The e-commerce business has been growing steadily over the years. The more it develops, the more brands seek to constantly improve the way they sell their products online. Providing a good customer experience throughout the purchasing process has become essential to stand out from the competition and increase sales.
Defining the post-purchase experience
Customer experience is how buyers feel about a brand at every stage of the customer journey. It’s the vision they have of a company, and the emotions they feel before, during and after confirming their order. A good customer experience is essential to a company’s growth, as it encourages buyer loyalty.
We hear a lot about customer acquisition, but the post-purchase part is just as important in building customer loyalty. Here, we’re interested in the post-purchase customer experience. That is to say, the stages that follow order confirmation, waiting for delivery and delivery.
This stage is very special for brands and customers: it’s the moment when they lose control. The customer has just made a payment, provided personal information and must wait several more days to receive his or her purchase. The seller, on the other hand, relies on carriers to ensure delivery, unless he has internalized this part of the process.
Master the different stages of the post-purchase experience and their characteristics to offer your customers the best possible experience and build loyalty.
The post-purchase experience is divided into 3 main stages:
1 – Order confirmation
The strict minimum is to send an order confirmation email to reassure the user and confirm that the order has been taken into account. This email constitutes proof for the buyer, particularly in the event of a dispute. It must be sent directly after payment. If your buyer doesn’t receive it, he or she may worry and call your customer service department, thus create WISMO calls calls, which are costly for you.
2 – Waiting for delivery
This is the moment after you receive your order confirmation e-mail. It’s at this precise moment that many merchants hand over tracking and communication to carriers. This is not the best option. In fact, it’s difficult for them to be reactive in the event of a problem. They don’t necessarily know when a problem arises. Communicating expectations is essential to engaging and retaining customers.
During this waiting phase, it’s important that you provide transit details. Real-time visual tracking gives your customers a smoother overview of their parcel’s journey. What’s more, it allows you to detail the stages right up to delivery. To ensure this tracking, it’s a good idea to set up a tracking page in your colors, which is a good way of keeping your buyers in your brand universe. These communications are less impersonal and allow you to establish a direct link with the consumer whenever you want. It can also be a good idea to send messages with tips and recommendations about the product your customer has just bought, to prolong their experience.
3 – After delivery, customer satisfaction
This is when you can evaluate the overall delivery experience. Were the instructions given correct? Was the deadline respected? Was the packaging in good condition? Etc.
This is the perfect time to gather customer feedback and send out satisfaction surveys. This is the right time to consolidate your relationship with your customers.
Buyers have increasingly high expectations of brands, demanding fast, smooth delivery and reliable information from the seller right up to the moment they have the parcel in their hands. They expect total transparency from the seller regarding the handling of their parcels, and want to be proactively informed and reassured. The way returns are handled is also very important. Flexibility, reliability and speed are the watchwords for delivering a quality experience and building buyer loyalty.
In the e-commerce sector, loyalty is increasingly difficult to win and even more difficult to maintain, so mastering the post-purchase experience enables you to establish a proactive relationship with your customers.