Customer loyalty is not developed by simply making a sale, it all comes down to their overall shopping experience, especially, how they’re treated after they’ve made a purchase. Therefore, however demanding and exciting things might get for your business, customer focus after the sale should be a priority to encourage customers to make future purchases from your business.
To help you make the most out of your sales and build long-lasting relationships, we have gathered some best practices for a post-sale customer experience, which can elevate your future conversions.
Getting Started With Creating Excellent Post-Purchase Experiences
84% of customers value a quality experience as highly as the products and services offered, and are also willing to pay extra for it, Salesforce has found.
Once a customer has trusted you with their money, it’s crucial to be prepared to provide a smooth and pleasant post-purchase experience to avoid creating distrust towards your brand and guarantee future collaboration.
Here are 5 ideas on how to provide unforgettable after sales experience that help to pave the way for a long-lasting relationship.
1. Enhance Delivery Process With Order Tracking
Naturally, after the customer has hit the purchase button, they will be thinking about their order in the days to come and anticipate their parcel to arrive. But only 15% of customers have claimed that retailers can meet their shipping expectations.
Instead of letting customers keep wondering where the product currently is and when it will reach their final destination, let them access all the necessary shipping information by enabling order tracking.
By providing customers with detailed tracking via SMS as well as e-mail, you’ll enable them to be well-informed throughout the whole shipping process. This will give customers, especially new shoppers who might now be familiar with your business, peace of mind while they wait for their package to arrive.
Customers are more likely to be satisfied with the delivery process if you provide them with convenient ways to receive up-to-date information. Happy customers are willing to leave you a good review, buy from you again and suggest your services to their family and friends.
Moreover, by sending shipment notifications, your customer support team will receive significantly less requests on customers’ order status, leaving them time to deal with more demanding matters.
2. Maintain Loyal Customers With SMS Marketing
SMS notifications are one way to keep customers informed of their shipping status, but post-purchase SMS messages also provide other creative ways to boost the after sale experience.
The reason why many businesses have chosen to make SMS part of their post-purchase marketing strategy is simple – SMS performance is hard to beat. This comes from the fact that text message open rate is as high as 98%, and most customers read the messages within 1-5 minutes after receiving them.
Besides sending customer special deals over texts, here are some other ideas how to use SMS messages to grab your customers’ attention:
- Cross-selling SMS messages. Once a customer has made a purchase, you have an idea what they are interested in. For instance, if someone buys hiking gear, they are likely interested in hiking and outdoor activities. This knowledge will help you in crafting your post-purchase messages, and as you can group your subscribers based on their shared interests, you can target multiple customers at the same time with personalized messages to drive repeat purchases.
- Replenishment SMS messages. If the products you are selling will need renewal at some point either due to being worn out or running out, such as make-up products, pet food, etc., set up post-purchase follow-ups. If you know the average lifetime of your products, you can predict when customers will require a new one. For instance, office supplies like 500 pcs printing paper could last for 1-2 months, so think ahead and remind customers that they should stock up soon.
3. Create a Memorable Unpacking Experience
Receiving the order is one of the most important parts of online shopping. Unfortunately, the arrival of the anticipated purchase for customers is not always quite as exciting as it could be.
This is simply because brands don’t think about the moment of delivery as something to be celebrated. However, if you really wish to make an impression, then this is your chance to shine by enhancing the delivery with a fun unboxing experience. Like Peter Dahmen has done with the lipstick here.
Here are some ideas to help you get started with creating a memorable unboxing experience:
- Designing branded boxes. An eye-catching box that instantly informs customers who the parcel is from will help you to build excitement over the delivered order. Besides, branded boxes help towards building brand recognition.
- Using unique packing materials. This fulfills both practical and aesthetic requirements. Using filler will help you keep your goods safe during transit and can also help to build your brand’s image.
- Presenting your product. If you manage to arrange your products in an aesthetically pleasing way, the unboxing experience will be more exciting and also have a shareable quality, which can result in your goods being posted on social media feeds to inspire others.
- Throwing in free samples. This is a guaranteed way to make your customers smile because who wouldn’t love to receive free stuff? Adding a small free sample won’t come with a high extra cost but could be the reason why customers will come and make additional purchases from you.
4. Send Tips About Purchased Products
90% of Americans feel that customer service is an essential factor when deciding whether to shop with a brand or not. But making customers’ lives easier should be your goal every step of the way, not only once a customer encounters an issue.
Caring for your customers will help you increase trust in your brand, especially if customers see that you make an effort even if there’s no money on the line. One way to achieve this is to offer follow-up training or inspiration.
Here are some ideas to get started with advising customers on how to get the most out of their purchase:
- Create valuable content. Help your customers overcome recurring problems or offer them tips on how to use and maintain your goods. For instance, if you are selling cameras, send out an email that showcases certain features and some inspirational pictures captured with the same product. And as an extra tip, show them how to properly pack the camera and lenses when taking the equipment out of a field trip.
- Highlight possibilities to reach out. When sending out information with product tutorials, you should emphasise that customers can receive further assistance from your customer support. Ensure you always include an easy contact option with your emails if someone has any further questions.
5. Ask for feedback and act on it
Every business owner knows that their online reviews can significantly impact whether potential customers will shop with them or not. A positive online presence is even more crucial now that review interaction has increased 50% from pre-pandemic levels.
However, unless customers have had an exceptional experience or the encounter with your brand has been a total disaster, they are not likely to leave a review on their own.
To gain valuable reviews that will increase your future sales, send a review request email once enough time has passed so that the customer has received the package and had time to try out the product.
Your review request email should include:
- Clear purpose of the email. Let them know that you would like to hear their feedback on their shopping experience and their purchased goods. Explain why it’s vital that they share their opinion with you and other customers.
- Reminder of their purchase. Always include the list of the product the customer has ordered from you to increase the chances of gaining some valuable information.
- Call-to-action buttons. CTAs offer a clear indication of what the customer’s next step should be and a direct link to the desired destination – in this case, your review page.
By receiving positive and negative customer feedback, you can continuously improve your customer experience and have a more customer-focused approach.
To Sum Up
Many businesses overlook the post-sale customer experience and put all their effort into acquiring new customers. However, delivering a successful post-purchase experience should be a standard practice in order to boost your customer retention rate, increase the revenue for your company and build long-lasting customer-brand relationships.
