Most ecommerce brands are focused on driving new sales and acquiring new customers. After these customers click the ‘buy’ button—brands consider it a mission accomplished. But there’s still a critical phase left.

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The truth is that the post-purchase experience determines if customers are won and lost for life. According to studies, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%.

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In fact, Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) and customer experience go hand-in-hand. 89% of customers see customer experience as a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention. So, if your brand sells its merchandise online, it’s time to get serious about the post-purchase experience. Luckily, you’ll find enough examples that can help you guide the way.

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In this blog, you will learn what is post-purchase experience, what are the components of the post-purchase experience and the real-life examples of post-purchase experiences worth implementing.

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What is the post-purchase experience?

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The post-purchase experience is how you treat customers after they convert, i.e. after they purchase from you. It includes activities like shipping, order delivery, asking for feedback or suggestions and handling returns or exchanges.

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This kind of customer engagement after the conversion is the final phase of the buying journey and the ultimate goal of it is to delight the customers and build loyalty.

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82% of companies agree that customer retention is cheaper than acquisition.

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The components of the post-purchase experience with real-life examples

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1. Post-purchase communication

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According to research, 82% of consumers want ecommerce brands to communicate every order fulfilment and delivery stage proactively. Well, customers expect an email telling them about the shipping details. But there's a way to surpass their expectations—you can send an email designed to hype up the shopping experience and make them eagerly wait for their purchase. Such post-purchase communication enhances the post-purchase experience significantly.

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Here’s a great example!

Casper, a brand with outrageously comfortable mattresses, not just sends an order confirmation mail that says “order confirmed” but sends a countdown for a good night’s sleep. The idea is simple, Casper hints at the functionality of its excellent product range.

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2. Post-purchase customer support

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Customer support is a crucial key element in ecommerce. As customers never come in direct contact with you, they might have questions, confusion or concerns regarding the product, brand, service or policy—but it doesn’t mean you have to lose them. Though many ecommerce brands provide customer support in the post-purchase journey, they fail to communicate it to the customers.

Customer support can make buyers feel valued and you can establish that you will provide your assistance if customers face any difficulty at any time. You can offer multiple support methods like live chat, a phone call to the customer service team, FAQ section, and email IDs. Well, the greater the gesture of support, the greater your customers will feel valued—helping you build loyalty.

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Here’s an excellent example!

Allbirds, a sustainable shoes and clothing brand, never fails to prioritise customer support. The brand highlights all its support channels in every communication sent by it.

3. Post-purchase loyalty

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Retention becomes easy when customers are hyped up about purchasing your products and engaged in a common community. This is where loyalty programs can come into play.

A Loyalty program is a marketing strategy followed by ecommerce brands that offer incentives to customers to buy more products. Whenever customers make a purchase, they are offered rewards, redeemable points, discounts, and other special incentives— to encourage repeat purchases. To retain your most loyal customers, you can create a customer loyalty program.

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Check out this great example!

Adidas, a world-renowned sportswear brand, offers exciting rewards for loyal customers. Adidas rewards its loyal customers more with a greater level of involvement with the brand.

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75% of customers favour the companies that offer rewards.

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4. Post-purchase service

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First things first: customer service is not the same thing as customer support. The post-purchase service refers to all the services offered by an ecommerce brand to a customer after making a purchase. On the other hand, customer support is the assistance you provide to customers.

Here are some of the post-purchase services that ecommerce brands should focus on:

• High order accuracy
• Fast and on-time delivery
• Real-time order tracking
• Estimated date of delivery
• Proactive shipping notifications for order updates via SMS and email
• A great unboxing experience through custom packaging
• A hassle-free process for returns and exchanges

While ecommerce brands can invest in powerful technology, infrastructure and policies to attain all of the above or outsource their ecommerce fulfilment to a tech-enabled 3PL provider like Eshopbox—and the 3PL provider will take care of everything.

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Here’s a world-class example!

Puma, one of the leading sportswear brands, is committed to customer satisfaction through a simple returns process.

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5. Post-purchase satisfaction

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Conducting a survey can help you understand if customers are satisfied with the products and services you offer. You can gain insights and focus on areas that require improvement. Moreover, it helps customers realise that their feedback and opinion matter.

However, it’s hard to measure the shopping experience you’re offering to your customers. To your rescue, you can measure customer satisfaction with a valuable metric, i.e. the Net Promoter Score (NPS). By using this customer satisfaction survey (CSAT), you’ll know how likely your customers are to recommend your ecommerce brand to friends and family.

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Here’s a fantastic example!

Kate Spade, a luxury brand, rolls out surveys to get an insight into customer satisfaction. The exciting thing about these surveys is that the brand gives offers and discounts on the next purchases—incentivising feedback.

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Bottom line

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Ecommerce is a more competitive market now than ever before which means ecommerce brands must create differentiation based on a great customer experience. Focusing on the five key elements of the post-purchase journey can easily delight your customers and build loyalty. You can start with timely communication, 24/7 support, rewards, seamless and ultra-fast order fulfilment, an easy process for returns and exchanges and taking feedback from customers. This way, you can successfully offer a delightful customer experience and retain more customers.