What is the post-purchase process?

In e-commerce, the customer journey doesn't end at checkout. Everything that happens after the customer completes their online purchase until they receive their product or decide to return it is considered part of the post-purchase experience. The post-purchase experience has become equally as important as the pre-purchase one due to the extended timeline in e-commerce compared to traditional retail.  

While customers evaluate the product itself, they are also evaluating their post-purchase experience. Here are some common questions your customer will consider:

• Did I get timely and relevant communications about my shipment?
• Was the item delivered on time? To the correct location?
• Was the item stolen? Damaged?
• Do they have a hassle-free returns process? Is there a fee to return?

Merchants are able to gauge the customer’s experience through reviews, claims or chargebacks, and customer retention metrics. Post-purchase interactions play a pivotal role in achieving higher customer satisfaction and, ultimately, retention.

Why the post-purchase experience is important

The post-purchase process is important for a customer's perception of the brand and future loyalty. If you are able to delight your customer within the first 100 days (including post-purchase interactions), then you have the potential to increase profits by 25+%. Since customer acquisition costs are generally higher than retention costs, you want to keep your existing customers satisfied.  

Ensuring the order makes it to the customer is KEY to their satisfaction. If the customer never gets their package, they can’t properly evaluate the product and will likely result in a negative brand perception. 85% of customers won’t return to brands that they previously had a poor delivery encounter with. Since customer churn affects profitability, merchants need to focus on delivering a great experience - and ultimately the package. 

How the post-purchase process is changing

Merchants are making two big changes in the post-purchase process:

1. Four in five merchants now charge a fee to make a return due to the large volumes of returns they receive. This is a big change from previous free options.
2. To alleviate post-purchase issues, focus has been placed on pre-purchase efforts such as updating product information to ultimately reduce returns.

These changes signal that companies are shifting to profitability mindsets instead of just growing sales revenue. Optimizing product pages as well as the returns process will directly increase merchant’s profitability.

How to improve your post-purchase process

There are several inefficiencies that exist in the broader e-commerce post-purchase process. Here are some ways that you can improve your post-purchase process:

• Provide quick and accurate delivery - with 2-day/same-day shipping as the norm, customers want their orders fast 
• Communicate early and often in the shipping process - include Estimated Delivery Date, order delays, etc. 
• Focus on reducing avoidable returns by adding enough product information to alleviate customer questions and concerns 
• Have a clear returns policy that could include a fee to reduce unnecessary returns and discourage potential returns fraud 
• Provide exceptional customer support when something goes wrong

Conclusion

Getting this process right matters. The post-purchase process is where customers' experiences can either solidify their loyalty or leave them with lingering dissatisfaction. There are several ways to improve this process - but focusing on getting the order to the customer is critical. AI can predict risky orders based on location based data and prompt action to reduce lost or stolen packages. 

Incorporating Deliverlitics into your post-purchase process reduces fulfillment failures and leads to satisfied customers that will keep coming back. Find out more information about how Deliverlitics can help!