Smart Rules help keep the Parade capacity management engines humming. But how do freight brokerages know whether the rules they’ve put into place are working? Even more important, how can they learn how to set better Smart Rules to make even better matches in the future?
Parade’s latest feature gives freight brokerages the tools they need to evaluate their Smart Rules, decide what’s working, and find even better ways to show their carriers the loads they want.
Parade’s Newest Features Went Live February 1, 2022
At Parade, we love feedback from our customers. If one brokerage would benefit from a new feature, others likely can, as well. We use customer feedback, ideas brought to our Customer Experience team, and concepts generated internally to continuously improve the Parade platform so that it provides better results and higher returns for our customers. Read on to learn more about our latest features.
Smart Rule Performance Tracking
Parade users can now generate a smart rule performance report that will give them insight into potential Smart Rule issues.
The first part of the report will show carriers how many Smart Rules they’ve written and flag potential issues that could cause those rules to be ineffective, including:
· No Dispatch- Carriers tagged as ‘No Dispatch’ are not sent matching freight. If you’d like to email a ‘No Dispatch’ carrier, that tag will need to be removed
· Carriers Not Enabled for Parade- This flags carriers who are not yet Parade enabled and therefore cannot receive emails through the platform.
· Non-Instant Send- Only Instant Send rules generate an email. Non-Instant Send rules can help the system find better matches but don’t automatically engage carriers with an email.
· Carrier Missing Contact Info- Without a primary contact, the system is unable to send an email. The carrier’s contact info should be updated so that they can receive email updates.
If a broker is seeing these flags on their Smart Rule report, they can change these settings on a carrier’s profile page.
Email Performance Tracking
The new feature also tracks the effectiveness of the Smart Rule emails sent across daily (over the past 7 days) and monthly (over the past 6 months) periods. It does this by measuring performance indicators like how many emails were sent, how many emails were opened, how many emails generated clicks, how many clicks the average email generated, how many quotes were generated, and how many quotes were generated by each carrier who quoted.
What do these metrics mean? An effective Smart Rule should have at least a 40% open rate, showing that rules are specific enough to target good matches.
Individual Rule Performance Tracking
Individual Rule Performance helps brokerages see which rules are firing out emails and which aren’t. This can help determine whether rules are effective in targeting ideal carriers.
Searching for Most Frequently Firing Smart Rules can show which carriers are receiving the most emails so that brokers can compare the number of emails sent to the number of quotes generated, ensure the carrier is receiving good matches, and know when to reach out to facilitate a stronger connection by learning why a carrier isn’t sending quotes when they are being sent good matches. It’s a great way to examine the state of carrier connections.
Brokers can also use the Smart Rules Not Firing report to find Smart Rules that aren’t having the intended effect. This part of the report also shows the number of loads each carrier has done overall (Smart Rule matched or not) and the carrier’s Smart Rules that didn’t match any freight in the past 30 days. This can help weed out unnecessary rules and indicates that a carrier contact may be in order to update preferences and Smart Rules.
Bonus Feature: Parade Emails are Now More Likely to Catch Your Carriers’ Attention
Carrier reps have a lot on their plates, just like freight brokers. They may get hundreds of emails every day asking if they can cover a load. How do you make sure your emails stand out from the pack so you can snag capacity from your favorite carriers?
You let them see load details before they ever open the email. Both Dispatch Campaign and Smart Rule emails will now include applicable truck type and location in the subject line to help catch carriers’ attention while they’re scrolling through their emails. It helps your loads stand out and saves your carriers time and effort.
These new tools are a fast, simple way for brokerages to ensure their teams are keeping carrier information updated and creating rules that improve matching, saving time and effort in the long run for both brokerages and carriers. Want to learn more about this new feature? Contact our team for a demo.