To Build or Not to Build? That Is the Question.

With people doing more and more buying through ecommerce, retailers like you must extend?well-developed in-store experiences to digital channels in order to stay competitive—especially given the modern consumer’s desire for convenience and control. Doing this (and doing it well) makes it possible to cultivate incredible #customerloyalty.?

Given the current economic climate, loyalty is something your business can’t take for granted as it costs 5X more to replace a churned customer than it does to keep an existing one. In other words, if you can earn (and maintain) the loyalty of your customers, you’ll grow and thrive in the years ahead while your competitors stumble.

?More and more, retailers are working to improve their customer experience in the post-purchase phase of the buyer’s journey, especially as it pertains to returns. While the majority of retailers know the importance of modernizing and streamlining the post-purchase experience, there’s a critical question that many (maybe even you) struggle with:

Key consideration for building your own solution: Resources

Building a platform in-house is a tempting idea as doing so allows you to retain complete control over your post-purchase experience. There’s no third party to deal with, no gatekeeper, and (theoretically) no limits.?

But like any other software-related endeavor, building a post-purchase platform in-house requires a large amount of time, labor, and money.?

Consider all the elements that require meticulous engineering to end up with a true, post-purchase solution.?

Clear estimated delivery dates

People demand to know when their order will show up, which is why it won’t surprise you to learn that 60% of shoppers say they’re more likely to buy from a retailer that can tell them the exact delivery date upfront.?

That means if you want to build your own post-purchase platform you must, at a minimum…?

• Obtain accurate delivery information from every carrier you partner with
• Relay that information to the customer via your product detail pages, checkout pages, order confirmation pages, and post-purchase messaging.???

While it sounds easy, making it happen is a technical and cumbersome adventure (especially before the carrier scan). When homegrown platforms aren’t built the right way, they’re more likely to be inaccurate with their delivery predictions.?

Although that doesn’t seem like such a big deal on the surface, delivery date mistakes are tantamount to broken promises in the eyes of customers, and customers who feel like they’ve been lied to are more likely to #churn.?

A holistic order view

There are two kinds of tracking pages:?

1. The lame kind that don’t give the customer any information about the order itself
2. The awesome kind that include a full breakdown of what was bought and when each item will arrive—even if the order is split into multiple shipments.?

?Which kind will your post-purchase platform provide for the customer??

Displaying all the relevant order details on your tracking page so there’s no confusion or ambiguity around what’s coming is A MUST in the eyes of the consumer.?

Proactive, multichannel communication

If you’re building your own platform, make sure your customers can get their updates when and where (email, app, text, etc.) they want them.?

Yes, most online shoppers still prefer email for their order updates, but more than 30% want their updates in another format—a number that will continue to grow in the years ahead.?

Complete carrier integration

Proactively alerting your customers when something goes awry with a delivery isn’t possible unless the platform you’re building can tap data from various carriers and normalize carrier codes. On top of that, you’ll need to regularly maintain your custom platform to ensure it keeps up with changing APIs and shifting carrier functionality.?

The brutal truth is that the maintenance of these integrations is incredibly cumbersome, as is normalizing this data to inform other systems (BI, ERP, ESPs, etc). If these aren’t technical challenges you’re prepared to deal with, going with a homegrown solution is ill-advised.???

Relevant promotional content

It goes without saying that if you’re committed to building your own post-purchase platform, you’ll be wise enough to create #ordertracking pages that give customers the basics (estimated delivery date, transit updates, delivery location, etc.) and reduce #WISMO.?

But will you have the time and budget to construct beautiful, branded tracking pages that can be customized based on loyalty or shipment status??

Will your homegrown order tracking pages allow you to engage in post-purchase marketing? Or provide product recommendations that drive new revenue by bringing customers back to your brand’s digital storefront?

These are critical questions to consider before investing in a custom-built solution.

Effortless returns

The only thing customers might expect more than ‘free shipping’ these days is an effortless returns process.

Therefore, if you’re going to invest in creating your own post-purchase solution, you need to be sure you’ll be able to offer everything consumers expect:

• Exchanges
• Boxless returns
• Labelless returns
• Instant store credit
• Scheduled home pickup
• Convenient drop off locations?

Customers will also want the ability to process their returns in a self-service environment, so build your system in a way that it doesn’t rely on customer service agents or authorization approval to process returns.?

?(An added benefit for you?—By allowing your customers to initiate their own returns online, you streamline the returns process. It becomes easier to enforce return rules, capture return reasons, pinpoint the best distribution center for resale, and more, minimizing the financial impact of ecommerce returns on your business.)?

Feedback collection

The most valuable thing you can gain from your customers (aside from their cash and loyalty) is their feedback on the experiences you’re providing.?

When planning for your homegrown post-purchase platform, be sure to think about how you’re going to gather that feedback. Doing so is the only way to continuously learn from and optimize your solution’s performance…which is the only way to live up to your customers’ expectations.

Plan for support

If you do build your own post-purchase platform, don’t forget that you’ll need to support it.?

From general maintenance and bug fixes at 3 o’clock in the morning, to large-scale updates and upgrades, be prepared to set aside a sizable sum of capital to deal with all the aches and pains of running a proprietary solution.?

But more than anything, you’ll need to be prepared to modify your homegrown platform to keep up with shifting consumer demands.?

Consumers can be picky and fickle—they want what they want, when they want it. With Amazon setting a preposterously high bar in the world of #ecommerce, retailers need to be prepared to deliver on those expectations. That will mean updating your solution (and doing so regularly) to keep consumers satisfied.

Key consideration for buying a solution: The network effect

While there are many benefits to buying a post-purchase platform from a provider rather than building one yourself, one massive benefit is access to an incredible volume of #data derived from having an extensive customer base (i.e., other retailers) and a bigger carrier network.?

The ecosystem that exists beneath the surface of a solution built by post-purchase experience experts is a goldmine of information and insight. A myriad of data sources make it easier to draw a clear picture of consumer, retailer, and carrier behavior past, present, and future. Using that picture you can do a number of things including identifying industry benchmarks and calculating more accurate estimated delivery dates.?

Here are a few other ways the network effect helps you deliver a better post-purchase platform and, therefore, a better post-purchase experience for your customers.?

Better meet consumer expectations

Extending beyond your own customer base broadens your understanding of how consumers are behaving, what they want from their ecommerce experiences, and which trends you should be looking out for when planning for the future.

A multitude of carrier integrations

The larger the network, the more you can to take advantage of existing partnerships with carriers of all sizes.??

Carrier APIs are updated constantly, and keeping up with all those changes takes a big bite out of your resources when you build and maintain your own platform.?

By purchasing a third-party post purchase solution, you won’t need to worry about carrier updates and changes because you’ll have a dedicated team taking care of that for you. In plain speak, with a purchased platform, your integrations will always be up to date.??

Standardizing exception codes

Exception codes get complicated across carriers. That complication makes it difficult to relay the right information to your consumers in a fast, efficient manner.

But if your post-purchase platform provider is plugged into a large network, they’ll do the hard work of marrying carrier data and order data for you. The result?—You get easy code standardization that improves your ability to deliver an exceptional post-purchase experience.?

Build it yourself, they said—it’ll be fun, they said

Whichever direction you decide to go, you’ll want to make sure your platform is:

1. Capable of keeping up with evolving consumer expectations and demands
2. Ready to solve a wide variety of post-purchase challenges with consistency
3. Supported by a clear plan of action to address technical issues (e.g., bugs) as they arise.?

To find success with a homegrown post-purchase solution, you need to integrate with (and keep up with) a variety of different carriers who update their functionality all time. You need to marry your order and carrier data, normalize order statuses, surface clear estimated delivery dates, and stay on top of ever-evolving consumer demands.?

And that’s just the start. Ultimately, you’ll want to cover every touchpoint of the post-purchase experience, from shipping and order tracking to notifications and returns.?

If you don’t do your due diligence beforehand, you’ll end up digging yourself into a deep, dark hole of regret if you attempt to build your own solution. From implementation and upkeep to functionality and ownership, there are some pretty substantial hiccups that can bog you down if you opt for a homegrown solution.?

A pre-built platform is often the best choice

Building your own post-purchase platform might feel like a good way to save money but, in reality, the long-term costs will almost always outweigh any short-term gains. Most retailers just don’t possess the necessary resources to build and maintain a post-purchase experience solution.?

Investing in an outside solution not only puts the burden of implementation and care on a third party, it also provides additional benefits such as access to an always-on-call team of experts, a wealth of consumer data, carrier partnerships, and an all-encompassing platform that takes care of every post-purchase touchpoint, from shipping to returns. Moreover, you can count on continuous innovation as your third-party provider is incentivized to curate and maintain an optimal post-purchase experience across the board.?

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?About Narvar

Narvar pioneered how brands engage with customers beyond the “buy” button through branded order tracking, delivery notifications, returns and exchanges. Today, Narvar’s comprehensive Post-Purchase Platform empowers 1200+ of the world’s most-admired brands including Sephora, Patagonia, Levi’s, Sonos, Warby Parker, Home Depot, LVMH, and L’Oreal to delivery transparency, build trust, and grow customer lifetime value. Recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies of 2021, Narvar simplifies the everyday lives of consumers.