One of the biggest headaches for mail order and internet businesses is the number of orders that get lost in shipping or returned to the sender during the holidays. Tracking down those missing orders can take up to 15 minutes or more per order, eating into your employees' time -- and your profits.

While there's not much you can do if the shipping service you use loses or damages a package through no fault of yours, there are steps you can take to improve the probability that the packages you ship will get to the customer on time and in good condition during the holidays.

Remind customers to double check the shipping address for accuracy. Incorrect or incomplete addresses are a major cause of lost and returned orders. Customers often transpose numbers in the address or enter the wrong ZIP code. If your shopping cart allows it, have the customer verify the shipping details before pressing the submit button to complete their order.

When processing orders from repeat customers, compare the shipping address the customer has entered to the address your system is displaying. Some software automatically calls up the previous shipping information for repeat customers so your employees don't have to type it in. If the customer has moved or is shipping this order to a different location, you'll need to change the details to avoid having the merchandise lost or returned.

Avoid having packages arrive at business locations on days they may be closed. Some businesses close down early or close down for an entire week during the holidays. If your business consists primarily of B2B sales, remind your customers to time their orders so they arrive on a day the business is open -- or have them shipped to an alternate location that is open.

Use signature confirmation. Shipment confirmation is particularly useful when you ship packages to businesses. Business deliveries may be received by the shipping department, by a receptionist, by a building doorman, or sometimes by another business in the same building. If you can tell a customer who signed for a "missing" package, they will often be able to find it.

Fax or email the signature confirmation to the customer when they claim an order has been lost. It's not unusual for the name that's typed into the system by the delivery truck driver to be completely different than the name of the person who actually signed for the package. Usually that's because the signature is an illegible scrawl.

When possible, avoid shipping business orders to a post office box. When a package is shipped to a post office box number, the postal employees put a note in the recipient's box telling them they have a package. The post office won't hold onto packages indefinitely, though, so if the customer doesn't go to the post office to check the mail in their box, the package may eventually be returned to you.

If your software allows it, send a shipping alert to the customer when the product ships. Doing so will alert the customer that their order is on the way so they can watch for it and make sure it's received.

Follow your shipper's guidelines for proper packaging and labeling. The holidays aren't the time to try to cut corners by experimenting with lighter-weight cartons of skimping on the packing material. Merchandise will be lost or damaged if flimsy shipping boxes are crushed or ripped open.

More: Mail and Package Preparation Tips

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