Intro
The race to become a top e-commerce business in a particular niche is fierce. As such, often, e-commerce businesses put an all-out effort to generate more sales and seize the market. However, such a focus on generating business should not come at the expense of disengaging with customers. Post-purchase engagement with customers can go a long way. Here we will discover how.
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What is post-purchase engagement?
As the name may suggest, post-purchase engagement refers to companies and their dealings with their customers after the point of sale or purchase. Such engagement is usually about creating and maintaining a form of relationship with customers even after their purchase.
Post-purchase engagement with customers can reflect plenty of direct and indirect advantages to companies. Post-purchase experience can come in different forms, through after-sales experience feedback to customer support. Let’s dive into how post-purchase sales can give an e-commerce business an edge.
Benefits of higher post-purchase engagement
Statistics suggest that 89% of customers return for another purchase if they get a positive customer support experience. That’s just the tip of it, and there are several ways one can benefit from e-commerce:
Better customer lifetime value (CLV)
The more business a customer performs with a company, the more customer lifetime value a company can generate from an average customer. A higher customer lifetime value can provide businesses with stability and growth. The surest way to increase lifetime transactions is by consistently engaging with customers, even after the purchase.
Generate more sales with word-of-mouth
Word-of-mouth is one of the most efficient forms of marketing and sales. It can bring any business a line of confident and interested buyers that can easily bring more revenue. However, word-of-mouth relies on the experience and intention of existing customers to spread the word about the company’s offerings.
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By being in consistent touch with customers, companies can ensure that the customers remember them, their services, and their unique advantages. If customers remember a company, chances are higher that they would refer it to others.
Gaining competitive advantage
Losing a customer can have two disadvantages for a company. One is losing the revenue from the customer, and another is the chances of that customer working with competitors. As such, it is very crucial that companies maintain consistent and approachable relations with their customers. Enough so any client would turn to your e-commerce brand again if they need anything.
Higher stability without relying on churning
Churning refers to the customers who stop buying from an e-commerce business. Higher churning is a severe matter for an e-commerce company as it can leave an e-commerce business relying on the ability to generate business from new customers.
So instead of relying on finding new customers, e-commerce companies should rather foster stronger business relations with existing ones. Existing customers have much higher chances to buy from an e-commerce store compared to targeting new prospects.
Here’s how you can improve your post-sales engagement:
E-commerce businesses often overlook how they can leverage post-sales engagement to their advantage. However, it’s not that complicated if you understand to be constant, helpful, and personal with the customers. Here is a quick guide for e-commerce businesses to implement an effective post-purchase engagement strategy.
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Keeping a constant touch
There are many different ways a brand can implement post-purchase engagement and benefits. Post-sales engagement is all about keeping a rigorous contact and commitment to your product or service. Some of the ways to keep in touch with your customers are given below:
- Product updates and education to intrigue the customers.
- Customer support and tips to help users make the most of their purchases.
- Surveying and collecting their feedback to learn their experiences and show that you care.
- Upselling to buyers on top of their previous purchases by identifying things that go together.
Investing in customer loyalty programs
Another way to leave an impression on your customers is by valuing their trust and support through some loyalty reward. Loyalty rewards can go a long way and would also motivate the buyers to share their reward stories with their friends and family. That way, it can lead your buyers to spread the word-of-mouth and market your brand.
Investing into these loyalty programs can also ensure that your customers are buying something from you consistently over time. E-commerce stores can come up with the most suitable loyalty programs that can benefit their sales as well as the buyers.
Personalized marketing
Marketing activities are a straightforward approach to keeping in touch with your customers. Email updates, Newsletters, podcasts, and digital marketing campaigns can help convert your hesitant prospects into buyers. For instance, a software development business can advertise its in-house development abilities to prospects who subscribe to its gated content.
Personalized marketing can also go hand-in-hand with retention marketing, where e-commerce stores can focus and target their past customers with different ways to interest them in buying something from them again. Ecommerce stores can also leverage upselling and cross-selling to their customers through personalization.
Referral programs
Refer & earn is the oldest tale in marketing for the e-commerce industry. Companies can simply reward their users for onboarding new customers. While this might apply to all clients, it can help you reconnect with the clients after making the purchase.
Referral programs are also among the other ways to create a brand identity and marketing sentiment. Referral programs improve post-purchase engagement, reward existing/new users, and create a sense of achievement for everyone involved.
Negative impacts of poor post-purchase engagement
Just like the set of advantages, it is important to discuss the negatives of poor post-purchase practices by any e-commerce store. Here are some of the negatives to avoid by working on post-sales engagement.:
Lack of effective customer retention
Customer retention can be hard without any form of customer engagement after the point of sale. As such, e-commerce Store and end up losing a lot of customers if they do not focus on maintaining engagement with their previous and existing buyers. To put it plainly, not being able to retain customers could lead them to buy from your competitors.
Losing to competitors
If your customers feel that your competitors are providing much better post-sales engagement, then they might end up evaluating their e-commerce competitors as potential partners. Search disadvantages can also put e-commerce Stores in a tough spot as they lose market share.
Poor brand identity
Building a brand identity is the foundation of any growing business. Without a solid brand identity, it is impossible to stand apart. A lack of brand identity also results in a lack of confidence from the prospects, which can then hinder the overall growth of an e-commerce business.
Absence of referral businesses
Referral business is built around customers writing recommendations or suggesting a particular product in their network. If there is no engagement between the buyer and seller, the chances for such referrals are very thin. An attractive referral incentive with regular brand awareness campaigns would be a game-changer here.
Several popular case studies of post-purchase engagement
Post-sales engagements are not new. Some of the most popular brands understand the power of postpurchase engagement and use it to their advantage. Here are some of the case studies that demonstrate post-purchase engagement implementations:
Case study 1: Adidas & its loyalty rewards
Adidas, an extremely popular brand producing sportswear, provides its users with loyalty rewards based on different levels as per their previous purchase history and importance.
Case study 2: Puma & its seamless return policy
Puma is another global luxury brand, and they aim to look after their customers through the easiest return process. Here the customers can return the product for any reason and at no charge as the company focuses on improving customer satisfaction.
Case study 3: Airbnb & easiest referral business
AirBNB has an excellent way of generating referral business, building a market, and generating more revenue. The secret behind it is their forum and community, where people can exchange ideas and review sites. These community boosts user interaction and brings more engagement to the platform.
Conclusion
Post-sales engagement is often overlooked by e-commerce stores. However, the big brands understand the power of post-purchase engagement and leverage it in every possible way. With the right strategy execution, post-sales engagement can lead to much better client satisfaction, revenue generation, and brand identity, creating a win-win situation for the e-commerce store and its customers.
