News Summary

  • During an analyst call on June 25, FedEx Freight President and CEO John Smith said the company's efforts to streamline processes and build a business structure designed specifically for less-than-truckload (LTL) operations have led to improvements in customer experience metrics.
  • Smith attributed the competitiveness gains to the sales team deepening relationships with long-term customers, the return of sales forces to service centers, and new customer-facing technologies developed over the past year. These upgrades preceded its spin-off from parent company FedEx on June 1.
  • "We are already seeing early signs of improvement in key customer experience metrics, including quarterly Mastio results," he said, referring to the LTL benchmarking resource. Smith added that the company's overall customer experience score improved by 8% quarter over quarter.

Deep Insights

To accelerate revenue growth, executives have previously pointed out that enhancing customer experience is one of the key pillars for the company to break through as a standalone entity. This effort could be a key factor in the company's expected performance this year. In its earnings report, the company said it expects revenue for the remaining seven months of 2026 to grow 4% to 6% compared to the same period last year.

This involves multiple steps, including leveraging artificial intelligence across the organization to improve efficiency, Smith said. According to the fourth-quarter earnings presentation in June, the company continues to seek ways to integrate AI into workflows and educate employees on how to use the technology to optimize performance.

Smith said the company launched a new freight pricing system on a modern, flexible, and scalable technology stack in May. He noted that this eliminated steps that previously required significant manual intervention.

Smith said that since FedEx Freight launched its own website in May, it has received nearly 500,000 unique visits, and approximately 250,000 online freight orders have been booked.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Marshall Witt said on the call that the company's transformational investments in technology are beginning to yield returns.

Smith mentioned the company's two-service model, which typically offers 1-3 day priority shipping and lower-cost 3-6 day economy shipping, which should attract shippers because the model is included in its own nationwide network.

"Based on published transit times, our priority service is approximately 40% faster than our closest competitor," he said.

In addition to technology investments, strengthening LTL expertise has also helped deepen relationships with existing customers and develop new business, Smith said.

"We are already seeing these investments begin to pay off, with our sales team deepening customer relationships, introducing tailored LTL solutions, and accelerating adoption of our modern LTL technology platform," he said. To further advance this customer service strategy, the company has invested in its workforce, expanding the sales team to more than 500 people earlier this year.

Smith expressed confidence that the company will achieve its goals through a clear and defined strategy.

"We are building a more efficient, more resilient, and more customer-centric company tailored to the LTL market," he said.