If you run a delivery or courier business, you know how this goes. Someone lands on your website, can't find a price, and calls or emails to ask. You put down what you're doing, get the pickup and drop-off, work out the miles, and send a number back. A good share of those people never reply.
A delivery price calculator on your site takes that whole exchange off your plate. The customer types in the job and sees an estimate, and you get their details without picking up the phone.
What is a delivery price calculator?
It's a small form embedded on your website. The customer enters pickup and drop-off addresses, what they're sending, and the service they want (same-day, scheduled, and so on). The calculator works out the distance and applies your pricing rules, such as your rate per mile, minimum charge, and surcharges, to produce an estimate in a few seconds.
The useful ones also ask for the customer's name, email, and phone number before showing the price, so every quote lands in your dashboard as a lead you can call back.
Why manual quoting is hurting your business
- People don't wait. An office manager who needs a box of files across town by 3pm will try the next courier in the search results if yours doesn't show a price. If that competitor has a quote form, they get the job.
- The minutes add up. Say a quote takes 3 minutes. At 20 requests a day, that's an hour spent on arithmetic that software handles instantly.
- You can't answer the phone mid-delivery. A calculator on your site keeps taking requests at 10pm, on Sundays, and while you're halfway through a 40-mile run.
What to look for in a delivery price calculator
Quote tools vary a lot. These are the features that separate a useful one from a toy:
- Your pricing rules, not generic estimates. The tool should use your actual rate per mile, your minimum charge, and the extras you charge for (stairs, inside delivery, after-hours). A generic shipping calculator won't reflect local courier pricing.
- Lead capture built in. The calculator should collect name, email, and phone before or after showing the quote, and store those leads somewhere you'll actually look.
- White-label appearance. It should look like part of your site, not a third-party widget. That means your logo, your colors, your button text.
- Easy installation. You should be able to paste one embed code into your website and be done. No developer required.
How to install one on your website
With Qalt, setup takes about 10 minutes:
- Sign up and enter your pricing. Set your base rate per mile, minimum charge, and any service extras. Qalt does the math from there.
- Customize the appearance. Upload your logo, set your brand color, and change the header and button text so the form matches your site.
- Copy your embed code. You'll get a single iframe snippet tied to your account.
- Paste it into your website. Drop it into a Custom HTML block in WordPress, an Embed element in Webflow, or an HTML block in Shopify.
Once it's live, every quote request shows up in your Qalt dashboard with the customer's contact info, the route, and the estimated price. If someone needs a second drop along the way, they can add an extra stop in the form instead of calling to ask what it costs.
What changes once it's live
The first thing most owners notice is fewer calls that amount to "how much from here to there?" The second is requests from people who never would have called, like the shop owner comparing couriers at 9pm who wants a number before tomorrow.
If your site has no way to get a price and the couriers ranking next to you do, adding one is probably the most useful change you can make to it this week.
Ready to try it? Create your free Qalt account. The free Starter plan gives you one quote form and 50 quotes a month with no card. Upgrade when you need Pro features.