All too often in eCommerce, the post-purchase experience is overlooked by retailers, yet it is one of the essential stages of the buying experience in ecommerce  to secure repeat customers and drive customer loyalty. 

It is necessary to have a robust post-purchase strategy in place to drive increased revenue and decrease the volume of Where Is My Order (WISMO) calls in the retailer's call center.

Post-purchase components for Customer Retention 

Like any new software/strategy implementation, it can be overwhelming to think about all the different components that go into post-purchase and how to drive loyalty beyond the buy button. There is certainly a Crawl-Walk-Run approach that can help build loyalty. 

There are three main components to a post-purchase strategy that needs to be implemented:

Setting clear delivery expectations: Even before purchase, it is essential to set the right expectation of when your customer will receive the item(s). 

Proactive, Onbrand Communication: Your customers do not want to communicate with the carrier and their website; the expectation is that all the communication will come from the Brand/Retailer, and it will be proactive. You cannot over-communicate with customers when they have a package en route. 

Reverse Logistics: What happens when your customer needs to make a return or exchange? Does it require a phone call? Do you put a label in the box? How can Brands and Retailers make the return process self-service while driving additional revenue and reducing operation costs?

Benefits of Post-purchase Strategy 

Implementing a post-purchase strategy will help brands and retailers to drive increased loyalty, reduce operational costs, and increase the lifetime value of your customer.

This article was contributed by our expert Steven Miglieri

Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Steven Miglieri

Q1. How does promotion post purchase help customers?

The typical post purchase flow consists of redirecting customers to the carrier website to track their package. Carriers are not marketing on behalf of the brand/retailer, and their websites are typically confusing and/or are missing information. 

There is an opportunity for Retailers to deliver a more personalized experience with dynamic product recommendations and an opportunity to drive traffic back to the website. This flow allows for a better customer experience and additional revenue for the company.

Q2. How do I reduce WISMO calls?

There are typically a few different points of friction that cause a WISMO call, the best way to reduce WISMO is by over communicating to the customer the status of their order

Pre Shipment: Communicate fulfillment delays to the customer

In Transit: Give customers an Estimated Delivery Date (EDD) of when they can expect their item. Additionally, there should be at minimum two proactive messages to the customer

1. On it’s way - This is when the package has been picked up by the carrier, and has been scanned.

2. Anticipation - This is 24 hours prior to delivery, retailers should give a reminder to the customer their package will be delivered tomorrow. 

Delays: If an item is going to be delayed, it is important to communicate that proactively. 
All of this communication should be across whatever platform the customer preferes (email, SMS, etc)

Q3. How can you influence customers in post purchase stage?

Post purchase, by definition, means the consumer has already made a purchase with you. This makes them more likely to purchase again vs. acquiring a new customer. On average, 75% of customers track their package, and this groups tracks it 3.4x per shipment. This is a lot of engagement that many retailers are sending off to the carrier site, where there is no marketing on behalf of the retailer.  

The most successful retailers are treating every post purchase interaction with the customer the same as they would with a customer who is on their website. Dynamic product recommendations are very impactful and these customers are much more likely to repeat purchase.

Q4. Why is post purchase communication important?

Customers have options, if the customer has a bad post purchase experience, the likelihood of a repeat purchase decreases. Most custome