NEW YORK — More and more retailers are recognizing the importance of post-purchase communication. But there is still work to be done to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the customer journey, according to Tobias Buxhoidt, co-founder and CEO of ParcelLab, a post-purchase software vendor.
“Yes, they have your brand on it, but very often this is not actually what we would consider a fully connected and hyper-personalized experience,” said Buxhoidt, who spoke on a Sunday panel at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show conference in New York City. “This disconnect that we see so often between touch points doesn’t let brands customize the experience, which means every experience looks the same.”
Retailers strive to offer personalization from the moment a shopper hits their ecosystem. That effort should continue through delivery and beyond.
All post-purchase communications should feel seamless, according to Buxhoidt. Instead of sending emails with templated order updates that stick out from the personalized marketing customers have been receiving, messages should flow into each other and retain the same feel, he said.
“It’s just another touch point, so let’s make it look good, and let’s make it look engaging to bring [customers] back,” Scott Streit, director of software engineering at Yeti, said during the NRF session.
“You need excellence all the way from the homepage through a package arriving at their doorstep,” he said.
Yeti sends messages at every step of the post-purchase journey, according to Streit. This includes communication immediately post-purchase through delivery confirmation. Even orders for customized products, which are more complicated, get updates after every step of the personalization process.
Keeping customers well informed about the state of their purchase has enabled Yeti to achieve an average open rate above 80% and an average open-to-click rate above 43% for its post-order confirmation emails, he said.
The dedication to a good post-purchase experience should even carry through to returns.
The cooler and drinkware retailer keeps in touch with customers post-return and will inform them if there will be a delay on any refunds. Customer experience best practices apply even when shoppers don’t want to keep a purchase, Streit said.
“At the end of the day, we want a happy, satisfied customer that’s going to make a return but then will be on to their next purchase,” he said.
