Narvar Vs Aftership

an unbiased Comparison of Narvar with AfterShip & ClickPost

Narvar Vs AfterShip

1) Introduction

Narvar and AfterShip are recurring names in the shipping and post-purchase logistics industry. Many retailers across the world looking for a tracking and returns solution have this query, “Which is the better software, Narvar or AfterShip?’ So, we decided to address this issue in our article, Narvar vs. AfterShip.  

We take a detailed look at each software to determine its advantages, key features, and drawbacks.  If you are an eCommerce company with the same question haunting you, then this article will give you the answer. 

2) About Narvar

Narvar is an eCommerce shipping management platform specializing in post-purchase customer experience. It was founded in 2012 and is currently one of the most popular logistics software solutions in the continental U.S. Alongside the U.S., Narvar is present in six other countries: Europe, Asia Pacific, and the San Francisco Bay area. 

The platform is integrated with 300 domestic and international logistics companies and 50 order management software. It also offers 50+ custom APIs and pre-built integrations. 

Narvar strives to create personalized touchpoints between the brand and the customer. Its order tracking system with branded portals and returns solutions is designed to engage customers and promote direct sales. 

3) Top Services Offered by Narvar

Here are the five most demanded services of Narvar:

3.1) Returns Management

Narvar enables customers to do easy returns with home pickups and without packaging hassles like boxes and labels. Customers can drop their packages at multiple convenient locations like the UPS Stores, Walgreens, and Simon Malls. 

The returns portal allows retailers to create custom rules for return policies and fees for different SKUs according to their business goals. It also enables retailers to offer multiple returns channels; for example, store-bought items can be returned online. It also promotes branded returns portals and proactive refund notifications. 

3.2) Branded Tracking

Narvar provides branded tracking pages embedded with tools for customizations based on shipments, locale, and seasons. The tracking portal combines marketing assets like product recommendations for highly personalized customer experiences. It monitors the shipment’s journey to ensure it arrives on time. 

Moreover, it also provides reports in case of delivery exceptions. Narvar notifies customers of their shipment status via emails, SMS, and WhatsApp. 

3.3) Proactive Notifications

Narvar has a proactive communication approach, extending timely notifications about shipment delivery or delays to customers. Narvar uses  multiple channels like Line and WhatsApp for communications. It also has 40+ message templates and further customizations that retailers can use for curated communication. The only problem is, Narvar's order tracking updates are not communicated in real-time which leads many ecommerce entrepreneurs to try out Narvar alternatives. 

3.4) Concierge Services

One of Narvar’s specialized features is the concierge service. It has ties with 200,000+ locations (malls, kiosks, stores, logistics centers, drop boxes) across the U.S. This vast network gives customers a perfect chance to choose a convenient pick-up or drop-off location. 

3.5) Predictive Intelligence Analysis

Narvar’s predictive analytics provides EDD (estimated delivery dates) predictions and critical insights into a brand’s shipping performance. It also offers predictions about possible delays in delivery and other disruptions. Brands can also calibrate their performance against the rest of Narvar’s clients.

4) Features of Narvar 

• Narvar offers shipping estimations that allow businesses to know the shipping cost before approving a delivery. 

• It improves the post-purchase experience for customers through EDD estimations, branded tracking pages, and a returns portal.

• Its marketing and tracking tools are easily embedded in any webpage on a merchant’s website. 

• It has pre-built templates for different status notifications, like shipment updates, account details updates, and more. 

• Narvar offers reverse logistics solutions that allow businesses to manage order returns through a branded returns page, 200,000+ drop-off locations, and doorstep pickups. 

Pros:

Narvar offers an easy-to-use user interface, post-purchase marketing features, and accurate delivery estimates. 

Cons:

Additional features can increase the cost of the solution significantly.

5) About AfterShip

AfterShip is a shipment automation and tracking platform. It was founded in 2012 and is currently headquartered in Austin, Texas. AfterShip works with over 10,000 brands and processes over 6 billion shipments annually. 

It is integrated with 900+ domestic and international shipping and logistics companies. AfterShip has a wide range of shipping tools for optimizing pre-dispatch and post-purchase phases. This includes tracking, returns management, shipping, and marketing tools.

6) Top Services Offered by AfterShip

Here are the top five services offered by AfterShip:

6.1) Shipment Visibility and Analytics

AfterShip provides automated shipment tracking for over 900 carriers and shipment conditions with different key statuses. Retailers can view the order and tracking details in a single portal. They can quickly analyze on-time delivery and expected delivery dates. 

AfterShip presents detailed tracking reports along with customer engagement metrics for performance analysis. The tracking data is extended to customers via branded tracking portal that also supports personalized marketing campaigns. ClickPost, one of the biggest competitors of AfterShip and Narvar, offers similar white-labeled tracking features with upselling panels. 

6.2) Automated Returns

Another specialized service of Aftership is its extended returns and exchange module. It facilitates self-service customer returns and exchanges with its branded returns page, and automatically prints return labels. 

The returns page easily configures with a company’s return policy. It also enables customers to select any return method and discourages returns for ineligible items. AfterShip also provides pre-paid USPS return labels at a discounted price. 

6.3) Order Management

AfterShip assists retailers in fulfilling their orders with automated workflows like printing labels and pre-filling order details. Retailers can integrate with 89 carriers for their forward logistics. The order management portal categorizes the shipments into four statuses and automatically sends tracking numbers to all brand sales channels.

6.4) Pre-purchase Marketing     

Aftership has an array of tools for marketing, webpage building, generating customer reviews, and personalization. It collaborates with Automizely to create clickable and customizable emails, pop-ups, and campaigns. Retailers can embed product recommendations in emails, landing pages, and pop-ups.          

6.5) Insurance and Other Add-ons

AfterShip, in collaboration with InsureShield, offers shipping insurance at a reduced price for retailers against porch theft, loss, and damage. The insurance program is available only to U.S. merchants. AfterShip facilitates returns claims within days and notifies customers about claim status. 

AfterShip also generates carbon emission resorts against a fee as an add-on service based on tracking data. It generates a basic report on the total CO2 emissions and average Co2 emissions per shipment.

7) Features of AfterShip 

• It provides an order lookup widget and tracking button that enables customers to track orders on the merchant’s website. 

• It uses AI to predict expected delivery dates and notifies customers via Facebook, email, and SMS.

• It enables retailers to set innovative business and routing rules, display different return methods to customers, and integrate with country-specific carriers. 

• It also facilitates international shipping with auto-generated customs rules and paperless invoices for DHL, UPS, and FedEx carriers.

• It also supports address validation, calculates shipping rates, and compares shipping costs and delivery times for multiple couriers. 

Pros:

AfterShip’s platform is known for making order tracking a breeze.

Cons:

AfterShip’s platforms’ integrations are known to be buggy. 

8) A Salient Comparison Between Narvar and AfterShip

Both AfterShip and Narvar are primarily shipment tracking and returns management systems. Each helps retailers to keep track of their shipment journey and enhance the post-purchase customer experience. Despite their similarities, both software has different operations, user experience, and tracking systems. Here we do a comparative analysis of Narvar vs. Aftership in five core areas:

8.1) Real-time Shipment Visibility

Both Narvar and AfterShip have excellent tracking features. They both offer estimated delivery dates and times even before the shipment leaves the warehouse. 

However, AfterShip provides more visibility across carriers, as it has integrations with 900+ logistics companies, compared to 300 courier partners of Narvar. Narvar instead embeds EDD estimations in product pages, checkouts, and carts.

AfterShip also automatically detects carriers from the tracking number and shipment status modifications. Narvar pulls the latest carrier updates on the tracking page. However, AfterShip can arrange shipments according to 33 key statutes, but these need to be present in Narvar. 

8.2) Managing Shipping Exceptions

Both AfterShip and Narvar use predictive analytics to detect early signs of shipment disruptions and delivery delays. They also notify this information to retailers and customers. 

But Narvar has extended capacity in notifying customers about lost shipments after delivery is made. This feature is absent in AfterShip. Instead, it provides insurance coverage against porch theft. 

8.3) Customer Communications

Narvar and AfterShip provide customer notifications across multiple channels like email, SMS, and WhatsApp. While both platforms support customizations and product recommendations, AfterShip possesses greater marketing and personalization resources. 

AfterShip has a flexible email template editor, multilingual tracking, Google Analytics integrations, and redirect delivery options on its tracking page. It also enables retailers to embed Instagram feed for added customer engagement. These features are absent in Narvar. 

8.4) Integrations and Plug-ins

Both Narvar and AfterShip have integration libraries. AfterShip has integrations with 900+ carriers, multi-carrier shipping APIs, eCommerce storefronts, and marketplaces. Narvar too supports integrations with 300 carriers and other third-party software providers for tracking, messaging, returns, and claims.

8.5) Returns and Exchanges

Narvar and AfterShip offer self-service return portals and support international returns. They also offer instant credits. While AfterShip focuses more on marketing and visual solutions, Narvar offers more operational support. For example, Narvar has a concierge service and facilitates store-bought merchandise to be returned online. 

Narvar also has greater capacity in handling returns with multiple couriers as opposed to 12 carriers partnering with AfterShip. 

9) Alternatives and Competitors of Both Narvar and AfterShip

Be it Narvar or AfterShip, eCommerce retailer has much to gain from automated returns and tracking solutions. Both software has excellent mechanisms for tracking and post-purchase customer experience enhancement. But, they do not cover the entirety of last-mile delivery optimization. 

Retailers looking for a comprehensive delivery and returns management solution may find ClickPost an ideal alternative to Narvar and Aftership. ClickPost is pre-integrated with 300 carriers but can integrate with any carrier a brand chooses and onboard with them in 24 hours. 

ClickPost is built on sophisticated automation and extends a data-driven carrier recommendation engine that automatically selects couriers. It also extracts real-time shipping rate and carrier serviceability data that retailers can show at checkout. ClickPost uses API polling and webhooks to provide a truly real-time tracking experience. 

Like AfterShip and Narvar, it offers returns management, branded tracking portals, and customer notifications across multiple channels. Unlike AfterShip or Narvar, ClickPost has specialized systems for resolving delivery delays, failed deliveries, and pickups. It communicates automatically with customers to retrieve their responses and schedules the next delivery attempt with high success rates. 

ClickPost also has a COD (cash-on-delivery) reconciliation service, and Shopify returns management app. It also offers an OTP-based cancellation system to deter fraudulent delivery attempts and monitors SLA breaches for retailers. 

10) Conclusion

Post-purchase experience and tracking have become the metrics of excellent customer service. Therefore, AfterShip and Narvar, with their outstanding services, have become names that many retailers globally are familiar. 

In this article, we focus on understanding the different services offered by AfterShip and Narvar and differentiate them in critical areas. We hope our article will give you enough insight into the Narvar vs. AfterShip query that many eCommerce companies have and help you select the best of the two.