1) Overview
Many eCommerce owners believe the sale is the final destination in every buyer's journey. They put in a lot of effort to convert prospective customers into successful ones, and as soon as that goal is accomplished, they limit the interaction with customers thinking they have already bought them on board.
However, that's not right. An eCommerce buyer's journey begins from the moment they have made their first purchase. That's when customers show their trust in the online seller and are eager to hear from them more. But when eCommerce owners fail to meet that demand, customers turn to other alternatives resulting in a customer retention failure.
If you are also facing a similar problem at your eCommerce platform and are looking for solutions, try incorporating Whatsapp post-purchase messaging in your business.
2) What is post-purchase messaging, and why is it important in eCommerce?
For years, profit has been the only governing factor in eCommerce businesses. Merchants and e-tailers have been focusing on generating more revenue through operations, neglecting customer satisfaction.
However, in recent years there has been a significant change in this approach, making customers the top priority in every business. Now, eCommerce owners are more concerned about customers' likes, dislikes, and post-purchase experience.
Post-purchase experience is how eCommerce owners treat customers after purchasing their products or services. Since acquiring new customers takes a lot of investment and effort, many online sellers work on keeping existing customers on board by providing them with a better experience. This is where post-purchase messaging comes to play.
Post-purchase messaging is one of the best and most renowned ways of staying in touch with customers and keeping them aware of any developments on the eCommerce platform with the latest available conversational applications. It helps eCommerce owners connect with customers on a personal level and provide a one-of-a-kind experience for each of them.
Here are some more reasons that make post-purchase messaging a customers’ favorite marketing strategy.
a) Order updates and tracking
Many customers lack time to visit eCommerce platforms, again and again, to check on their orders and refunds. Some even worry about online fraud and avoid making purchases on eCommerce platforms.
With post-purchase messaging apps, customers get real-time updates and notifications at their fingertips on a familiar platform. This helps build trust between the seller and buyer and keeps the channel for communication open for further purchases.
b) Makes them feel valued
Customers love attention. When they are treated well by buyers by taking constant feedback, offering exchanges for unsatisfied customers, customizing orders, etc., through post-purchase messaging apps, they feel valued and wanted and automatically get drawn towards the eCommerce platform more and more.
c) Gives early access to sales and offers
The main aim of customer retention is to push customers to visit and purchase at an eCommerce platform multiple times. When sellers notify customers about upcoming offers and sales or give them early access to those facilities through post-purchase messaging apps, they can't stop but check them out quickly.
This further converts into checking up on numerous products and a minimum of one purchase by the customer on the eCommerce platform.
d) Serves as a reminder to shop
Post-purchase messaging is a great way to remind customers about their unfulfilled purchases. eCommerce owners can remind customers about products in their cart or update them about products back in stock.
When customers get such information on their mobile phones, they are bound to check it and are more likely to purchase on the eCommerce platform.
e) Great way of giving feedback and reviews
Knowing what went wrong with a product or did the product meet the customers’ expectations can make a huge difference in the functioning of an eCommerce platform. However, most customers are reluctant to visit eCommerce platforms for feedback and review purposes.
With post-purchase messaging apps, customers can save time and provide necessary feedback to the eCommerce platforms without worrying about opening numerous websites or logging in every time they visit a new page.
3) Why is Whatsapp the preferred medium for post-purchase messaging for eCommerce platforms?
Nowadays, there are a lot of instant messaging options available to users. From Messenger to WeChat to Telegram, people can connect on any platform by filling in minimum personal details.
Despite these platforms' popularity, not all of them can build trust with users. However, Whatsapp has aced it. It not only offers security but is also affordable, accessible, and comes with a huge global appeal.
That's why when it comes to post-purchase messaging for eCommerce platforms, sellers can't help but rely on Whatsapp.
Here are some more reasons why Whatsapp post-purchase messaging is more popular than any other conversational app.
a) Building great customer relationships
Customer satisfaction is the top priority of every eCommerce channel. Unless customers feel welcomed and valued, they won't revisit online sellers' websites for future purchases, resulting in a customer retention failure.
Through Whatsapp post-purchase messaging, eCommerce owners can take feedback and reviews from customers and also make them aware of the upcoming offers and discounts on their mobile phones. They can even send personalized promotional messages and build better relationships with customers.
b) Speeding up the customer sales cycle
Earlier, business owners had to make cold calls, send emails, distribute pamphlets and do many other things to generate sales leads and gain customers. These methods took long and had quite a few chances of positive outcomes.
With Whatsapp post-purchase messaging, eCommerce owners can connect with customers on a personal level and generate quick responses. This way, sellers can differentiate between a successful and unsuccessful customer faster and move ahead with their operations.
c) Driving a higher amount of sales
At times giving huge discounts and offers aren't enough to lure customers. When eCommerce owners incentivize sales through analyzing customers’ previous purchase patterns, they increase their chances of driving sales through Whatsapp post-purchase messaging than their own websites.
4) Benefits of Whatsapp for post-purchase messaging for eCommerce platforms
Enhancing a first-time eCommerce buyer's journey is vital as it lays the foundation for a future loyal customer. If a first-time buyer likes the online purchase and post-purchase experience, he/she will undoubtedly revisit online channels for future purchases.
This, in turn, will increase the chances of higher revenue and sales lead generation. Hence, eCommerce owners should use Whatsapp's post-purchase messaging as a marketing strategy for their eCommerce platforms.
Not only this, there are more reasons why online sellers should use Whatsapp post-purchase messaging for eCommerce platforms. In the post below, we will give you the reasons along with suitable examples.
Nowadays, a lot of customers are concerned about data breaches. Ever since the infamous Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, people have become more cautious of how and where their data is being used.
Whatsapp post-purchase messaging provides eCommerce owners with a safe and secure platform to deal with customers. Since the chats on the platform are end-to-end encrypted online sellers are unable to sell the data to third-party platforms.
b) A highly engaging platform
Since its launch, Whatsapp has built a huge user base of more than 2 billion active monthly users. This alone makes it one of the world's famous messaging applications and opens doors for post-purchase messaging for eCommerce platforms.
Apart from casual engagements, the platform caters to the marketing needs of many online sellers and helps them create a loyal online customer base.
c) Backs automation and FAQs
Whatsapp post-purchase messaging not only keeps customers in touch with the sellers but also allows them to solve their doubts and queries easily.
Since Whatsapp Business comes with the Quick Replies feature, eCommerce owners can store and reuse useful and frequently sent messages to speed up their customer service process.
d) Used by different demographics
Many instant messaging apps confirm the user's age before allowing them to use their services. Whatsapp, on the other hand, allows users of all ages and backgrounds to register themselves on the platform and use their services.
This gives online sellers an opportunity to target customers of different ages on a single platform and eases their customer service job.
e) Provides creative engagement approaches
Different generations prefer different ways of engagement. Customers who belong to Gen X prefer messaging and emailing above other modes of communication whereas Gen Z is comfortable with all PDFs, images, videos, etc.
By using Whatsapp post-purchase messaging, online sellers get a variety of ways to share their content with customers.
5) 5 Whatsapp growth campaigns to generate higher revenue for eCommerce platforms
With growing eCommerce platforms, there is tough competition in every sector. Unless you provide top-notch products and services, you can't rule this industry.
If you are finding it too difficult to set foot in the online space, use these Whatsapp growth campaigns to drive revenue from your customers.
a) Pre-orders
Hype is the strongest marketing strategy in the eCommerce sector. If you can build up high customer expectations for a product that hasn't been launched in the market, you can offer alerts on Whatsapp Business and drive high revenue from customers.
Let customers pre-order the products using the alerts on Whatsapp. That way, your product will already be sold out and have higher demand leading to more production.
b) Cart recovery
Nothing is scarier to an eCommerce owner than an abandoned cart. People can add many products to their cart and leave it idle for prolonged periods.
With Whatsapp messaging, you can alert the customer about the products in their cart and ask them what they would like to do with them. Depending on their response, you can either remove the products for them or place an order for the same.
c) Sale and discount alerts
Many customers are very active during the sales or discount periods. Analyzing their past purchase records, you can send personalized sales and discount alerts to them on Whatsapp Business.
You can even offer them special coupon codes to shop during that period and generate more revenue for your organization.
d) Product recommendations
As per statistics, most sales generate from product recommendations. When you track your customers browsing patterns, you know what they are longing for and would love to provide them with the same.
Using Whatsapp messaging, you can recommend the same products and their cheaper and good-quality alternatives to customers to push them to purchase on your platform.
e) Back-in-stock notifications
Often loyal customers wishlist the out-of-stock products to buy them later from the same platform. By keeping an eye on the wishlist section, you can ascertain what products are in demand and place an order for the same quicker.
Once the product is back in stock, you can alert the customer on Whatsapp Business to make a purchase.
6) Conclusion
Customer retention is one of the most important factors of every eCommerce platform. Businesses can indeed acquire more customers through a variety of methods but doing so requires huge investment and time.
Many organizations lack both and try to retain customers by providing them with a better experience.
Post-purchase messaging can help eCommerce owners achieve this goal. To be specific, Whatsapp post-purchase messaging has a bright future, and if used properly, it can help businesses earn a lot of profit in the eCommerce sector.