What Is a Post-Purchase Experience, and Why Does It Matter?
As the popularity of ecommerce continues to grow, competition has become fierce, and succeeding in this space requires paying attention to the end-to-end customer experience. From the awareness and consideration stages through the purchase and post-purchase processes, each touchpoint provides an opportunity to build value and grow customer trust.
Against this competitive backdrop, the importance of post-purchase marketing is difficult to overstate. Effective post-purchase marketing strategies build customer value and generate loyalty over time, while also providing key opportunities for ecommerce brands to unlock additional, ancillary revenue.
Many brands choose to promote complementary products or services during the post-purchase stage, for example—or to generate additional revenue through relevant, third-party ads. Ultimately, the best post-purchase experience examples are those specifically tailored to customers’ priorities and preferences—the X-factor, in other words, is relevance.
Keep reading for an introduction to the opportunities post-purchase marketing can unlock for your organization. This article will explore the advantages of post-purchase marketing, the keys to success, and how to take your own strategies to the next level with Rokt Ecommerce.
What does “post-purchase” mean?
Generally speaking, “post-purchase” means exactly what it sounds like—it refers to the actions and interactions that occur in the moments following an online payment. It’s not a phase companies should take for granted, however; understanding (and meeting or exceeding) customers’ expectations during this phase is the key to inspiring positive post-purchase behavior.
In turn, these behaviors—such as making an additional purchase or considering complementary offers presented on an order confirmation or thank you screen, can lead to increased customer loyalty and additional ancillary revenue for the company.
What is “post-purchase” in ecommerce?
In ecommerce, the post-purchase period consists of the screens customers encounter after putting an item in the cart and completing the payment/checkout process. In a conventional ecommerce customer journey, the post-purchase stage occurs across the thank you and confirmation screens.
These pages provide ecommerce companies with the opportunity to promote upsells and additional products or services, as well as through third-party (non-endemic) offers and advertisements.
Post-purchase satisfaction is especially important in ecommerce, as it often leads to repeat business, enabling companies to grow their customer base, increase loyalty, and unlock an additional source of revenue for the organization.
What is the Transaction Moment™?
At Rokt, we understand that the post-purchase phase does not occur within a vacuum. Instead, it’s the end-to-end experience that matters most to many customers, and they expect every touchpoint they have with the company to consistently provide value.
The Transaction Moment, as we call it, includes the post-purchase stages referred to above (the thank you and confirmation screens) as well as two preceding stages: the cart and payment pages. These stages within the buying process provide ample opportunity for ecommerce companies to engage customers who are feeling positively about the company and its offerings, and highly motivated to buy.
This means the Transaction Moment consists of four connected stages—each of which provides valuable opportunities for companies to drive additional revenue by promoting complementary products and services or partnering with payment providers and third-party advertisers.
It’s vital that these offers are tailored to the customer and provide clear value, however. Presenting too many offers can lead to the Paradox of Choice, wherein customers faced with too many options end up choosing none of them or make choices that they regret. This is where Rokt’s ecommerce platform can change the game for ecommerce companies, empowering companies to use AI-powered tools that turn customer data into actionable insights, predicting the best offers for each customer and each transaction.
- To learn more about the Transaction Moment and how to transform routine transactions into the type of positive experience your customers expect, visit our website. There, you can read case studies, customer stories, blogs, and more.
What is an example of the post-purchase process?
As noted above, the thank you and order confirmation screens make up the post-purchase process in ecommerce. Let’s say a customer is on your website, shopping for a new bluetooth speaker. Since we’re talking about the post-purchase process, that means they’ve already researched products and brands, chosen one of your speakers, and completed their payment. From here, the customer encounters two screens:
- First, the customer sees a thank you screen. More than just a pleasantry, this screen provides an opportunity for the company to offer additional product recommendations, invite customers to join a mailing list or loyalty program, or provide additional information (like how to unbox and configure the product).
- Next, they reach the order confirmation screen. Here, they are introduced to additional offers and promotions, including valuable offers from third-party advertisers. By tailoring these offers to each customer and transaction, ecommerce companies can increase the likelihood that customers will take advantage of them, ultimately increasing both customer loyalty and total revenue.
Ultimately, the point here is recognizing that not only does every touchpoint matter, each provides unique opportunities to enhance the buying experience—through hyper-personalization. Rokt Ecommerce provides a sophisticated, AI-powered platform that helps you turn your first-party data into actionable insights. Using Rokt, you can predict which offers are most likely to convert, one customer (and transaction) at a time. It’s an approach that can consistently transform ordinary thank you and order confirmation screens into opportunities that benefit both the company and its customers.
What are the benefits of post-purchase marketing?
Post-purchase marketing provides a number of benefits for ecommerce companies as well as their customers. Effective post-purchase strategies benefit ecommerce companies in a number of ways:
- Providing a positive, end-to-end customer journey that offers value to the customer at each touchpoint
- Increasing customer satisfaction, leading to repeat business and customer loyalty
- Growing sales (and overall revenue) through the promotion of their additional products and services, as well as from third-party advertisers
- Inspiring customers to engage in positive post-purchase behavior, like writing a positive review or recommending the brand to others.
How does Rokt help companies enhance the post-purchase experience?
Rokt helps marketers overcome three of the biggest challenges they face:
- Understanding what customers want
- Determining the right strategy
- Optimizing the Transaction Moment
The success of virtually any post-purchase marketing strategy depends on the brand’s ability to turn first-party data into actionable insights they can use to optimize the Transaction Moment. While most companies have no shortage of data, many lack the proper tools to bring that data to life in a way that can inform their strategies. Rokt Ecommerce equips brands with AI-powered tools to deliver high-quality insights, including the ability to predict the best, most relevant offers for each customer and transaction.
Elevate the post-purchase experience with Rokt
The objectives of post-purchase marketing—providing additional customer value and increasing overall revenue—are best achieved with strategies specifically tailored to customers’ individual preferences and behaviors. Visit the Rokt Ecommerce website to learn more about our platform makes it easier for brands to convert data into insights, and insights into results, optimizing each transaction and delivering an elevated customer experience.
To learn more about how individual companies were able to leverage Rokt Ecommerce to achieve their post-purchase marketing objectives, our website is home to a library of case studies, customer examples, and demos.
You can also reach out to our expert team directly with any questions you may have.