{"id":16298,"date":"2022-10-05T06:39:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T11:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=16298"},"modified":"2022-10-05T06:39:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T11:39:50","slug":"post-purchase-cro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/post-purchase-cro\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-purchase CRO: How to re-engage customers after they have purchased"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 11<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Often times e-commerce companies reach out to Invesp when they want us to help them boost their conversion rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of these companies would have invested in SEO, paid ads, or both channels, and they would be getting tons of traffic. But their conversion rate would probably be average or below industry standards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, our CRO team swings into action, conducts customer research (quantitative and qualitative<\/a>), and create a CRO roadmap<\/a> that is aligned with the client’s business objectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after, sales shoot up, revenue goes up, cart abandonment<\/a> rates come down, and the clients are happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But some assume that’s all there is to CRO – optimizing for the first sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

The truth is conversion rate optimization<\/a> doesn’t stop when new site visitors make their first purchases with your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

The true power of CRO is seen not just in the first sale but in repeated sales from the same customers and first-time purchases from new site visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, we’ll define what post-purchase CRO is, how to re-engage customers, prioritization: how to get repeat sales from customer insights, improving customer experience: where to start from, and post-purchase CRO metrics to track.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ready to learn something new?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s get started.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Post-purchase CRO?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Post-purchase CRO is any conversion rate optimization activity done after a customer has purchased to get them to make more purchases and improve the business’s bottom line.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for post-purchase conversion rate optimization is to optimize for\u00a0<\/span>customer retention<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and increase average order value (AOV).<\/span><\/p>\n

According to one of our\u00a0<\/span>studies<\/span><\/a>, it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This means with the right post-purchase CRO tactics in place; you can get more sales from existing customers while spending less on acquiring new site visitors to spend their first dollar with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

How To Re-engage Customers\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a bid to get repeat sales from a target audience and turn them into loyal customers, there’s a mistake I see many businesses make, and that’s redesigning their website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many business owners think a new site design will automatically make the products more appealing and the buyers open to more purchases.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting second, third, and more purchases from your customers doesn’t start with putting up more offers or creating more coupons, or a site redesign.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two post-purchase CRO concepts that can help here.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first is about increasing AOV and improving customer experience, which leads to repeat sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second is all about having meaningful conversations with customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this context, meaningful conversations are defined as communicating with customers to understand better their wants and objections and what offers will lead them to purchase more.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this section, we’ll look at the post-purchase CRO tactics to increase AOV and improve customer experience and three ways to have meaningful conversations with customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Post-purchase CRO tactics to increase AOV and improve customer experience<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Optimizing the thank you page<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

A lot of ecommerce businesses have a thank you page set up that pops up as soon as an order is placed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of these thank you pages show a bland message of ‘thank you for your purchase,’ check your email for shipping information, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an example of such a thank you page;<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

The copy isn’t appealing; there are words there that should have links but don’t like ‘if you’re enjoying your Kuat product, please post a review to MTBR,’ there are no upsells or cross-sells too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: the thank you page after a purchase is a sweet spot to increase your business AOV.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How you do this is simple, don’t just say thank you, offer complimentary products applicable to the one the customer just ordered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an example of a properly optimized thank you page featuring a complementary product.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Professional tip:<\/strong> You’ll want to tackle buyer remorse in your thank you page copy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buyer remorse is that feeling you get when you just made a purchase, and you feel you could have used the money for something else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before asking them to buy more from you, make them feel great about the product they got, how it’s essential and beneficial to them, how it’s not a waste of money, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, you can ask them to get an extra item that will complement what they just got.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how to beat buyer remorse, optimize the thank you page, and increase AOV.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Email post-purchase<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Post-purchase emails are emails sent to a customer who placed an order and is expecting a product.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here also, many ecommerce brands leave their post-purchase emails to the default settings of Shopify or Klaviyo, which doesn’t help the customer experience or inspire loyalty\/affection from the customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

This underrated post-purchase CRO tactic is a great way to improve a customer’s experience with your brand, which leads to your brand coming to mind whenever they want to make another purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n

To do this well, there are five emails to include in your emails post-purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Confirmation email<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The purpose of this email is direct. Here, you’re letting the customer know their order was placed successfully; here’s the transaction receipt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professional tip:<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0you can also include an upsell here of a complimentary product. The reason why this works is that the customer will check their inbox looking out for a message from you, so this is you taking advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

See this example;<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

2. Shipping confirmation<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is the second email after the purchase confirmation. This second one is to let the customer know that their item has shipped and is on the way to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Essential details to add here include the expected day of delivery, pick-up address if this isn’t a home delivery, and tracking ID so the customer can see the movement of their item.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professional tip<\/span><\/em><\/strong>: these post-purchase emails are about improving the customer experience, so you can include guides (a video) on how to assemble the product, how to use the product, how other customers have used the product, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is because it keeps the customer engaged and wets their curiosity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an example from Chewy;<\/a><\/p>\n

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3. Customer service email<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is the third email, and it should be sent when the product arrives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s what a sample email copy looks like;<\/span><\/p>\n

“Hi there.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Your purchase should arrive today; let us know if you experience any problems.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Here are more resources to help you have the best experience with your purchase.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This email aims to check in with the customer as soon as they get their product, enquire about the packaging, and if they experienced any problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

This helps your brand get in front of any problems while simultaneously humanizing the business. The customer gets to feel there’s someone in their corner.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Review email<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The purpose of this email is simple. It’s about getting feedback on the user’s experience with your product.<\/span><\/p>\n

This email should go out days or weeks after a user gets the product and has had time to use it.<\/span><\/p>\n

To make it easier for the customer to leave a review, you can use tools like Shopper Approved<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0It’s a reviews platform, where they send out an email that asks for the review, and then it has five stars in the review, and it says, click the star that you want to rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or, you can have them write a short review which you can use as marketing proof on your website and email campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an example from Bloom and wild;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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5. The main email flow<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is the final email send, adding this set of customers to your general email marketing campaigns. These are the emails that go out to everyone on your list, not just first-time purchasers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember, this post-purchase email flow is to improve the customer experience, which keeps your brand top of mind, so instead of sending them emails every time, do this instead;<\/span><\/p>\n