There’s a lot of focus on pre-purchase conversion, but the forgotten art of post-purchase conversion is one that has a huge impact to the bottom line.
Brands and retailers spend considerable time and money on an intricate customer sales journey; from acquiring customers, UX on the homepage, optimising on site search, to consistent photography and product descriptions, pain-free payment options, smooth checkout journey. And the rest.
After the ‘buy’ button, things get a bit messy. And that’s a missed opportunity for revenue and re-conversion.
Kerry Duff, our expert Track Product Manager, works with retailers who are looking to save money and make money in their delivery journey. As we increasingly see that every captured sale is critical, here are some of her insights on how to make your post-purchase journey work harder for your revenue generation.
Post purchase emails are a hotspot for engagement
We’ve all been there. You browse, you order, you wait. From the moment you click the ‘buy’ button, you’re refreshing your email inbox, you’re jumping at the sound of a text, you’re checking the app for any sign of movement, you’re sitting at the window, you’re following the delivery driver around town.
Ok, maybe not to that extreme.
But we all know that the anticipation of waiting for a parcel can be both exciting and frustrating. Customers are waiting to hear from you, and that means that every parcel delivery status update, and every post-purchase touchpoint, should work really hard for both your brand and your bottom line.
Mailgun research shows that transactional email open rates are, on average, between 80% and 85%. This means that you have a captive, curious audience; opening, reading and engaging.
Here is a touchpoint crying out for ads, offers and promotions. If your customers’ eyes are scouring the email or text for information on the status of their delivery, why wouldn’t you share some exciting links to capture their attention, and their add on sale too?
Delivery tracking pages as a conversion superpower
Alongside those parcel status communications, tracking pages hold the critical delivery updates that customers are seeking.
“A customer, on average, will go and visit a tracking page up to three or four times per order,” says Kerry. “So it’s a really good way to up sell and get additional revenue.”
On your tracking page, which should live on your own domain, you have a blank canvas on which to showcase your brand and build a connection with your customer. You should be aiming to frame that high-traffic tracking page with images of products and promotions; show them an ad for a shirt that could match the shoes they’ve just bought, or inform them that you have a sale on throw cushions in case they need some to match their new bedding.
In the video, Kerry says that retailers want to have control to create branded last mile delivery tracking pages that capitalise on conversion opportunities.
“It gives them the ability to very easily and quickly update the content. So, for example, a lot of retailers want to keep their content matching their website homepage or want to change the personalised offers, and therefore they can quickly update the imagery and text so it gets to the customer instantly.”
Well, that leads us on nicely to…
Campaign mirroring and segmentation
If you’re sending all your own communications and using your own tracking page, rather than breaking the brand journey and creating a carrier-owned delivery experience, you’ve got the perfect opportunity to make sure there’s consistency in your marketing messages. And that means from the moment the customer lands on your site, to the moment the parcel arrives in their hands.
We’re talking about seasonal promotions, limited time sales, exclusive offers and, for the pro-level customer experience, segmented persona content. All of the above can be peppered and pushed throughout your post-purchase experience, creating alignment in your messaging and strengthening your opportunity to convert.
In this clip, Kerry tells us, “We always recommend to our customers that they keep their post-purchase content up to date and change depending on their promotions, their sales, their branding and their seasonal offers. We also recommend, where possible, that they segment their communications via their own customer segments so they can really tailor personalised offers.”
Think of the impact your current or recent campaign would have, if you could guarantee there would be an additional 2, 5 or even 7+ opportunities for your (already converted) customer to see the ads again.
Owning traffic
If traffic conversion rate is something you monitor, average order value is key or you have average lifetime value (or similar) as one of your KPIs, using the links in branded delivery tracking pages and communication to push to your site is the perfect way to get more browsers.
Kerry, after working with retailers and brands of all shapes and sizes, hits the nail on the head here.
“There are a lot of retailers who still direct their customers to carrier tracking pages. So, they’re taking their customer away from that branded experience when they’ve invested heavily to get that customer to purchase from something.”
“They send an order dispatch email, usually in their brand, and then they will trigger carrier communications direct from the carriers that obviously link the customers through to the carrier branded carrier tracking page, rather than their own branded tracking page.”
In summary – customers can’t buy from a shop if they’re stood in the car park. Keep the hard-won traffic, keep the shopper engaged with your brand, keep the exposure to your sales messages, and keep the customer converting.
More ‘buck for your brand’ (and keeping customers happy and loyal)
All post-purchase touchpoints above add up to one thing: brand loyalty will put money in your till.
Our research found that 34% of consumers said they now only shop with brands they’ve had a positive experience with previously. And that’s what Kerry sees time and time again.
According to Invesp studies, it costs five times as much to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one – and that’s before you take into account the actual monetary value of missed revenue from poor post-purchase conversion optimisation.
Overall, we’re seeing more and more innovative retailers move towards CRO (conversion rate optimisation) in the post-purchase customer journey. We’d like to chat to you to see how we can set up post-purchase tracking to help you and your business get ahead. Schedule a demo and learn how we can enhance revenue generation, customer loyalty and reduce costs.
Bookmark this blog and get ready to return – you’re going to need it.
It can be difficult to know where to prioritise. Especially when things change so quickly. We’re here to support you, and help you form your ideas and your strategies for shipping, delivery communications and tracking, and even returns.
Hopefully the ideas in this article have acted as inspiration. And we’d love to have a chat with you to see how you can take some of these ideas forward. Get in touch with us below.