Guest Post: How to Improve Your Post-Purchase Customer Experience

This week we feature an article by Devin Pickell, Growth Marketer at Privy. He shares simple but effective ways to improve your post-purchase customer experience so your customers keep coming back for more.

Getting a customer to make their first purchase is not easy. Out of all the options available today, they decided to go with your brand. Maybe they read a handful of 5-star customer reviews, perhaps your product page really stuck out to them. Whatever led them to make that first purchase, you’re now able to retarget that customer to make repeat purchases. 

However, getting someone to buy your product, again and again, can be equally as difficult. If your post-purchase experience missed the mark, especially after the first purchase, you could lose out on return business. 

In this article, I’m going to discuss some simple but effective ways to improve your post-purchase experience so your customers keep coming back for more. 

Audit your order confirmation sequence

Did you know that transactional emails, like order and shipping confirmation emails, will have more than double the engagement of regular marketing emails?  

Your customers never want to feel like they’re being left in the dark on their orders, which is why auditing these emails and making them as efficient as possible can immediately improve your post-purchase experience. Follow my tips below when starting your audit: 

• Automate your order confirmation emails to send as soon as possible. This should also include the necessary shipping information and a CTA button for customers to track their items. 
• Send follow-up emails with shipping statuses. If there’s a delay in transit or items are arriving sooner than expected, your customers should be the first to know. 
• Have a direct line of communication with your customer service team, whether that be by phone, email, or online chat. Ideally, you’d have this synced up with your customer service tool to track all customer interactions in a single space. 

After auditing your order confirmation sequence and ensuring customers have some peace of mind, you can dive deeper into some post-purchase strategies, such as upselling and cross-selling. 

Optimize your ‘Thank You’ page

A standard practice in e-commerce today is to lead your customers to a ‘Thank You’ page immediately after they check out. While most brands use this page for order confirmation, savvier brands use this as an opportunity to upsell and cross-sell relevant products their customers may be interested in but probably weren’t aware of. Below is an example of what this looks like: 

This is a great way to get your customers to add another item or two to their shopping cart while they’re still in buy mode. 

Another way to optimize your ‘Thank You’ page is by offering customers a 100% satisfaction guarantee message from your founder or CEO. See the example below from Relay Foods: 

A great post-purchase experience is all about reassuring your customers they made the right decision by choosing your brand. Messages like this are one of the best ways to instill customer confidence. 

Finally, you can use your Thank You page as an opportunity to keep customers engaged with your brand. There are a few ways to do this. The first way is to immediately send your customers a coupon after they’ve placed their order. In the example below, even just a 5-10% discount can be enough to drive repeat business. 

 The second way to build engagement using your ‘Thank You’ page is to present your rewards or loyalty program after checkout. Ask your customers to share something online, invite a friend to the app, or place X amount of more purchases to reach a milestone. All of the methods mentioned in this section are guaranteed to elevate your Thank You page. 

Send automated reorder follow-up emails 

Say you sell vitamins, shampoo, dog food, or any other item that will need replenishing after a month or so. Baking in automated reorder follow-up emails in your post-purchase experience is a great way to stay top of mind with your customers–and they may even appreciate the nudge. 

 When it comes to driving repeat purchases and building customer loyalty, sending follow-up emails as a helpful reminder when your customers need replenishment is an effective strategy. 

Bonus: Create a memorable unboxing experience

When shopping in person, you get to see and feel the item you’re buying firsthand. In e-commerce, these moments are delayed for days and sometimes weeks. What better way to take your post-purchase phase to the next level than by creating an unboxing experience that is memorable and will have your customers talking? 

Brands like Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh, and Foxtrot are all masters at providing high-quality unboxing experiences. What makes them so memorable is:  

• Creative packaging design 
• Product-use instructions 
• Unique tidbits about the brand 
• Durable, custom-built packaging 
• Handwritten notes from the brand or other personalization 

Post-purchase is just the beginning

Imagine a customer’s first post-purchase experience as just the beginning of a potential long relationship with your brand. Don’t fumble the opportunity to make sure they’re informed, and make replenishing items with your brand as simple.

Devin Pickell is a Growth Marketer at Privy. He combines his skills in content marketing, SEO, data analysis, and marketing strategy to meet customers at the right moment in their journey.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Happy Customers Mean Happy Employees