Order Error Rate Reduction: Cutting the Mistakes That Cost Brands Customers

Order errors compound faster than most teams expect

Order error rate reduction has become a top priority for brands as customer expectations tighten and tolerance for mistakes disappears. Research shows that even small error rates translate into significant cost through returns, reships, support tickets, and lost lifetime value. An order error is never just a single failure. It is the visible result of upstream breakdowns that went uncorrected.

Brands that move to G10 often describe the same problems with previous 3PLs: wrong items shipped, missing units, incorrect quantities, or orders sent to the wrong destination. These errors rarely happen in isolation. They repeat because the underlying systems and workflows never changed.

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 error rate reduction starts by addressing these systemic issues.

Error reduction depends on real time operational truth

Order errors grow when fulfillment teams operate with delayed or incomplete data. If the system of record lags behind physical activity, mistakes multiply. Real time tracking ensures that every action reflects current reality, not yesterday's snapshot.

Bryan Wright described the level of operational truth 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." Order error rate reduction depends on this kind of visibility.

Scan-based workflows eliminate preventable mistakes

Most order errors are preventable. They occur when products move without validation or when teams rely on memory, paper, or manual confirmation. Scan-based workflows ensure that the right item, the right quantity, and the right destination are confirmed before an order leaves the building.

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." Error reduction starts with this discipline.

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." Order error rate reduction removes these recurring failures.

Visibility portals reinforce accuracy and accountability

Order error rate reduction accelerates when brands can see fulfillment performance clearly. Visibility portals expose patterns that would otherwise remain hidden: recurring pick errors, delays in specific zones, or spikes in exceptions.

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." Transparency makes error reduction measurable.

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." That visibility helps prevent errors before they reach customers.

Connor explained the reporting depth behind this visibility when he 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." Order error rate reduction depends on this insight.

Early detection keeps small errors from becoming systemic

Order errors rarely spike overnight. They creep upward as small issues repeat: a mislabeled bin, a confusing slotting layout, or a rushed picking process. Without real time reporting, these signals go unnoticed until customer complaints rise.

With strong dashboards and alerts, teams can intervene early and correct processes before errors become normalized.

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 error rate reduction depends on maintaining this level of consistency.

Error reduction rebuilds customer confidence

Customers remember mistakes more vividly than smooth deliveries. Reducing order errors protects brand reputation, lowers support volume, and increases repeat purchases. Error reduction is not just operational hygiene. It is customer experience protection.

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." Lower error rates play a major role in that relief.

Order error rate reduction is now a competitive requirement

As fulfillment networks scale and customer expectations rise, brands cannot afford persistent errors. Order error rate reduction requires real time tracking, scan-based workflows, transparent reporting, and disciplined execution.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." Error reduction is one of the clearest expressions of that strength.

If your brand wants fewer returns, fewer complaints, and stronger customer loyalty, focusing on order error rate reduction is one of the most impactful decisions you can make.