People’s buying appetite is on the rise. There’s an unprecedented race to attract more shoppers as the global eCommerce market heads towards achieving the estimated $10 trillion by 2027. Unfortunately, acquiring new customers is exhausting than retaining old customers.
After-sales service is more important than assistance before sales. It is through such service that one gets permanent customers.
— Konosuke Matsushita
With repeat customers spending 67% more than new customers — eCommerce businesses should create a strong post-purchase experience to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive market.
In this blog, we’ll explain how you can harness the power of 7 result-driven strategies to improve post-purchase experience to increase repeat customers for your business. This includes how our eCommerce development company helped a reputed white goods store enhance its shoppers’ journey for improving business sales.
Without much ado, let’s get started.
What is Post-Purchase Experience (PPX)?
The post-purchase experience commences after a customer completes the purchase of a product or service from a business. It encompasses engagement activities (active or passive) between the customer and the business.
For instance, product exchange and return policy are integral to the post-purchase customer journey. This phase can significantly influence customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and the likelihood of repeat purchases.
A well-crafted post-purchase experience can turn first-time buyers into repeat customers and even brand loyalists. On the other hand, poor after-sales experience leaves customers frustrated, crushing the possibility of future sales.
What’s the Need for a Positive Post-Purchase Customer Experience?
Existing customers are a valuable asset for businesses. Unfortunately, many brands make the mistake of overlooking their sales potential. That’s where a post-purchase marketing strategy comes into the picture.
Let’s go through the benefits associated with a consolidated post-purchase strategy in place:
Customer Retention is Cheaper
Gaining new customers is good but what if you can earn multiple transactions from the existing customers? Studies confirm customer acquisition to be nearly 5 times more expensive than customer retention.
A strong eCommerce post-purchase experience helps nurture relationships with your current customers, turning casual buyers into repeat customers. Henceforth, it reduces customer acquisition costs.
Improve Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Do you know repeat customers are more profitable than first-time buyers? Nearly 65% of business revenue comes from current customers. That’s huge!
With a seamless post-purchase experience, you can increase CLV and generate more revenue from your existing customer base.
Reduce Cart Abandonment & Return Rates
A monstrous 70% cart abandonment rate is a huge challenge for eCommerce businesses. With a meticulous post-purchase strategy, you can potentially reduce cart abandonment and return rates.
E.g. proactive customer support via educative content like product demos helps build customer trust to complete their purchase.
Build Positive Word-of-Mouth
Happy customers are loyal customers! Your customers, if satisfied, are more likely to spread the good word and refer your brand to others.
A thoughtful post-purchase marketing strategy improves customer satisfaction and creates more brand loyalists for organic conversion.
Collect Valuable Customer Feedback
Post-purchase touchpoints help gather insights and genuine feedback from your customers. If strategically used, this data can help brands improve their products, services, and overall customer experience for greater success.
Capitalize on Additional Sales Opportunities
Existing customers are 50% more likely to try a new product. Hence, it’s important to engage with customers after their purchase and pitch relevant products in future. E.g. you can enrich the value of customer interactions with upsells or cross-sells.
7 Results-Driven Strategies for Improving Post-Purchase Experience, 2024
eCommerce businesses can’t afford to overlook existing customers. They need to focus on customer retention and create a lasting connection with their buyers. We have curated 7 results-driven post-purchase marketing strategies for increasing repeat customers and maximizing sales performance:
1. Run Personalized Email Campaigns
Did you know personalized emails boast an impressive 29% open rate? That’s the power of delivering content tailored to your subscribers’ needs!
Personalized follow-up emails help maintain customer relationships after a purchase. These emails can offer product recommendations, order updates, or even a thank you message.
Create personalized email campaigns targeted to specific customer needs — from upselling complementary products to offering exclusive deals on related products.
2. Customer Loyalty Rewards Programs
Rewarding customers for their loyalty encourages repeat purchases and brand referrals. Studies confirm companies with customer loyalty reward programs grow revenues 2.5 times faster than others. Loyalty programs make customers feel valued and keep the door open for future sales opportunities.
For instance, our Shopify developers integrate your stores with various loyalty program apps to launch point-based systems, referral rewards, and tiered loyalty structures. You can customize and manage the loyalty program via the Shopify dashboard to drive real user engagement and customer retention.
3. Curate User-Generated Content
Checking online customer reviews and ratings before a purchase goes without saying. It helps shoppers filter their options among numerous choices based on pre-existing customers.
That’s where user-generated content (UGC) comes into the picture. It builds trust and acts as social proof, encouraging shoppers to purchase your brand.
As eCommerce brands, you can encourage customers to share user generated content on social media such as photos and videos. Run UGC campaigns with hashtags, contests, or giveaways, and feature this content on your product pages or newsletters to showcase authentic customer stories.
As eCommerce developers, we can integrate popular user-generated examples such as product reviews, ratings, customer testimonials, and image/video uploads, into your website.
4. Build Customer Value Through Community
Customers are likely to stay loyal to brands that make them feel part of a community. Build a sense of belongingness by creating a community — a common platform for customers to ask questions, share tips, and learn to use your products better.
For instance, Apple’s community fosters active discussions from users, media, and third-party companies interested in the company and its products.
As eCommerce experts, we recommend building online forums on Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, and other CMS. This functionality enables users to share valuable information such as tips and feedback regarding your brand.
5. Listen to Your Customers: Track Brand Mentions & User Views
Active listening is more important than ever. Listen to what your customers say about your brand online. Determine their pain points, improve your products or services, and strengthen brand loyalty.
Track brand mentions and reviews from customers to get real-time insights into how your customers perceive your brand. Respond to the feedback — positive and negative — and use it to refine your offerings and customer experience.
We can help integrate social listening tools such as HootSuite with your eCommerce stores to monitor brand mentions and conversations about your business.
6. Run Retargeting Ads
No brand wants to be a forgettable eCommerce company in the eyes of potential customers.
Retargeting ads allow you to re-engage customers who have visited your website but haven’t made a purchase. In fact, retargeting ads are estimated to increase conversion rate by an average of 128% for eCommerce brands.
For instance, we help Shopify stores integrate with the Facebook Channel app to create effective retargeting ad campaigns. This helps reconnect your brand with potential repeat customers on Facebook.
7. Subscription Services
Engaging customers post-purchase and turning them into recurring customers (or subscribers) tops every brand’s priority list. Upselling and cross-selling techniques are commonly used to increase average order value via subscription services. Many studies credit upselling to result in a 41% increase in average order value.
For instance, the product page is the perfect opportunity for cross-selling techniques.
We have implemented the “Other Products You May Like” section for many eCommerce clients. The solution compels shoppers to push extra or complimentary products to the shopping cart.
At The Brihaspati Infotech (TBI), we help eCommerce companies optimize the after-sales purchase experience and multiply repeat customers.
How We Helped Headless Magento Store Improve Post-Purchase Customer Journey?
We partnered with one of USA’s prestigious white goods retailers over headless development. Collaborating with digital marketers, we provided multiple solutions to streamline the shopping experience.
Our innovative headless development solutions include
- Customized Checkout & Delivery: We tailored the checkout process to include white glove delivery as an option for US customers. In result, customers receive premium in-home delivery, assembly, and installation.
- Dedicated Structured & Optimized Pages: We built dedicated pages for training videos, FAQs, and customer support within the headless store.
- Shopper Approved Integration: This enabled the headless store to collect and display customer reviews and ratings from Shopper Approved across different touchpoints, such as product pages and checkout.
- Backend Management and Automation: We implemented systems to manage and update FAQs and training resources efficiently.
Don’t settle for the ordinary—rethink your post-purchase marketing strategy. We can build a strategy that improves your customers’ shopping experience and strengthens your brand for long-term success.
Frequently Asked Questions
The post-purchase experience includes all interactions and touchpoints a customer has with your brand after making a purchase. E.g. order confirmations, shipping updates, exchange/returns, and follow-up emails.
The aim is to create a positive experience that encourages repeat purchases and creates brand advocates for your business success.
A strong post-purchase strategy provides multiple benefits to a brand, including
– Increased customer lifetime value
– Creates result-driven social media engagement
– Builds brand trust and loyalty
– Creates opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
– Increased sales revenue and long-term profitability
Many businesses heavily invest and get positive returns. You can be the next one.
Some of the best strategies to improve the post-purchase customer experience include
– Personalized follow-up emails to engage customers with attractive product offers.
– Custom Loyalty rewards programs that encourage repeat customers and referrals.
– User-generated content campaigns to build trust and authenticity.
– Community forums that foster a sense of belongingness.
– Subscription services for creating recurring customers.
– Proactive customer support to resolve issues quickly.
Upselling is a sales technique where you encourage customers to purchase a more expensive version of the product they’re already considering. The goal is to increase the overall order value while delivering additional benefits to the customer.
Let’s Wrap-It-Up
Improving post-purchase customer experience is integral to the success of eCommerce businesses. Although we have shared the 7 most relevant eCommerce post-purchase strategies available. We can build a tailored post-purchase marketing strategy for your eCommerce business.
Our eCommerce developers provide top-tier solutions for Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and other CMS platforms. Contact us and start your journey to make the best post-purchase experience for your eCommerce store.
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