Order Accuracy Improvement: Fixing the Fulfillment Mistakes That Cost You Customers

Order accuracy collapses when visibility and process control fall behind

Order accuracy is one of the most measurable signs of fulfillment health, yet it is also one of the easiest to lose when systems lag or processes break. Research shows that brands now prioritize order accuracy improvement because customer expectations have tightened and tolerance for mistakes has evaporated. Every wrong item, every mispick, and every inaccurate count sends a clear message about operational control, and customers remember those failures longer than the wins.

Brands who arrive at G10 often say the same thing: their previous 3PL shipped the wrong items, shipped the wrong quantities, or shipped nothing at all without explanation. Those failures usually start small, but without visibility and disciplined workflows, they become expensive patterns that damage customer satisfaction and inventory integrity.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." Order accuracy improvement begins with eliminating those blind spots.

Order accuracy improves when data reflects real time operational truth

Accuracy problems do not appear out of nowhere. They follow a predictable pattern: inconsistent receiving, incomplete putaway, imprecise picking, or last-minute confusion on the packing line. A system cannot improve what it cannot see. Order accuracy improvement requires real time tracking of every step.

Bryan Wright described the depth of visibility required when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." Visibility like this allows teams to identify where errors originate and prevent them from repeating.

When teams can see operational truth down to each movement, accuracy stops being a guessing game and becomes a measurable system of control.

Order accuracy rises when workflows are fully scan-based

The fastest way to lose accuracy is to allow product to move without scanning. Data gaps turn small mistakes into operational mysteries. Order accuracy improvement depends on consistent, disciplined scanning that captures what happened, who performed the action, and when.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." This level of discipline removes ambiguity and prevents errors before they reach the customer.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." Improving accuracy requires eliminating exactly these failure points.

Order accuracy strengthens when customers have clear visibility

Accuracy issues thrive in the dark. When customers lack visibility into order status, inventory levels, or fulfillment progress, problems go unnoticed until they reach the customer. A real time visibility portal is one of the most effective tools for accuracy improvement because it exposes issues early and encourages operational accountability.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems. They'll have visibility to what the statuses of their orders-are they getting processed as they expect?-and things like that." Visibility enables accuracy by making the fulfillment process transparent.

She added, "A lot of the 3PL customer expectations are that order fulfillment is happening extremely timely, that our inventory is accurate, that we're able to execute on their orders very quickly, and get them shipped the same day. So what these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." When customers see fulfillment clearly, accuracy improves because problems cannot hide.

Accurate reporting empowers teams to fix errors before they grow

Order accuracy issues often start with subtle signals: shifts in pick speed, recurring exceptions, or mismatched counts in specific zones. If teams cannot see these signals in real time, they cannot prevent them from escalating. A strong reporting foundation enables early intervention.

As Connor said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." This level of reporting makes accuracy improvement measurable and repeatable.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." That flexibility allows brands to track patterns, diagnose root causes, and plan improvements confidently.

Operational consistency is the foundation of accuracy

Accurate orders require accurate operations. Strong receiving, clear location management, consistent picking practices, and predictable packing workflows all contribute to higher accuracy rates. Real time dashboards, reporting, and visibility protect that consistency by exposing breakdowns instantly.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Order accuracy improvement relies on consistency like this.

Accuracy improvement rebuilds trust after failed 3PL experiences

Brands rarely switch 3PLs because of price alone. They switch because they could not trust the accuracy of the work. A history of mispicks, incomplete shipments, and conflicting data erodes confidence quickly. Accuracy improvement is one of the clearest ways to rebuild trust.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Improved accuracy fuels that rebuilding.

Order accuracy improvement is now essential, not optional

Customer patience is shrinking, competition is rising, and operational complexity continues to grow. Improving order accuracy is no longer an operational goal. It is a strategic requirement. Real time data, scan-based workflows, detailed reporting, and clear visibility all contribute to accuracy that customers can trust.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." Improving accuracy is one of the strongest expressions of that transparency.

If your brand wants to prevent costly mistakes, strengthen customer confidence, and scale fulfillment with predictability, order accuracy improvement is the most impactful place to start.