Every failed attempt adds days, raises the chance the customer cancels, and for cash-on-delivery orders raises the chance of an RTO. A high first-attempt rate usually means good address quality and a courier that serves the area well.
Compare it by courier and by region. A courier with a cheaper rate and a lower first-attempt rate can cost more once RTOs are counted.
Formula
First-attempt delivery rate = Delivered on the first attempt ÷ Delivered
What cash-on-delivery returns cost you each month, per RTO and per COD order, and the prepaid incentive that pays for itself.
Related terms
- NDR (non-delivery report)An NDR is a courier’s report that a delivery attempt failed, with a reason such as…
- RTO (return to origin)RTO is an order that is shipped but not delivered and returns to the seller, most…
- Courier aggregatorA courier aggregator is a platform such as Shiprocket, NimbusPost or iThink…
Where this comes up
How to compare couriers on your own dataRate cards tell you what a courier costs. Your orders tell you what it really costs. A method for ranking couriers on delivered rate, COD RTO, speed and cost per delivered order. How to reduce RTO on cash-on-delivery ordersA practical playbook for Indian D2C brands: measure RTO properly, find where it comes from, and cut it with confirmation, courier routing, pincode rules and prepaid incentives.Part of the growth marketing glossary by Shiva Sharma.