The full eCommerce customer journey goes beyond the sale, making it crucial to take into account the post-purchase experience as it can be the key to turning one-time buyers into loyal customers.
The full eCommerce customer journey goes beyond the sale, making it crucial to take into account the post-purchase experience as it can be the key to turning one-time buyers into loyal customers.
The customer journey is often thought of as the process that begins when a customer first becomes aware of a product or service and ends when they make a purchase. However, the customer journey actually extends far beyond that.
Your customer journey includes all of the interactions that a customer has with your company, from the moment they first become aware of your brand to the long-term relationship that develops over time.
Even after a customer receives their order, the customer journey isn’t over. They may need to return or exchange a product, or they might be willing to leave a review.
There are endless touchpoints along the way to delight or disappoint customers besides the transaction itself. Moments like repeat purchases, customer support inquiries, reviews, and returns all play an important role in the overall shopping experience.
88% of customers say that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services, which really illustrates the importance of creating a smooth customer journey from start to finish.
To optimize the customer journey, you must provide value at every stage - before, during, and after the purchase. It's important to think long-term about your customer relationships, beyond the sale.
For a better understanding of the entire customer journey, let's break it down into distinct stages, each with its own goals and challenges. Each of these stages can also be broken down into further stages, but let's consider the big picture:
When you optimize the entire customer journey, you can create a seamless and delightful experience that fosters customer loyalty and leads to long-term growth.
Now let's dive into the different phases of the extended customer journey and how to optimize them.
Before a transaction even takes place, you need to attract and engage potential customers. In this stage, your goal is to generate awareness about your brand, make it easy to research and compare products, and help visitors decide what to buy.
Your goal in the pre-purchase phase is to nurture visitors into buyers. This means making your eCommerce site easy to navigate, providing rich product information, and guiding customers to items that fit their needs.
30% of customers leave sites because they can't find what they are looking for, so it’s important to make your site easy to navigate and your products easy to find.
The more value you provide early on, the higher the chances of converting site traffic into sales.
Key aspects of the pre-purchase stage include:
Once a customer decides to make a purchase, your priority becomes ensuring a smooth and reassuring ordering process. This means providing multiple payment options, clearly outlining shipping costs and timelines, and sending confirmation emails.
During the purchase phase, customers want to feel secure that their payment will go through without issues and their order will arrive as expected. Efficiency is a high priority when it comes to online shopping, with two-thirds of customers expecting checkout to take 4 minutes or less.
The checkout process sets the tone for how customers remember their shopping experience, so you don’t want any friction here that could negatively impact customer satisfaction.
Key aspects of the purchase stage include:
After a successful purchase, your relationship with the customer continues through order tracking, handling returns or exchanges, collecting feedback, and building loyalty over time.
Getting the post-purchase experience right is essential, as this is when you can lose - or gain - customers for life. The key is showing you care about them beyond just getting the initial sale.
ReturnGO helps optimize the entire post-purchase process by automating everything from order tracking to returns, exchanges, and advanced analytics.
As an extension of the post-purchase process, the relationship continues even after a customer receives their order and returns it if necessary. You can nurture ongoing engagement by continuing the interaction, understanding the overall experience, and identifying areas for improvement.
Some ways to continue the customer relationship beyond the sale include:
When customers feel truly cared for, they go from being one-time buyers to advocates. This lasting relationship drives referrals, repeat sales, and long-term business growth.
The customer journey with an eCommerce business is not linear - it's an ongoing relationship. It’s important to remember that the post-purchase experience is as significant as the initial sale.
By providing an exceptional experience across the entire customer journey - before, during, and after the purchase - you can increase customer loyalty, generate repeat business, and expand your business.
