Managing 3PL Customers in Shipsidekick
Understanding 3PL Customer Management
As a third-party logistics provider, you manage fulfillment operations for multiple clients, each with unique requirements, products, and business processes. Shipsidekick's customer management system is built specifically for this multi-tenant environment, allowing you to maintain complete separation between clients while efficiently managing all of them from a single platform.
Think of each customer as their own mini-warehouse operation within your facility. They have their own inventory, orders, users, and settings, but you maintain centralized oversight and control. This structure gives customers the autonomy they need while ensuring you can manage operations efficiently across your entire client base.
Creating and Managing Customers
Access customer management by clicking Customers & Suppliers from the main menu in Shipsidekick. This central hub is where you create new customer accounts, modify existing customers, and view customer information across your 3PL operation.
Adding New Customers
When you onboard a new client, create their customer account in Shipsidekick before receiving their first inventory shipment. Click the add customer button and enter essential information including company name, primary contact details, billing address, and any special handling requirements or notes about their operation.
The customer creation process is straightforward, taking just a few minutes to establish the account. Once created, the customer account becomes a container for all that client's data including their products, inventory, orders, users, and billing information.
Consider establishing a standardized onboarding checklist that includes creating the customer account, assigning automation rules, configuring billing rates, setting up their digital wallet, and providing dashboard access credentials. This consistency ensures you don't miss critical setup steps that could cause operational problems later.
Managing Customer Information
After creation, you can edit customer details at any time. Update contact information, add notes about special requirements, or modify operational settings as the customer's needs evolve.
The customer profile serves as a central reference point for important account information. When your team has questions about a customer's requirements or needs to contact them about an issue, all relevant information lives in one place.
Maintain detailed notes in customer profiles about special handling instructions, packing preferences, shipping requirements, or operational quirks specific to that customer. These notes ensure consistency even as different team members work on the customer's orders.
Assigning Automation Rules
Automation rules define how Shipsidekick handles various operations for each customer, creating customized workflows that match their business requirements without manual intervention.
What Automation Rules Control
Automation rules can govern numerous aspects of fulfillment operations. You might configure rules for automatic order prioritization based on shipping method, allocation of inventory from specific warehouse locations, creation of pick Missions based on order volume or time thresholds, or triggering of packing tasks when picks complete.
Different customers often need different automation strategies. A customer shipping primarily international orders needs different rule sets than one focused on domestic ecommerce. A customer with subscription box fulfillment has different timing requirements than one with standard retail orders.
Configuring Customer-Specific Rules
When assigning automation rules to a customer, consider their business model and operational needs. A customer who promises same-day shipping for orders placed before noon needs aggressive automation that creates pick Missions immediately. A customer with less time-sensitive fulfillment can use batch-based rules that accumulate orders before triggering picks.
The flexibility to assign different rule sets per customer means your warehouse can efficiently serve diverse client needs without forcing everyone into identical processes. You maintain operational efficiency while accommodating customer-specific requirements that differentiate your service offering.
Review and adjust automation rules periodically as customers' businesses evolve. A customer experiencing rapid growth might need more frequent Mission creation, while one entering a slow season might benefit from larger batches to maximize pick efficiency.
Configuring Billing Profiles
Each customer needs a billing profile that defines the rates they pay for your services. Shipsidekick's flexible billing system allows you to create custom rate structures or apply shared rate plans depending on your pricing strategy.
Setting Up Customer Rates
Access a customer's billing profile from their account settings. Configure rates for each billable activity including cubic storage charges per month, receiving fees per pallet or carton, picking charges per item or order, packing fees per package, and shipping markups or handling fees.
The rates you set flow directly into invoice generation, ensuring customers are billed accurately for services provided. Shipsidekick tracks all billable activities automatically, applying the customer's rates to generate precise invoices without manual calculations.
For customers on individual rate agreements, customize their billing profile to match negotiated pricing. For customers on standard pricing, assign them to a shared rate plan that you can update centrally to affect all customers on that plan.
Volume Discounts and Tiered Pricing
Configure tiered pricing structures where rates decrease as volume increases. A customer might pay $0.50 per pick for their first 1,000 monthly picks, $0.40 for picks 1,001 to 5,000, and $0.35 for picks over 5,000.
These volume tiers incentivize growth with your 3PL and reflect the operational efficiencies you gain from larger customers. Shipsidekick applies tiers automatically based on actual monthly activity, ensuring customers receive appropriate discounts without manual rate adjustments.
Rate Updates and Communication
When you need to adjust rates, do so in the customer's billing profile with appropriate advance notice. Document rate changes and their effective dates, ensuring changes apply at the right time and don't retroactively affect already-processed billing periods.
Shipsidekick maintains a history of rate changes, providing an audit trail if questions arise about when rates changed or what was billed in previous periods.
Digital Wallet Management
Each customer in Shipsidekick has their own digital wallet, fundamentally changing how payment works compared to traditional invoicing and collections.
How Customer Wallets Function
The digital wallet is a prepaid balance that the customer maintains with your 3PL. They deposit funds into their wallet, and when you generate invoices, Shipsidekick automatically deducts the invoice amount from their balance. This eliminates payment delays, reduces administrative overhead, and provides you with predictable cash flow.
Customers see their wallet balance in their own dashboard, giving them real-time visibility into available funds and upcoming charges. This transparency helps them manage their budget and understand when they need to add more funds.
Setting Wallet Thresholds
For each customer, configure a minimum wallet threshold that triggers low-balance alerts. When a customer's wallet drops below this minimum, both they and you receive notifications that funds need to be replenished.
Set thresholds based on each customer's typical monthly charges. A customer who averages $10,000 per month might have a $5,000 threshold, ensuring they never run completely out of funds. A smaller customer with $1,500 monthly charges might have a $750 threshold.
The threshold protects you from providing extensive services without payment coverage. If a customer's wallet is depleted and they haven't replenished it, you can pause fulfillment until funds are added, preventing situations where you've performed work without payment assurance.
Automated Payment Processing
When customers add funds to their wallet, they use payment methods you've configured such as credit cards or ACH transfers. These payments process automatically, crediting their wallet immediately so you can resume fulfillment if it was paused for insufficient funds.
The automation eliminates manual payment processing tasks like depositing checks, applying payments to invoices, and reconciling accounts receivable. Payments happen digitally and automatically, reducing your administrative workload significantly.
Customer Dashboard Access
Each customer receives access to their own secure dashboard within Shipsidekick, giving them visibility and control over their account without accessing your 3PL's master system or other customers' data.
What Customers See in Their Dashboard
When customers log into their dashboard, they see only their own data. Their inventory levels, pending orders, shipped orders, invoices, and wallet balance are all visible. They cannot see anything related to your other customers or your 3PL's internal operations.
This data isolation is critical for maintaining confidentiality and trust. Customers need assurance that their proprietary information, product details, and order volumes remain private and aren't visible to competitors who might also use your services.
Customer User Management
Customers can create and manage their own user accounts within their dashboard. They might give access to their operations manager, accounting team, or customer service representatives. Each user they create has access only to that customer's data, not to your 3PL account or other customers.
This self-service user management eliminates the need for you to create accounts for every employee at every customer company. Customers control their own access, adding and removing users as their team changes, without requiring your intervention.
The separation between customer users and 3PL users means changes customers make to their user accounts don't affect your team's access. If a customer removes one of their users, your 3PL staff still has full access to manage that customer's operations.
Customer Self-Service Capabilities
Customers can perform numerous tasks directly in their dashboard without requiring your assistance. They can modify product information, update product descriptions, weights, or customs information for their SKUs. They can edit orders before fulfillment, changing addresses, adding items, or updating shipping methods.
Customers can connect their own sales channels like Shopify, Amazon, or WooCommerce directly from their dashboard. They provide their credentials and authorize connections without involving your team. Similarly, they can connect their own shipping carrier accounts to use their negotiated rates rather than yours.
This self-service reduces the support burden on your team. Instead of fielding requests to update product weights or add new sales channels, customers make these changes themselves, freeing your team to focus on fulfillment operations rather than administrative tasks.
Transparency and Communication
The customer dashboard provides transparency that builds trust. Customers see exactly what inventory they have, which orders are pending versus shipped, and what charges they've incurred. This visibility reduces the number of status inquiries your team receives because customers can find answers themselves.
When customers have questions about their account, they're often able to answer them by reviewing their dashboard data. Order tracking, inventory levels, and billing history are all self-service, dramatically reducing support ticket volume.
Account Switching for 3PL Staff
Managing multiple customer accounts efficiently requires seamless navigation between them. Shipsidekick's quick account switcher makes this effortless.
Using the Account Switcher
The account switcher appears prominently in your interface, allowing you to select which customer account you're currently viewing. Click the switcher, select a customer, and the entire interface updates to show that customer's data.
When you switch to a customer account, you see their inventory, orders, and settings exactly as they appear in that customer's dashboard. This view-as-customer capability helps you troubleshoot issues, verify configurations, or check status without constantly switching between different system views.
Efficient Multi-Customer Workflows
The account switcher enables efficient workflows when managing operations across multiple customers. You might process receiving for Customer A, switch to Customer B to handle an urgent pick, then switch to Customer C to resolve an inventory discrepancy, all without logging in and out or navigating through complex menu structures.
This seamless switching is essential during busy periods when you're managing fulfillment for numerous customers simultaneously. The faster you can navigate between accounts, the more efficiently you operate.
Maintaining Context
Shipsidekick remembers which customer account you're viewing as you navigate through different features. If you're viewing Customer A's orders, then navigate to the inventory screen, you're still viewing Customer A's inventory. You don't lose context when moving between different areas of the system.
This context preservation prevents mistakes like accidentally viewing Customer B's data when you thought you were looking at Customer A. Clear visual indicators always show which customer account is active.
Data Security and Isolation
Shipsidekick's architecture ensures complete separation between customer accounts, maintaining the confidentiality and security that 3PL operations require.
How Isolation Works
Each customer's data exists in its own secure partition within Shipsidekick. Inventory, orders, products, users, and billing information for Customer A is completely separate from Customer B. No customer can accidentally or intentionally access another customer's information.
This isolation extends to reporting and analytics. When you generate reports, you specify which customer the report covers. Customer-specific reports show only that customer's data, preventing data leakage between accounts.
User Access Controls
Your 3PL staff have access to all customer accounts based on their role and permissions. However, customer users only access their own account. When a user from Customer A logs in, they see exclusively Customer A's dashboard with no visibility into other customers or your 3PL operations.
This security model protects your customers' confidential information while giving you the operational access needed to manage their fulfillment. Customers trust you with their business because they know their data remains secure and private.
Compliance and Confidentiality
Many of your customers are competitors in the same industry, relying on your discretion to maintain confidentiality about their products, volumes, and operations. Shipsidekick's data isolation architecture supports this confidentiality requirement, giving customers confidence that their proprietary information remains secure.
For customers with specific compliance requirements like SOC 2, HIPAA, or industry-specific regulations, the data isolation provides an additional layer of security that helps meet those requirements.
Best Practices for Customer Management
Effective customer management goes beyond the technical aspects of system configuration to include operational practices that ensure smooth client relationships.
Standardize Onboarding Processes
Create a standardized checklist for onboarding new customers that includes all necessary configuration steps. This consistency ensures you don't forget critical setup items and provides a professional, organized experience for new clients.
Your onboarding checklist might include creating the customer account, assigning automation rules, configuring billing rates and wallet thresholds, setting up their dashboard access and providing login credentials, documenting special handling requirements, and scheduling a training session on using their dashboard.
Document Customer-Specific Requirements
Every customer has unique requirements that affect how you handle their fulfillment. Document these thoroughly in their customer profile and ensure all team members have access to this information.
Special packing instructions, gift message procedures, custom labeling requirements, shipping restrictions, and quality control standards should all be documented and easily accessible when working on that customer's orders.
Regular Account Reviews
Schedule periodic reviews with each customer to discuss their satisfaction with your services, review billing and identify optimization opportunities, discuss volume forecasts and capacity planning, and address any concerns or special requests.
These reviews strengthen customer relationships and help you identify issues before they become serious problems. They also provide opportunities to upsell additional services or adjust rates based on changing volume.
Monitor Customer Health Metrics
Track key metrics for each customer including order volume trends, inventory turnover rates, wallet balance and payment consistency, error rates and quality issues, and profitability analysis.
These metrics help you identify customers who might be at risk of leaving, opportunities for operational improvements, or accounts that need pricing adjustments to maintain profitability.
Communicate Proactively
Don't wait for customers to ask questions or raise concerns. Proactively communicate about upcoming maintenance, system updates, policy changes, or operational adjustments that might affect them.
When issues occur that impact a customer, notify them immediately with a clear explanation of the problem, your plan to resolve it, and expected timeline. This transparency builds trust even when things go wrong.
Common Customer Management Challenges
Understanding typical challenges helps you prevent or quickly resolve issues.
Conflicting Customer Requirements
Sometimes customers have requirements that conflict with each other or with your standard procedures. One customer might demand immediate picking of all orders while another wants batch picking for cost efficiency.
Use automation rules and customer-specific configurations to accommodate these differences. The flexibility in Shipsidekick allows you to serve diverse customer needs without forcing everyone into identical processes.
Payment and Billing Disputes
Even with automated billing, disputes occasionally arise about charges, rates, or activity quantities. Maintain detailed records of all billable activities captured by Shipsidekick and be prepared to provide backup documentation showing exactly what was billed and why.
The digital wallet reduces payment disputes significantly, but when they occur, resolve them quickly and professionally. Your billing credibility is essential for maintaining customer trust.
Scope Creep and Unbilled Services
Customers sometimes request "small favors" or additional services outside your standard offerings. While being helpful is important, consistently providing unbilled services erodes profitability.
When customers request services beyond your standard scope, either include them in your rate structure or politely explain that additional services require additional charges. Don't let special requests become expected services without appropriate compensation.
Customer Churn
Losing customers is painful for any 3PL. When a customer indicates they're leaving, conduct an exit interview to understand why. The feedback helps you improve services for remaining customers and potentially win back the departing client.
Common churn reasons include pricing concerns, service quality issues, business changes that require different capabilities, or simply going out of business. Understanding the reason helps you address preventable churn factors.
The Bottom Line
Effective customer management in Shipsidekick combines robust system features with sound operational practices. The platform provides the tools you need to manage multiple customers efficiently including isolated data environments, flexible billing profiles with digital wallets, customizable automation rules, and secure customer dashboards with self-service capabilities. The quick account switcher enables your team to manage operations across all customers seamlessly while maintaining complete data separation and security. By standardizing onboarding processes, documenting customer-specific requirements, monitoring account health, and communicating proactively, you build strong customer relationships that drive growth and retention for your 3PL business. When customer management is done right, you provide the personalized service and attention each client needs while operating efficiently at scale across your entire customer base.