Today’s eCommerce is centred around building long-lasting communities and enabling cross-selling on multiple social platforms. This is known as social commerce, and it is crucial for maintaining a positive post-purchase customer experience that drives your online sales with customers who keep coming back. Post-purchase customer service is going to be a really important aspect of consideration for retaining customers as we move forward in this article, especially with what is happening in today’s macroeconomic climate. What is the post-purchase customer experience? The way you interact with and treat a customer after they have made a purchase with you is called post-purchase customer experience. For example, after you make a purchase from Amazon, it is the relationship between you and Amazon following that purchase. One bad post-purchase experience can restrain a consumer from shopping with you forever. Almost 40% of buyers simply stop shopping with a store after having a bad buying experience, late delivery times being the most common reason. Thus, it’s most important now to deliver powerful experiences for consumers to keep them coming back to your store for the next purchase. Why is Post-Purchase Customer Experience important? Retailers must remember that a customer journey does not end at the sale. Seamless tracking experience of their order, technical support, or easy return and refund policies are some aspects of the post-purchase journey that can make your customers come back and create your brand’s reputation. To increase your customer retention, it is very important that you deliver a successful post-purchase experience. Returning customers spend almost 30% more on a brand than new customers. When a brand offers great customer service, existing customers grow a sense of loyalty towards the brand and are more likely to return to the brand when they need something. 93% of customers are expected to repeat purchases from a brand offering excellent customer service better than their competitors. Offering product recommendations or a discount coupon during the post-purchase journey can help increase the sales and average order value. 1 out of every 4 shoppers clicks on a recommended product pop-up while tracking their order. An optimised post-purchase customer experience can also lead to customer advocacy. 92% of customers have accepted that they trust the product purchase recommendations made by their family and friends. When you offer care and support even after the purchase process, you give your customers a reason to stay loyal and connected to your company. Therefore, they are more likely to share their happy experience with their family and friends and promote your brand by providing social proof. How to Improve Your Post-Purchase Customer Experience? Post-purchase engagement helps to encourage retention, increase sales, and improve your brand reputation. Here are some brilliant ways to keep in touch with your customers: 1. Customer Behaviour Understanding the psychology behind customer behaviour reveals important opportunities within the customer journey that helps marketers give their brand a purpose beyond the sale and build trust and loyalty with their customer. This results in higher levels of retention and growth in brand advocates. Today only 18% of businesses focus on retention but the good news is that more and more retailers now understand the need for a post-purchase marketing strategy. Again, it is tremendously important to understand the customer’s pain points and consider the common issues that arise with the customer based on his purchases and solve those problems. 2. Show you care Send confirmation emails and let your customer know that you value their reviews and feedback. For example, just a simple ‘thank you’ after the purchase as confirmation messages can really make an impact on your customer’s post-purchase experience and help build a long relationship. 3. Refunds, Product returns and exchange Provide high-quality 3-D images, with true colour accuracy and estimated delivery dates so that customers can make confident purchase decisions. This will reduce complaints and return items. Educate your customer fully about your refund policy and returns process. This will help your customers build trust in you. Consumers will always prefer a merchant who prioritises good customer service more than just sales–especially a brand that offers stress-free returns compared to a business that doesn’t. 4. ‘How-to-use’ guides Once your customer purchases your product, you want to ensure they can enjoy it without any issues. A simple ‘how-to-use’ guide can ease this and diminish the risk of returns from upset customers who can’t work it out and needs guidelines. This can be done through an infographic via email, an embedded video guide, or a written guidelines link on your website. 5. Customer feedback One of the best ways to improve customer experience is to get feedback from your customers on the products they’ve purchased. This will help your customer know that you value their opinion and will help you improve your product line. The time frame around reviews will differ according to the type of product they’ve purchased. A person can try out a shirt immediately and give a review, but for items like a laptop, he might use it for some days before leaving feedback. 6. Replenishment reminders Replenishment emails are sent to customers when their regularly purchased product is about to run out so they can re-order them. They’re useful for relevant products like daily care, makeup, pet food, etc. These emails can be fired out automatically with little effort and management skills. 7. Reward loyalty Let your customer know you value them. Go beyond the thank you and invite them to be part of your loyalty programs. Lay out the benefits for an exclusive offer, VIP access to sales, or bonus points on purchases. 8. Provide product recommendations To build a better relationship with your customers, getting as much information about them as possible is going to be very helpful. Once they have made a purchase, means you can now send them a transaction email with recommendations on complementary product page links related to their purchase. For example, when they purchased any clothing, customers receive recommendations based on their purchases for other items of clothing, to help them complete their look. 9. Surprise your customers with treats Surprising the customer with small treats or a little extra will make the customer feel special and valued. It could be just a small gift, a discount coupon on their next purchase, or a handwritten thank you note. Let’s conclude: Without a solid post-purchase customer journey in place, your online business may have to struggle to retain shoppers to keep coming back to your store. Retaining customers is very important to increase sales, attain higher conversion rates, create brand image, and add value to your business with repeat and frequent sales. Now you know, that getting the right post-purchase customer experience is vital to your business’s success, but may not be always easy. You need to collaborate with Adobe Commerce to strategise the entire customer journey and ensure you understand the pain points of your customers before you try and manage the relationship. Adobe Commerce solutions will make it easier for you to manage your post-purchase customer support, through integrations with CRM systems like Hubspot, and order management system OMS. It gives us the capabilities to set up workflows, manage order management process, and send automated emails tailored specifically for your customer’s post-purchase needs. Use post-purchase strategies from the house of Adobe Commerce and help your business not only make sales but also nurture relationships with your customers afterward, inspire them to keep coming back, and over time develop your brand loyalty. References 8 ways to improve your Post-Purchase Customer experience. Brandwatch. (n.d.). Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/ways-to-improve-post-purchase-customer-experience/ Importance of optimising post-purchase customer experience. Voxco. (2022, August 8). Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.voxco.com/blog/importance-of-optimising-post-purchase-customer-experience/ Darragh, R. (2022, July 27). How to master the post purchase customer experience. Startups.co.uk. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://startups.co.uk/news/post-purchase-customer-experience/ GET IN TOUCH: Name * Company * Phone Email * Subject Message *
