Sashank RavindranathIt is no surprise that a lot of businesses today are paying attention to their customers’ post-purchase experiences, given that it is critical to ensure hassle-free delivery experiences that encourage your customers to reward you with repeat purchases.
The post-purchase phase is also the most exciting part for the customer as they are extremely eager to get their hands on their orders. The anticipation and excitement before order delivery often leads to high customer anxiety. And this anxiety can sometimes lead to customers stressing about what is going on with their orders, particularly when they sense their orders are likely to be delayed.
This heightened sense of anxiety accompanied with lack of effective customer communication and engagement is the retail pundits call, ‘the big post-purchase customer experience gap’.
In order to help retailers close this existing gap, we’ve analyzed a lot of common questions from customers and on your mind and hope to answer them, to ultimately help you provide a stellar post-purchase customer experience.
FAQs from customers during their post-purchase journey
#1: When will my order be dispatched and how long will it take to arrive?
The first question that is on a customer’s mind as soon as they hit the ‘BUY’ button is “when will I get the order on my hands?”
Today’s customers are so keen to get the order on their hands that they expect to be kept in the loop of their order delivery – to avoid worrying over their package going haywire due to delivery issues.
What you can do – Customers are highly anxious in the order delivery phase. You must keep this in mind and over-communicate with them wherever necessary.
A realistic estimated delivery date for their delivery is a good place to start with (considering all external factors) so that they keep their expectations in check and refrain from blaming you in case the delivery timeline gets extended by a day or two.
You can then mitigate their anxiety by sending out automated and personalized shipping notifications via emails and SMS at various stages of the delivery cycle such as ‘order shipped’, ‘delivery attempted’, ‘order delivered’, etc.
#2: Where is my order? / How do I track my order?
Apart from being constantly notified, customers also expect the ability to track their parcels at will, from the moment it leaves the warehouse – and when they can’t do that, they bombard you with WISMO (Where Is My Order?) inquiries.
While WISMO inquiries seem trivial, they are a huge concern as they account for over 30% of the support inquiries, thereby consuming most of your support team’s time, preventing them from tending to other important things like product-related concerns.
What you can do – While responding to a WISMO call may mitigate the issue, it is still not enough to put out the fire as customers are keen to track their orders.
The ideal response would be to enable real-time tracking for customers to track their orders right after the parcel gets shipped out.
All this time, you might’ve been sending your customer to the carrier’s tracking page, which is good but it can be better.
You can consider adding a ‘tracking button’ or sending them a ‘tracking link’ at your website and make order tracking ‘self-serve’ with your OWN branded order tracking pages.
When you enable your customers to track their orders, they are less likely to bombard you with delivery-related customer inquiries.
#3: My order is delayed. What should I do?
Shipping carriers often do not provide complete transit information and are known to withhold information regarding delays to prevent them from being shown in a poor light.
While doing so, they don’t really care that your customer is likely to hold YOU accountable for service failures such as delays and they get away with it.
And what makes it worse is that frustrated customers don’t just stop shopping with you but also take their grievances to social media, which negatively impacts your brand’s reputation and prevents other potential customers from shopping with you as well.
What you can do – Just like informing your customers of their order status, you can also send out delivery notifications even when their order is delayed (you can follow the same for packages that are lost or damaged in transit) as it is always better when you keep them informed about it (rather than the other way around).
You can proactively identify and resolve these issues before your customer is impacted by them and exceed your customers’ delivery expectations.
This way, there is an opportunity to show how much you value them and turn unhappy customers into brand advocates.
#4.1: How do I return my order?
Returns are becoming more common in this eCommerce era, with 30% of all products returned compared to just around 9% in brick-and-mortar stores.
Customers return their products for various reasons – ranging from the product not meeting their expectations to delays or damages. Either way, the onus falls on you to offer a great return experience as it still plays a major role in the post-purchase phase of their journey.
What you can do – Just like all the previous queries, the ideal response would be to create a situation where the customer already has the answer to this question.
And how, you ask?
Mention your returns policy ahead of the purchase on your website. Sometimes this even works to give your customers the slightest push towards making a purchase, so it is a good ploy to provide free returns by bearing the costs of it.
Not just that, returns play a more vital role as 92% of repeat sales are a result of seamless return experience and there is a 40% drop in support calls with timely return status updates.
Check out our blog, 5 Tips for a Great eCommerce Returns Process by 3Dcart’s Jimmy Rodriguez to get a more hands-on approach on returns and streamline your store’s returns process.
#4.2: How do I claim a refund for my order?
A customer who has returned their order after it had not met their delivery expectations, may want a refund as well, considering they’re not looking for a free replacement.
Refunds too like returns act as a huge differentiator between you and your competitor. That being said, it is high time for you to focus on a clear refund policy as well.
What you can do – Apart from a clear refund policy, businesses must also take a step ahead and fulfill your customers’ refund requests and bear the costs themselves.
In case of a refund due to delivery issues such as delays, you can offer a complete refund on the product and send out a new one via an expedited shipping option at your own expense to show your customers that you value them – making them repeat customers.
This way, you can show your commitment to offer a great post-purchase experience for your customers and manage to alleviate their frustration.
If you are worried about the costs, you need not be. Bearing these costs is less expensive than acquiring a new customer.
Bearing these (refunds and returns) costs is less expensive than acquiring a new customer.
Phew! A series of questions from customers, done and dusted.
You can follow these responses in case to close the gap in your post-purchase experience and prepare yourself for the worst.
But what about the questions that are on your mind?
Let’s take a look at them as well.
FAQs from retailers to improve their customers’ post-purchase experiences
There are some specific issues that retailers encounter throughout the year. We’ve decided to put ourselves in the shoes of a retailer and suggest fixes that will make a difference to their processes.
So read on, especially if you are in a customer-facing role.
#5 Can my support team proactively resolve delivery issues?
This is a question that arises from the lack of real-time visibility.
Having a hands-on approach with each parcel that is dispatched is the ideal way to overcome it.
“Prevention is better than cure” might sound clichéd, but it holds true in this context.
You can make use of a delivery management solution that predicts delivery issues even before they occur and offers help desk integrations. This will help optimize your time and also allow your support-mates to reach out to customers quickly if needed.
Various help desk integrations with a delivery experience management platform can help you trigger automated tickets for delivery-related issues and quickly resolve them. This improves various customer key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS).
#6:How do I build my own order tracking page for my customers to track orders?
Online shoppers track their orders 6 to 8 times before delivery.
Sending your customer to the carrier’s tracking page just means you’re losing out on these touchpoints, which can otherwise be leveraged to drive delight, inspire loyalty, and increase sales.
This is because the carrier tracking page is devoid of certain elements that can help you do just that.
This is why it is better to make use of post-purchase solutions that enable you to build your own on-brand order tracking pages.
Your ‘branded’ tracking page can contain your logo, domain, other brand elements, and product reviews which can act as an extension of your brand experience.
You can also utilize the real-estate on your order tracking page to run relevant promotions and marketing campaigns.
#7: Is it possible to know how my customers’ delivery experiences were?
Of course, yes.
All this time, you might be wondering how can you improve your customers’ delivery experience if it is not in your hands?
Well, it’s time to take out the guesswork. Simply ask your customer to know what they think of their delivery experience.
Add a delivery satisfaction rating at your order tracking page or ‘order delivered’ notification and capture your customers’ feedback after each delivery which can be done with the help of a delivery management software.
This can help you make better delivery choices to consistently improve your brand’s post-purchase experience and help you earn fierce customer loyalty in return.
#8: Can I get a refund? The delivery was late
Each package shipped through carriers comes with a service guarantee. It’s an assurance that the package will be delivered by a committed time. Regularly auditing your invoices and claiming refunds for service failures such as late deliveries ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.
So, retailers must consider refunds, not as an option but rather as a right as it’s only fair to hold your carriers accountable for their mistakes.
However, manually auditing your invoices and claiming refunds can be a headache as it is a tiresome process and may cost you more than the refund amount itself.
There’s a better way to do this.
That is, making use of a parcel audit solution that automatically audits your invoices and claims refunds for your shipping carrier’s service failures and billing errors.
Having an automated parcel audit solution in place lets you focus on core business processes while the refunds are directly credited to your account.
Like we said earlier, the ideal response for these queries would be to close this existing gap with the help of a working post-purchase strategy and preventing such questions from arising.
You can do just that by making use of a post-purchase CX success tool that helps you to take control of your customers’ post-purchase experience and build a loyal customer base.
Ready to take your post-purchase customer experience to the next level? Download our guide, The eCommerce Leaders’ Guide to Post-purchase Customer Experience Success, for insight into your customers’ post-purchase experience, and what you can do to ensure a positive, seamless, and on-brand delivery experience.
LateShipment.com - your one-stop solution to take charge of your customers’ post-purchase journey and ensure outstanding delivery experiences
LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that combines shipping refunds with everything you need to create well-managed, branded delivery experiences despite the odds.
LateShipment.com drives savings in your shipping spend, gives you new revenue channels, better repeat purchase rates, and offers your customers premium delivery experiences. Here’s how we elevate the game for your business.
At LateShipment.com, we aim to transform your customer’s post-purchase journey and make it a memorable experience that encourages fierce customer loyalty.
Our Delivery Experience Management platform powers post-purchase CX success for your business by helping you:
- Stay on top of delays by tracking your in-transit parcels across carriers in real-time.
- Resolve delivery issues proactively with predictive alerts for shipments facing delays.
- Over-communicate with customers facing critical delivery issues.
- Send automated delivery status notifications via email and SMS to reduce your customers’ anxiety.
- Build beautiful, branded order tracking pages, personalized for your customers.
- Capture your customers’ Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) rating after every order delivery.
Our DEM platform also seamlessly integrates with all your tech-stacks such as eCommerce platforms, CRM systems, Help desk, and Email marketing tools, etc without any change to your existing workflow.
Now, how good is that?
The best part is,
In addition to helping you elevate your customers’ post-purchase experiences, you can also SAVE UP TO 20% on your shipping costs with our Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution, which can help you:
- Audit your monthly shipping invoices for 50+ service failures
- Submit refund claims to your carrier(s) on your behalf
- Deposit the refunded amount directly into your account
- Save you up to 20% of your overall shipping spend.
- Get better service-quality from shipping carriers
The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.
Or, get in touch by writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com
