: when the next attempt is, or where to collect, or how to reschedule. A failure notice with no next step generates a support conversation for every parcel.