Convoy adds pricing transparency for small and medium businesses with automated spot quote benchmarking

We are excited to announce the availability of automated quote benchmarking for spot freight directly within the Convoy shipper platform. This industry-leading feature uses industry data and historical Convoy quote data to deliver contextual pricing insights alongside Convoy’s instant freight quote.

Shippers currently spend a lot of time logging into multiple online platforms, or contacting several brokers for spot auctions to ensure they get a fair price-to-quality balance. This process alone can increase shipping costs substantially as the time to pickup gets shorter. With the large swings we’ve seen recently in spot volume and pricing due to the COVID-19 surges, the need for efficient spot freight booking is greater than ever. This is a problem that digital freight networks are uniquely suited to address.

We compare our spot quote rates to the market so you don’t have to

With automated quote benchmarking, shippers are now able to see when Convoy’s instant spot quote is lower, about the same, or higher than prevailing market rates right inside the quote workflow. Our proprietary algorithm references industry pricing indices as well as historical quote data from Convoy to provide shippers an alternative to the hassle of manual spot auction price comparisons. With this added transparency, shippers can use the pricing insights to make real-time scheduling and booking decisions inside the Convoy shipper platform. 

The instant guaranteed quote for a Convoy spot shipment is accurate up to the minute. It automatically adjusts based on market conditions, the risk profile of the shipment, and our 100% coverage guarantee. Convoy pricing can be well below the market average on our highest-volume lanes, which benefit from exceptional carrier efficiency. Shippers will now be able to see how much they can save compared to market average rates when booking with Convoy.

If the quote comes back with an average price relative to the market, we’re transparent that it’s falling within a normal pricing range. Convoy shipments benefit from high service levels, and our pricing guarantee means we will cover the load and recover from driver falloffs at no additional cost to the shipper.

When the spot market is surging, the turnaround time on a shipment is very tight, or when we have low carrier density on a particular lane, our rates can be above prevailing market rates. With spot quote benchmarking, we are now able to deliver visibility and context as to why rates may be high.

With increased pricing transparency, our goal is to save shippers time, and help them better understand the price-to-quality tradeoffs of booking with Convoy. Ultimately, we want our customers to experience a new way of quoting and booking spot freight – a refreshing alternative to the manual, time-consuming process so many shippers face today.

Freight technology solutions for small and medium businesses

As our customer base has grown, we’ve learned a lot about the nuanced and differentiated needs of shippers based on the size and structure of their operations. We’ve worked directly with shippers to develop and introduce a number of new features to streamline and improve freight management within the Convoy shipper platform:

• Small and mid-sized shippers often miss out on the cost-savings, flexibility, and high quality service that contract freight provides. We’ve streamlined and automated the contract rate process so smaller shippers can secure and book contract freight through the Convoy shipper platform within 2 business days.
• Over half of our customers have sustainability initiatives. With the option to select green appointment windows, shippers can use Convoy technology to maximize efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by up to 36%.
• Personalized shipment insights and supply chain visibility metrics are delivered to all shippers every month to help them improve forecasts, adjust to market shifts, and respond to operational problems. While most freight partners only share this data with their largest customers, we believe that shippers of all sizes deserve access to their data to help improve operations.
• In addition, we’re piloting expanded service, pricing, and payment models including the ability to book shipments with credit cards, offering discounts to shippers who prefer to schedule their own appointments, as well as a sharable tracking link that shippers can use to extend our 24/7 real-time GPS tracking capability to customers and partners.

We’re excited about the impact that digital freight technology can have with small and medium businesses to optimize operations, improve quality, and achieve sustainability goals. As we all learn to adjust to the ‘new normal’ created by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are putting continued and focused investment in product and service improvements to meet evolving shipper needs.

Get started with the Convoy shipper platform

The Convoy shipper platform gives shippers direct access to Convoy’s digital freight network. It’s backed by tens of thousands of reliable carriers and a team of operations specialists who ensure 100% coverage and high service levels on every load.

With our online platform, shippers get instant upfront pricing for spot freight, can book spot and contract shipments with just a few clicks, and receive GPS tracking from start to finish. Get complete transparency and control over your freight with the efficiency, quality, and cost-savings provided by our network. Learn more or get an instant quote at www.convoy.com/bookatruck

Read more: How to quote, book, and GPS track freight online in minutes with the Convoy shipper platform

10 Considerations for Shipping Contract, Backup, and Spot

Convoy shipper platform is now part of Convoy’s integrated online platform for shippers. For more information, take a look at our freight booking software.