How to turn customers into raving fans with post-purchase perks
New customers are a thrill.
Few experiences compare to the feeling store owners get, each time they manage to turn a total stranger into an official customer.
Just picture that for a second.
A random Joe from the Internet who, previously, had no business in digging on your site at all… is now a legitimate customer, and a potential source of income for your brand.
In other words, all the effort you’ve put into your enterprise so far…
Every new marketing angle…
Every ad shut down & ran on Facebook…
Every dollar placed on a better email marketing back-end (you are running campaigns & setting up automated sequences, right?!) & better product development…
And every ounce of extra blood, sweat & tears you’ve put into creating the best product, brand, and marketing possible…
All led to this sublime experience where you converted a new customer for the first time. Finally, your investment is paying off handsomely.
The elation barometer? Sky-high.
But now, here’s where it can get interesting.
Typically, when store owners land a new purchase, and the excitement wears off, they start taking it for granted.
And oftentimes, they make the foolish mistake of disregarding one the most important aspects of customer retention: the post-purchase phase.
Now, one doesn’t have to be a genius to fully understand that the quality of your customer retention can either make or break your entire business operation.
After all, what good does it make for the lifetime of your brand to convert someone and not be able to retain him as a customer? Or even better, a raving fan recommending you to his or her friends & leaving 5 star reviews?
Put differently, would you rather rely on one-time purchases or on a consistent stream of revenue from your business?
Well the latter, of course.
Which is why getting the post-purchase phase right is so crucial to skyrocket LTV (lifetime value of a customer) & customer retention.
Nonetheless, it still never ceases to amaze me just how many businesses ignore it altogether.
Because let’s be frank, when we take the time to go through the average experience a customer has with the average brand, we’d find out it often leaves much to be desired.
For instance, let’s say your soon-to-be customer (let’s call him James) is browsing through his feed — and an ad pops up.
Now, for you, this might mean a chance to capitalize on the opportunity to make a sound first impression on James.
But for the average brand however, it’s a whole different story.
And the average effort fails to impress.
The ad showcases a nice-looking product with a decent description, yet it doesn’t seem to get much love in the comment section, which concerns James.
Still, James’s desire for an immediate solution to his problem is so big, he decides to ignore the lack of engagement on the ad, click on the link & land on your site.
Sure enough, he’s immediately met with an intrusive ‘10% OFF’ popup to land a discount on a product he hasn’t even gotten to check. Instinctively, he closes it shut.
After browsing a bit though, and realizing your brand is legit, he feels more inclined to take you on your 10% off discount… and starts searching for the usual newsletter signup at the end of the page.
Much to his surprise however, he does find a signup form, but it leaves him somewhat puzzled.
As it states: “Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive offers, news, and more”.
He instantly thinks: “Hmmm… do I still get the 10% discount?”
Vague form titles like this oftentimes do leave potential subscribers bewildered, and push them to abandon your site altogether (without even signing up to your list.)
But for the sake of an example, let’s say James decides to give your email list a chance, and signs up.
Shortly after, a generic welcome email hits his inbox, with the long-awaited discount code you promised from the jump.
He waits no further. James uses the coupon to place an order, he gets the standard order confirmation, and that’s it.
James buys.
For the vast majority of business owners out there, this is considered a ‘success’.
But let’s be honest here.
Considering James could get something close to a similar experience with other brands in your niche…
Do you think James would feel incentivized to come back & purchase from you once again?
Of course, if he bought & enjoyed your product, there’s a slight chance he might come back and purchase again (huge emphasis in might.)
But let’s face it.
In today’s day & age, we can’t rely on a ‘might.’ And do we even want to?
Business is as close to war as you can get. Each day, there’s a whole battlefield of competitors who are bombarding your hard-earned customers with marketing & trying to steal them away from you.
We can’t afford to miss our chances.
We need to take the bull by the horns & wow our customers with such a memorable experience, they’d be utterly brain-dead not to come back.
Let’s give a little twist to the example above, shall we?
Imagine once your soon-to-be customer sees your ad the first time, the comment section is instead filled with raving reviews proclaiming how great your product is.
He now goes to your store pre-framed & thinking: ‘hell, this product must be the real deal!’. Which sets the foundation for the whole dynamic moving forward.
James lands on your site, yet this time, doesn’t get bugged with an expected popup right off the gate.
Instead, he’s given the chance to calmly check your product line out, discover what your brand is all about, and slowly but surely, come to the decision of signing up to your list on his own.
Important note: if you’re not totally okay with leaving the popup out of the equation (you shouldn’t)… we recommend you schedule it to pop up after he had some time to click around or right before he decides to leave your site, instead of shooting it from the get go. You’d be amazed just how different of an impression this tweak will make on your prospects. But I digress.
James scrolls down to the footer, only to be greeted by a well-designed signup form with a catchy & engaging title that’s tailored to your brand (nothing generic here. Cannot leave things to chance, remember?)
Is he now more likely to sign up than before?
You bet!
And he does. Only to be greeted with a personal note from the founder (aka you), thanking him for his vote of trust, introducing him into your world, and of course, delivering on the coveted discount code.
James then goes on to order your product. But wait, the surprises are not done yet.
In a matter of minutes, he receives an order confirmation unlike anything he’s seen before.
A personal, heartfelt message with a fun little ‘thank you’ story as a cherry on top.
And to wrap it all up? Over the next few days, while waiting for his purchase, he gets a few more emails showing how to use the product while simultaneously amping up excitement for the former.
Needless to say, James is now officially ‘wowed’.
And will struggle MASSIVELY to not think of your brand when it comes time to repurchase one of those items you sell.
Do you now see what a huge difference it makes to put such attention to detail on each phase leading up to James receiving his package?
I didn’t major in rocket science. Or cybersecurity, even though I studied it for two years. But there’s no need to be Einstein or hold a physics degree to understand the astronomical contrast between the two approaches laid out above.
It’s night & day, not the relativity theory.
Sadly, 99% of brands out there end up resorting to the former approach. Because they simply don’t know any better — and because it’s the easiest route to take. But the easy route will later lead you down a hard path.
Easy decisions lead to mediocre results.
And now, you happen to be in that select group of companies who do know better.
Therefore, it’s your responsibility to put this new-found knowledge to good use, in order to kickstart a better experience for your customers (and your bottom line…)
But… how?
Worry not, cause we’ve got you covered.
In this article, we’ll be following up on last one’s topic & lay out the best practices on how to execute this crucial phase to perfection.
And on top of that, we’ll be hooking you up with an eCommerce tool that allows you to improve customer relationships & retention. It’s mind-boggling just how overlooked this powerful strategy can be for increasing your revenue & improving your relationship with existing customers.
And you’ll be getting a special glance at it in the next couple minutes.
Let’s jump right in.
Post-Purchase Emails: How To Get Them Right
First & foremost, let’s make something clear.
As far as post purchase strategies are concerned, there’s really no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy for every brand.
There are many.
And as there are numerous ways to go about it, picking the right course of action will largely depend on which brand we’re talking about.
When you go to several restaurants, for instance, you quickly find out all of them have different approaches in regards to customer service.
Each one has their own distinctive touch that leaves an impression on you.
One may like to gift you a sweet cup of coffee right after every meal.
Another one prefers to send you a special thank you note with your receipt (Hmmm, thank you notes… sounds like a good idea to me!)
Yet another chooses they’d rather have the best musical ambient in town, and that’s their way to let you know you’re a valuable piece of their puzzle.
All in all, different brands require different branding.
If every store did the same thing with their post-purchase perks, well, they’d be the carton copy of everyone else. Which is a nice way to say you’re being generic. We don’t want that for our partners — which is part of the reason we’re writing this article!
In order not to fall prey to this dilemma, you need to create something particular to your brand.
Which doesn’t even have to be crazy. Just unique.
Now, if you find yourself in a creative block & can’t seem to come up with a fascinating way to add a personal touch to your post-purchase phase, don’t let this faze you.
We can always borrow from what’s worked in the past, as long as we give it a bit of a tweak to fit your particular brand.
Moreover, what we’ve noticed works best for the vast majority of store owners out there who do take their post-purchase phase seriously, are receipts.
Not just any type of receipt though. More like ‘heart-warming receipts’.
Receipts focused on driving higher engagement from your list.
In order to illustrate it further, here are the elements this type of receipt typically entails:
- A funny/emotional/personal “thank you” note (usually written by the founder(s) themselves)
- A custom discount code to incentivize repeat purchases (or any other special perk that lets your customer know being part of the ‘buyers group’ is rewarded)
- An introduction to your referral program
- A social sharing button
- Additional product recommendations (oftentimes employed to upsell and/or cross sell the buyer to other solutions)
- Free shipping giveaways
- Checking in after the product arrived to make sure everything went ok
- Pre-emptive customer service
- Addresses typical Q&As customers occasionally have
- Lets the customer know why it’s in their best interest to stick around
Now, let’s go through a bit of data to show you why this type of approach is so effective.
Research carried out at Conversio compared plain receipts against those with any of the features above.
And let me tell you, the results were significant.
They witnessed:
- Receipts without any additional marketing assets had a 61.7% open rate, a 5.1% click rate, and a 0.1% conversion rate.
- And, including just one of the elements above (a discount code, product recommendations, a refer-a-friend prompt, etc), on average, meant receipts saw up to a 14.6% increase in open rate, a 64.7% increase in click rate and a 2200% increase in conversion rate!
So to put it simply, this approach works.
Matter of fact, when Food To Live®, a family-run business that sells healthy, organic snacks and foods, decided to redesign and optimize its digital receipts, its receipts began driving an additional $12 in new revenue per shipment.
And if you run the numbers, over the course of a month, this additional revenue does add up (as seen in last article.)
So in order to help drive this point home, let’s dive into a few post-purchase examples, shall we?
Order Confirmation
Kicking things off with Pasta Evangelists. A sound example on why staying consistent with your brands’ voice is key.
Why?
Well, usually, the level of formality in most brands’ order confirmation emails doesn’t match their marketing messaging.
Frequently, they make the common mistake of writing in a personal tone on other emails & very formal on their order confirmation.
Instead of saying ‘Hi [Name]’ they say things such as ‘Dear [Name]’.
One reads like a friend, the other like a business letter.
And in general, a rule of thumb is to always aim to add that personal tone on order confirmations. As it helps build trust with the recipient & develop what might as well be a new long-lasting relationship.
Of course, we don’t want to neglect the important details the order confirmation email should include either. That’s why maintaining balance is essential.
Likewise, very few brands’ confirmation emails have picked our interest more than this one from Pasta Evangelists.
If you notice, they took the time to address common customer’s concerns at the bottom by answering questions regarding pasta freezing. On top of encouraging James to share this product with friends.
Not to mention, this particular email includes an Italian greeting right from the jump, which stays in line with the brand’s message.
Brand personality can go a long way, especially in order confirmations.
Think how you can add your own flare to your confirmation email, and reap the benefits for the lifetime of your list.
Let’s move forward.
Shipping Confirmation
Ever purchased an item online, yet had no clue when it would arrive?
And worse, had to sit there in utter concern because the company you purchased the item from never actually specified when it’d be arriving at your doorstep?
I know I have. And let me tell you, it’s not a pleasant experience.
This is the same dilemma most of your customers face when buying from you the first time. There’s always an inherent uneasiness every time we purchase an item from a brand you’ve never even tried before.
And shipping confirmation emails can definitely help bring down some of this anxiety to a minimum.
Unfortunately, these also happen to be one of the most disregarded post-purchase emails on businesses’ marketing plans.
Why? No idea.
Sorry to call you out like this, but if you’re using the standard Shopify confirmations… well it’s not great, let’s leave it at that.
But let me tell you, nothing allows you to build more customer loyalty than helping them overcome this uncomfortable side of their shopping experience.
Not to mention, once you decide to add some brand voice & creativity into the mix — magic happens.
To help drive this point home, let’s take a look at the shipping confirmation email from the women’s clothing brand, Tradesy.
Not only does it fulfill its goal to inform the customer his shipping is on the way, but it also lets them know what to expect & all the key information that comes with the shipping confirmation.
Additionally, it encourages the customer to engage further with the brand’s community & even offers $10 for every friend he refers to the store.
Talk about a great way to incentivize word of mouth! This email is all you can ask for in a shipping confirmation email.
Short, sweet & to the point.
Think of ways you can implement these strategies on your own, and watch how customer loyalty is built faster than Usain Bolt finishes a sprint.
But enough with the shipping, let’s talk about some appreciation.
The Thank You Email
We all love to be appreciated.
It’s a natural human desire. And your customers are no different.
That’s where the Thank You email comes into play.
Regarded as the king of all post-purchase emails (heck, some marketers even call it ‘THE’ post-purchase email)… this type is one you will definitely want to include in your post-purchase phase.
As it’s proven to be one of the most engaging emails you can send.
According to Klaviyo data, they tend to have a 352% higher open rate and a 329% higher click-through rate (CTR) than traditional email campaigns.
In other words, Thank You emails are crucial to help you improve customer retention, which can allow you to land repeat sales from the same line of customers over time.
Because as mentioned earlier, in the eCommerce game, customer retention is essential. According to Gartner Group, 80% of your future revenue will likely come from just 20% of your existing customers.
Too often however, stores miss on a ‘ring to the finger’ opportunity to build on their customer relationship by merely focusing on the order & shipping confirmations.
Which is a costly mistake.
If all you do is send out email confirmations & not capitalizing on this tremendous opportunity, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
But don’t sweat it. We’re here to show you the way, after all.
Here’s an example of a famous Thank You email that broke the Internet when it was first implemented (for reasons you will discover right now.)
Did you feel that energy?
That type of enthusiasm Derek Sivers is communicating in this email is exactly how a Thank You email should sound like: personal & coming from the heart.
We often use this email as inspiration when creating Post Purchase Sequences for our clients & partners — as you can see here or here. And as you can see above, an approach that’s not very design heavy often works quite well if you know how to write that.
And quite frankly, your customers can feel that emotion too. This is your special time to let them know how thankful you are for their vote of trust, so you shouldn’t let it pass by just like that.
This email from CD Baby rocks for numerous reasons. It’s hyper personal, playful, and quirky.
Not to mention, the acute detailing of each step of the post-purchase phase leading up to the shipping makes the customer feel like he’s special & part of a wolf pack or family. Two psychological principles that help build trust for both you & your brand.
Compare this to the average confirmation emails most stores send, and you’ll see why this approach rains supreme above them.
The real key however, is mixing all 3.
Order Confirmation + Shipping Confirmation + Thank You Email, and you have the recipe for a powerful customer experience that will have your buyers eager to come back for more.
Hard not to boost customer retention when you execute these steps just as laid out above.
Because at the end of the day, as far as email is concerned, extra effort does pay off.
Now, let’s discuss some best post-purchase practices to tie it all together.
Before wrapping up with the killer strategy I mentioned at the beginning.
4 Rules To Run Your Post-Purchase Campaigns By
- Keep it simple. Focus on the most important details.
No need to reinvent the wheel here.
Your customers are already expecting to receive the usual confirmation email from you, so make sure everything is correct.
A couple things you’d probably want to include are:
- Name, quantity, and photo of the item(s) purchased
- Order number or ID
- Billing summary and breakdown
- Payment information
- Shipping address
- Shipping method
- Estimated delivery date
Remember, this email basically serves a digital receipt for your customer. Which is why you’d like to add as many above as possible.
But don’t over complicate the simple. Keep it short & sweet, check those boxes, and you’re set.
2. Stay in line with your brand voice.
As mentioned earlier, brands tend to disregard the tone they use on their emails and come across as too formal.
Nothing wrong with that. But if your store is known for sending out campaigns with a more personal, conversational tone; then make sure to stay in line with this voice. Otherwise, your confirmation emails won’t match that of other marketing emails, and customers won’t know what you’re all about.
Again, don’t complicate the simple.
If you’re going to use a conversational tone, use it.
If you’re opting for a more formal tone, then stick with that one.
Just don’t flip between one & the other on each email, as that might confuse your customers.
Stay in line.
3. Go to the point. Don’t waver around.
This rule ties back to the first one. In regards to keeping things simple.
You can definitely go above & beyond to ensure a pleasant, one-of-a-kind experience for your customers.
But still, keep in mind the transactional aspect of things, and don’t go too overboard with the complexity.
Whatever you’re trying to do, keep it 100% understandable.
That goes with the subject line, too.
If you’re sending out an order confirmation, ensure to be straightforward & mention the word ‘order’ in your subject line. That way, it’s easy to search up in the search bar, in case your customer is looking for it.
Inform your buyer everything they need to know, and you’ll be good to go.
4. Give them a reason to stick around.
Social media is a powerful tool.
When leveraged correctly, it can turn into a catalyst of customer loyalty.
How? Simple.
Each time a new customer orders one of your products, make sure to include some social links right at the end.
This will encourage them to share your brand with the world. Which, in turn, will create confirmation bias in their mind & thus, will make them more likely to stick around with you.
If you give them a reason to keep engaging with your brand, which could be social links or even a referral program, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t do so.
After all, they’ve already expressed interest in your offering, so why not leverage this to spread the word out… while also incentivizing customer loyalty.
Sounds like a fair trade to me, don’t you think?
Keep deepening those relationships by providing good, incessant value through your list… and watch how your customer retention rate takes off.
And speaking about customer retention, it’s time to link you with a hidden golden gem we’ve been meaning to show you for a while.
It’s name is Smile. And if implemented correctly, it can work wonders for your top-line revenue (and cause a smile or two to appear in your face).
Smile.io: A New Way To Land Repeat Sales On Autopilot
First things first, what’s Smile.io?
Smile is a loyalty and rewards program that works with eCommerce brands. It integrates seamlessly with Shopify stores, and allows your customers to earn points & use them at your site for actions that they take.
These include placing an order, referring a friend, following your social, etc.
Platforms like Smile.io come at handy in volatile times with paid social, as it helps you make the most out of each customer you’ve acquired.
Picture it like the Starbucks app everyone is used to love. Smile.io is no different. It rewards your customer just for the sake of being part of your brand’s ecosystem.
In other words, it’s the ultimate way to incentivize good customer engagement.
Here’s how it works:
As soon as James comes into contact with your site, rewards are showcased from a special navigation bar designed by the platform — encouraging them to take specific actions that help bolster up their points.
Not only does this nav bar appear right after they’ve landed on your site, but also in post-checkout & your email flows and campaigns.
Rewards mainly consist of points in exchange of referrals & word of mouth. Which is particularly great because you get to boost engagement on top of landing potential clients you can convert as customers.
And the cycle repeats on & on & on.
When linked with platforms like Klaviyo, Smile.io also allows you to send thank you emails which detect whether someone is a member or not.
If they happen not to be one, Smile.io gives you the option to send the recipient an additional email detailing how many points they’ve missed so far — which often leads to them signing up to the program.
Now, you’re probably wondering what is the incentive for the customer to go through these actions.
See, when their points balance reaches a certain level (which can be as low as 200 points accumulated)… you can give them the option to redeem their free offer.
What that offer will be, that’s up to you.
But Klaviyo makes it incredibly easy to remind them what they can receive through an email.
And here’s the kicker.
This free offer can only be redeemed if they purchase a certain product you pick, which often pushes them to place an order — knowing they’ll be getting an item for free!
Needless to say, this is a fantastic way to get repeat sales time & time again like clockwork — simply by leveraging the point system in Smile.io.
Not to mention, you can even run a re-engagement campaign to your list, and offer to add an extra 200 more points to their account if they complete a certain task (something like a form.) Which does a great deal to help you win them back as subscribers.
Additionally, something we’ve seen a handful of eCom owners do is add a specific footer right at the end of each email, with a button that auto-populates their referral link on Klaviyo & makes it extremely simple for them to give to friends.
Take a look.
Word of mouth is encouraged, and sales come rolling in with hardly any effort at all.
So as you can see, Smile.io is truly an amazing integration to encourage better engagement, increase customer retention, and land more repeat sales on autopilot.
In this platform, options are wide open.
Mix it’s functionality with a tiny bit of ingenuity & see how your top-line revenue skyrockets to the moon.
Either that, or you see a great boost in customer retention, loyalty & brand awareness.
Literally no way to lose.
Alright, we hope this article has done a great deal to stir you to dedicate more effort to your post-purchase phase.
It can truly mean the between a long-lasting business & one that falls into oblivion.
If you could leave with just one thing from this read, it’s to start brainstorming cool ways to add value & provide a better experience for your customers.
While incorporating a more personal touch to your post-purchase emails to capture their trust & loyalty.
Give the powerful strategies you’ve learned in this article a try, and I’m sure you’ll see a significant increase in your turnover at the end of each month.
After all, nothing can tumble a good customer experience.
Thanks for reading.