Drive Smarter: Optimize Your Driving Route for Efficiency

Efficient route planning is essential for businesses that rely on deliveries or customer visits, such as couriers, repair technicians, and sales representatives. However, manually planning routes can be time-consuming and error-prone, leading to wasted time, fuel, and resources. That’s where a driving route optimization app like Droppath can help. Here are some tips and tricksto plan out the most efficient route for your deliveries or visits:

1. Input accurate and complete addresses #

The accuracy of your addresses is crucial for efficient route planning. Make sure that all addresses are correct, complete as even a small mistake can result in wasted time and fuel. A complete address includes a door number, a street name but also a city. A state is often needed to differentiate between multiple cities with the same name.

If you’re using anoter app than Droppath, make sure it has access to the most accurate and up-to-date mapping data to ensure the best possible route planning. Droppath uses Apple Maps on iOS and Mapbox on Android. Appple has been investing heavily in their mapping platform for more than 10 years already.

2. Define your delivery or visit priorities #

Another important factor to consider when optimizing your driving route is your priorities. For example, you might want to prioritize visits to your most important customers or deliveries with the shortest time windows. Make sure to set your priorities before starting to plan your route, so that you can optimize your route accordingly.

Droppath introduced package priorities in 2023: with 3 levels of priority, you can organize your packages according to their priority. Droppath will take the information in consideration when generating the best route.

3. Consider time windows and delivery constraints #

If you have time windows or delivery constraints to meet, make sure to factor them into your route planning. For example, if you need to deliver a package to a customer between 2 pm and 4 pm, you’ll need to make sure that you plan your route accordingly, so that you arrive at the customer’s location within the specified time window.

Time windows are not supported by most route planning software. Droppath introducted them in 2023. To avoid having to enter this data for every package, you can make preset time windows in Settings and use of them in your destination’s details.

Avoid hitting a “We are closed” sign, always set your destination’s hours!

4. Optimize your route using multiple stops #

If you have multiple deliveries or visits to make in a single trip, consider optimizing your route by using multiple stops. A driving route optimization app can help you find the most efficient order to make your stops and plan the best route between them, which can save you time and fuel.

This is of course the main feature of Droppath: organizing your route to avoid driving in circles. Just enter your whole list of destinations (in any order) and the app will take care of sorting them. For best results, make sure to also add your start and end destinations (like a depot).

5. Plan for faillures #

Even the best-planned route can be impacted by unexpected events, such as absent customers. Make sure to use an app that will let you mark destinations that you’ll have to revisit on another day.

In Droppath, use the Success and Failed buttons to mark your progress on your route. Creating a new route with all failed destinations is easy in Droppath.

6. Analyze your data and adjust your strategy #

Once you’ve started using a driving route optimization app, make sure to regularly analyze your data and adjust your route planning strategy accordingly. Look for areas where you can improve, such as optimizing your delivery times or reducing fuel costs. By continuously analyzing and adjusting your route planning strategy, you can improve your efficiency and save time and resources in the long run.

In Droppath, you can set your expected duration time at each location. You can set it to a default for all destinations but you can also set a different time for each destination. Adjusting this time to better reflect reality will improve the estimated arrival time and your workday’s predicted lenght.

In conclusion, optimizing your driving route for maximum efficiency is essential for businesses that rely on deliveries or customer visits. Using a driving route optimization app can help you save time, reduce fuel costs, and improve customer satisfaction. By following these tips and tricks, you can make the most of your route planning and streamline your operations.