5 Examples of post-purchase experience that drive sales

The success of an online business goes beyond the moment of the purchase. In the world of eCommerce, the post-purchase experience holds significant importance in shaping customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business growth.

Explore the significance of the post-purchase experience in eCommerce and see what benefits it brings for both businesses and customers.

By understanding and prioritizing the post-purchase experience, online businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors and cultivate a loyal customer base, ultimately leading to sustained success.

What is the post-purchase experience?

The post-purchase experience encompasses all the interactions and activities that a customer goes through after making a purchase.

A positive post-purchase experience ensures satisfied buyers, builds customer loyalty and retention , and encourages repeat purchases.

The post-purchase experience starts with an order confirmation and ends with order delivery, follow-up communication or possible returns or exchanges.

If the online store has loyalty programs implemented, it may never end.

Why is the post-purchase experience important in eCommerce?

Because it is a critical part of online retailing, as it can set the difference between you and your online and offline competitors. These are the main benefits of a good post-purchase experience for you and your customers:

It reduces confusion

A well-designed post-purchase experience reduces confusion among customers. Unanswered questions, unclear instructions, and missing information will be quickly solved with clear communication and support, and a fast assessment of customers’ needs and concerns on orders, products, shipping, returns, etc.

It fosters loyalty and promotes new sales

The post-purchase experience is crucial for building customer relationships, generating positive word-of-mouth, and increasing customer retention. A satisfied customer is more likely to become a brand advocate and recommend the product or service to others, contributing to the overall success of the business.

It reduces claims in CS

The right post-purchase experience can help reduce customer service claims in an eCommerce business. Proactively addressing customer needs and concerns minimizes the likelihood of customers reaching out with complaints or issues, effectively reducing the workload of the customer service team.

Post-purchase experience examples and metrics to follow

These are some examples of post-purchase experience initiatives and key metrics that will help you identify areas of improvement and optimize the post-purchase experience to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty:

Example one: Post-purchase surveys

Start sending out surveys to customers who had a successful delivery experience to gain positive reviews and learn from their overall experience.

While it’s important to also know what went wrong with failed or rocky deliveries, we suggest making these interactions in private and personalizing the communication by contacting them via chat, phone or a separate email.

Key metric to follow: Net Promoter Score

To measure their satisfaction, follow your Net Promoter Score (NPS) and discover how likely they are to recommend you to friends and family.

Example two: Post-purchase claims

Provide timely and satisfactory solutions once customers reach out to you and unlock channels that allow you to communicate with them, even before they actively look for a solution, to minimize their frustration and improve their post-purchase experience.

Key metrics to follow: Response time and response rate

Check your response time and response rate to make sure that your customer support agents are providing fast, helpful responses and that customers are happy with the solution you gave them.

Example three: Post-purchase communication

Send personalized emails, SMS or WhatsApp messages to customers after they placed an order to thank them for their purchase, provide additional product or order information, update them on the status and location of their order and incentivize new sales with cross selling and upselling strategies.

Key metrics to follow: notification open rates, click-through rates

The best indicator of your customers being happy with this service is to check if they click on the notification when they receive an email, SMS, or WhatsApp message from you and if they go ahead and click on the tracking page or returns and exchanges link.

Example four: Returns and exchanges experiences

Returns and exchanges are part of the daily operations of an eCommerce business. This means that the number of customers processing a return or exchange is likely to be between 10 to 40% in most online stores. Checking how the return and exchange experience is perceived by your customers can shed light on why they decide not to purchase from you again (or why they do!).

Key metric to follow: repeat customers with a return or exchange history

Only when you know that customers who had to return or exchange a product come back to buy from your store again, can you really have the certainty of having provided them with a successful post-purchase experience.

Example five: Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is the ultimate indicator of a successful post-purchase experience, as it guarantees a healthy amount of customer retention and a more profitable strategy when compared to focusing on customer acquisition only.

Key metrics to follow: repeat purchase rate, retention rate

To really understand your customers’ loyalty towards you, the best eCommerce KPI is to see how many of your already existing clients have purchased from your store more than once.

Connecting your pre-checkout with your post-checkout experience to drive business growth

For the customer, everything is considered as part of the shopping or purchasing experience.? Since he first found you online or offline, until the very last moment when he tried to process a return or had a shipping issue to manage, he’s making his judgment about your store.

Connecting the dots between the pre-checkout and the post-checkout stage, as disconnected as they could seem for the online store, simply makes sense when you are trying to create the best possible post-purchase experience.

Improve the post-purchase experience with order fulfillment

Improving the post-purchase experience with order fulfillment involves focusing on efficient and timely delivery and communication. To do so, you can start by:

• Minimizing order processing errors with a professional picking and packing system
• Automate courier selection and speed up label printing
• Optimize your packaging materials to prevent shipping damages
• Obtain accurate order data to prevent unnecessary claims
• Offer expedited or express shipping for faster delivery
• Ask customers about their delivery experience to optimize the order fulfillment process

Improve post-purchase communication

Improving post-purchase communications is essential for enhancing the overall customer experience and fostering long-term customer loyalty. Here are some strategies to improve post-purchase communications:

• Personalize communications by addressing your customers by their names and orders to make the email, SMS or WhatsApp message more personal and useful for them
• Inform customers on delays and send them shipping updates to keep them in the loop of what’s going on with their order across the post-purchasing journey
• Use upselling and cross-selling by making relevant and personalized product recommendations that add value to their overall experience
• Provide active and passive support with user manuals, product guides, or FAQs as well as human live chat, or phone support for convenience

Improve the post-purchase experience with returns and exchanges

Turning what could have been a lost sale or an unsatisfied customer into a positive experience is key for maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. To do so, make sure to:

• State clear and easy returns and exchanges policies. They should be easily accessible on your website and include all the important details (time frames, conditions, fees…).
• Simplify returns and exchanges and allow customers to manage their return or exchange on their own, with an automated portal that guides them through the process in a few minutes and with clear steps.
• Promote in-store credit by giving bonus credit to your customers and encourage them to buy from you again, instead of requesting a refund and assume its costs.
• Keep customers informed of the status and location of their return or exchange or give them an estimation of when they will receive the refund to keep them in the loop at all times.
• Analyze common return reasons to identify trends or common issues and make product improvements, address quality concerns, or enhance product descriptions to reduce unnecessary returns and exchanges in the future.

Conclusions

The post-purchase experience plays a crucial role in online retailing, as it can differentiate your business from competitors and contribute to long-term success.

A good post-purchase experience reduces confusion, fosters customer loyalty, and promotes new sales.

By proactively addressing customer needs and concerns, the post-purchase experience can reduce customer service claims and workload.

Implementing post-purchase initiatives that enhance communication, and seamless processes, such as the returns and exchanges process, can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Connecting the pre-checkout and post-checkout stages is essential for creating a seamless and exceptional overall shopping experience.

By prioritizing and continuously improving the post-purchase experience, online businesses can build a loyal customer base, and drive overall growth and success in the eCommerce landscape.