The anatomy of a perfect post purchase campaign

Post-purchase marketing is full of opportunity for eCommerce stores. The period of time immediately after someone buys something is a great time to increase engagement and maximise on your relationship with the customer!

Post-purchase emails have the potential to boost revenue, increase brand recognition and loyalty, and most importantly deliver a first-class customer experience.

This article will show how to create a post-purchase experience that leads to more sales.

Overview of post-purchase email campaigns

Post-purchase email campaigns are any email communications you send after someone makes a purchase. Think about it- if they are waiting for their order to arrive, they are going to be continuously checking in and have your brand top of mind. That is a prime marketing opportunity!

They have potential to

• Increase brand engagement
• Keep customers informed of their order
• Get positive reviews and feedback
• Boost revenue

There isn’t a one-size fits all email campaign, but a few things you should consider include:

• Recognizable branding
• Information that is useful and personalized for the customer
• Copy that encourages them to open the email
• Clear CTAs if you want them to do something after they read it

However you approach your post-purchase email campaigns, make sure that they benefit the customer in some way as well as your revenue.

Why are post-purchase campaigns important?

Everything you do once a customer hits “buy” should build a positive rapport with them. 96% of customers think that customer service is crucial for brand loyalty, and loyal customers spend around 67% more than new customers.

Your post-purchase campaign is critical for building this loyalty. It can communicate that your customer is worth more than just the sale and you care about their experience with your business.

As well as improving the customer experience, you can gain valuable feedback and reviews that you can use to encourage other customers to convert.

Make sure your customer experience doesn’t stop with the sale!

Golden rules of post purchase email campaigns

There are a few common factors in successful post-purchase email campaigns. It is all about when you send them, how you are targeting people directly, and what is in it for them.

One of the first things you should automate is shipping confirmations and updates. By using a simple shipping integration, you can keep customers in the loop without doing any extra work.

Typically, you can also use these updates to cross-promote and add links to other useful resources (like support contacts).

It is also a good opportunity to remind customers how they can get in contact with you, what else is going on in the business, and other ways that they can interact with you now that they have purchased (e.g. tag you on social media).

Some simple ways you can start personalising your post-purchase marketing are:

• Recommendations based on what they’re actually bought
• First name tags
• Updates on their loyalty points
• Creative thank you emails (not just boring copy- make it your own!)

Creating a post-purchase email campaign

You can send your customers pretty much anything, but there are a few post-purchase email best practices that you can follow for better results.

• Segment your email list

Start segmenting your list using customer list tags. Tags make it super simple to add people to specific email campaigns based on their purchasing history. This is why it is so important to have simple eCommerce integrations from the start so you never have to do this manually.

• Determine the right structure and cadence

What are you trying to achieve from your post purchase marketing? Do you want more customer engagement? Are you trying to build loyalty? Do you want to cross-sell products? Deciding on your aim will help you figure out how many emails you will need in your post purchase strategy.

• Write your post-purchase emails

When you are writing your email campaign, remember that good email marketing gets customers to take some sort of action. Whether that is to open and read or open and click a link will depend on your overall goals.

Make sure your copy is to the point and on brand!

• Set up your post-purchase email campaign

You can either send one or two emails or a well-timed post-purchase campaign. To do this effectively, you will need a segmented audience and shipping integration software. If you are sending several emails, they need to give the customer a reason to open them! A simple email campaign could look like:

• Order confirmation (including how to track their parcel), can include similar product recommendations if your email list is segmented
• Order out for delivery + thank you email, CTA to follow on social media
• A “brand story” email that either educates or inspires
• Order received email, request review of product, re-explain returns policy, put any details for re-ordering on subscription basis, how to use product guide etc

Post purchase email template

Although there are numerous post purchase email templates we could go through, we’re going to focus on what you can send immediately after someone has purchased.

This is a post purchase campaign template you can use if you don’t want to send a million emails.

This is the period of time where they are waiting for their order to arrive. That means that they are already looking out for correspondence from you.

You can use your shipping software to automate this process. Simply go into settings for confirmation emails and create a branded email that gives them all the information they need. This is automated customer service at its best!

These can be spread out over several emails (e.g. order out for delivery vs order received), but some things to include in your email are:

• Eye-catching, Branded visual assets (you need to be high quality and recognizable)
• Simple CTAs (like follow or share on social media)
• Updates on their loyalty points in you run a program
• Personalised similar product recommendations
• A connection point with your brand story/why they are right in choosing you
• Special discount codes based on their purchase
• Order confirmation
• How to track their order (this is automatic with a shipping integration)
• What to do if there is a problem with their order
• Ask for a review once the package arrives

Final thoughts

Ready to simplify your post purchase marketing and improve your customer experience all in one? Starshipit is the eCommerce fulfilment integration that helps you deliver more products to more people with fulfilment automation that does all the heavy lifting for you. Nail your shipping and post purchase order campaign with Starshipit. Talk to one of our shipping experts today or start a 30-day free trial.