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Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, ecommerce can’t rely on an inviting storefront or a friendly sales associate to leave a lasting good impression. Instead, online shoppers remember the customer journey, from first seeing a product online to unpacking it after delivery.
The ecommerce post-purchase experience phase of this customer journey is often overlooked. But done well, post-purchase can drive repeat business, increase customer lifetime value and enhance brand reputation. On the other hand, a post-purchase experience that falls short of expectations is likely to damage a merchant’s bottom line — and even leave them more vulnerable to fraud and abuse.
TL;DR
- Ecommerce post-purchase experience refers to every interaction that occurs between a merchant and a customer after an order has been placed. This includes order confirmation, shipment tracking, delivery, returns and customer service interactions.
- A positive post-purchase experience can increase customer loyalty, strengthen brand reputation and make it easier to resolve disputes. A negative post-purchase experience can cause brand damage, increase disputes and chargebacks and leave merchants vulnerable to fraud.
- Merchants can improve their post-purchase experience with regular communication touchpoints, clear return policies and by looking for signs of post-purchase friction.
Why the ecommerce post purchase experience matters for merchants
Customer loyalty doesn’t just hinge on getting a good product at the right price — it’s also about creating a frictionless post-purchase experience. Everything from an accurate delivery estimate to a seamless returns process influences whether the customer will actually come back and buy again.
Positive customer experiences during post-purchase increase customer life-time value (CLTV) and reduce the chances that a shopper files a chargeback or lodges a complaint. A bad customer experience hurts a brand’s reputation and opens up merchants to chargebacks, among other challenges.
What shoppers expect after checkout
With competition in the ecommerce space remaining fierce, customers have come to expect more than just quick, secure checkout and a quality product – they also expect efficient post-purchase service and regular communication.
In fact, 70% of executives say customer expectations are evolving faster than they can adapt.
Proactive visibility
Shoppers expect a prompt purchase confirmation with an accurate delivery estimate, regular communication touchpoints and status updates throughout the shipping and delivery process, and prompt notification if an order is cancelled or delayed. Research from McKinsey shows that customers prioritize items being delivered in the promised delivery window over delivery speed.
This regular, proactive visibility is key to building customer trust, especially as more shoppers turn to AI agents to help make purchases on their behalf. Prompt confirmation, including an accurate product description and a reasonable order cancellation period, gives them another chance to evaluate their purchase. It can also help prevent post-purchase dissonance, which is frustrating for the customer and costly for the merchant.
Fair refunds and easy returns
Customers expect a fair, straightforward and transparent returns process. They favor free shipping, fast refunds and flexible return options, including pre-paid labels and drop-off points, with McKinsey research highlighting the importance of offering multiple return options.
Ecommerce return policies should be accurate and easily accessible, with multiple communication touchpoints, including when the return is initiated, the refund is processed and funds are returned to the customer’s account.
Effortless customer support
Shoppers expect easily accessible customer support and fast, accurate responses to their queries. Merchants should clearly outline their customer support process and contact methods, so their customers can easily get in touch if there’s an issue with their order.
Where post purchase tends to break down for ecommerce
Without a well-thought-out ecommerce post-purchase experience, breakdowns can occur at any stage — from failing to receive a confirmation, to a customer reporting an item not received (INR), even if it’s been delivered.
“Where is my order?” inquiries (also known as WISMO) are a common issue, and this breakdown can occur at multiple points throughout post-purchase.
Here’s an example: Imagine a shopper purchases an outfit for an event. The order confirmation gives an estimated delivery of two days before the event, but then communication goes quiet. Unable to track the order, the customer buys a backup option from a different store. Though the first outfit arrives in time, the shopper has already decided to keep the backup and return the order. In this instance, failure to provide delivery updates results in the merchant losing the sale and bearing the cost of a return.
In another example, a customer using a quick-service restaurant order app receives a meal that doesn’t match their order. The app doesn’t offer a way to resolve this, and the staff is too busy to promptly resolve the issue. The customer requests a chargeback. Here the merchant loses the full value of the sale and incurs additional chargeback-related costs.
Now that we’ve seen where experience commonly breaks down, let’s look at some reasons why.
Why post-purchase experience ends up missing the mark
- Limited communication: If shoppers don’t receive timely updates on their orders, they may assume the worst and request a refund or chargeback.
- Unreliable customer support: Shoppers who can’t access customer support are more likely to bypass the merchant and initiate a chargeback.
- Confusing return process: Complicated return processes involving multiple steps can be off-putting and stop customers from coming back or inspire a customer to file a chargeback rather than wrestle with a confusing return process.
- Poor visibility: A lack of confirmation, tracking information or updates can undermine trust in the delivery process.
- Item not received: If the delivery information is vague, doesn’t match the real drop-off location, or the shopper can’t contact a merchant’s customer service team to locate their order, they may report the INR even if the item is ultimately delivered.
Merchants can benefit from mapping out their unique customer journey to identify potential friction points. That way, they can take strategic steps to mitigate potential breakdowns in their post-purchase experience.
What a poor post-purchase experience really costs
Focusing on securing new business as the surest path to profitability can be tempting. In reality, a poor post-purchase experience can alienate existing customers, deter repeat business and open the door to opportunistic fraudsters, all of which squeeze margins.
Lower repeat purchase potential
A customer who’s had a negative post-purchase experience is less likely to return to that merchant, dropping their overall total lifetime value. On the other hand, a positive post-purchase experience helps a brand stand out in the crowded ecommerce landscape. For instance 65% of consumers surveyed by Talker Research for Signifyd said they would not return to shop with a merchant after having a bad returns experience.
Higher support volume and service costs
If the post-purchase workflow isn’t up to scratch, customer support team time can be taken up dealing with inquiries that could have been resolved through a website or email updates. This takes support staff time away from other customers, meaning longer wait times and more frustration.
Brand damage
Shoppers who’ve experienced a poor post-purchase experience are far less likely to recommend that merchant, and more likely to leave negative reviews. Recovering from this type of brand damage can be challenging.
More exposure to abuse and disputes
According to the Merchant Risk Council, ecommerce has experienced an increase in post-purchase abuse, including first-party fraud, chargeback fraud and refund abuse.
Without clear communication, transparent refund policies and effective dispute resolution, even legitimate customers are more likely to turn to chargebacks, which can overwhelm fraud review teams and make it harder to distinguish the genuine customers from the bad actors.
Equally challenging, fraud teams dealing with a high number of chargebacks may loosen their fraud controls to prevent alienating genuine customers. Unfortunately, this makes it easier for fraudsters who know how to work the system to slip through the cracks.
How to improve the ecommerce post-purchase experience
Look for early signs of post-purchase friction
Merchants can’t control all aspects of the shipping process, but certain signals can be monitored, including supply chain hold-ups, shipping delays or the same issue being reported multiple times in support chats or emails.
Monitoring these signals allows merchants to be proactive about eliminating friction points.
Signifyd customers have increased their post-purchase vision, for instance, by deploying Return Insights, a solution that allows merchants to identify patterns and get a deeper, personalized understanding of how a key element of their post-purchase experience plays out.
Communicate clearly at every key moment after checkout
Order confirmation should clearly outline what to expect at every stage of the fulfilment process, including processing time, an estimated delivery date and cancellation procedures. Not only does this practical information free up your customer service representatives for other customer inquiries, but it also helps create peace of mind, brand trust and improves the customer experience.
Merchants can strengthen customer relationships even beyond delivery by responding to customer reviews. In some cases, acknowledging a customer issue and offering a potential solution is enough to salvage a customer relationship.
Make returns and refund policies easier to understand
If a returns process is hard to navigate, customers who want to follow the proper refund procedure but cannot find the right information or access the drop-off point may be more likely to initiate a chargeback.
Merchants should eliminate any potential friction points in the refund process with pre-paid, printed return labels and accessible drop-off points.
Shorten manual review time
Eliminating manual review of returns helps speed up the return process for trusted customers, accelerating refund time and creating a more positive overall post-purchase experience.
With Signifyd, for example, fraud teams can leverage data points from a network of thousands of merchants to gain insight into the identity and intent behind every transaction, significantly reducing the time it takes to process a refund and freeing up customer service agents to assist with more complicated customer inquiries.
Offer instant refunds to trusted customers
Merchants can build loyalty with instant refunds to trusted customers. But with 9% of returns being fraudulent, return optimization can be easier said than done.
Signifyd’s platform offers instant returns to trusted customers, helping to foster loyalty and improve customer satisfaction. Real-time decision-making capabilities allow genuine customers to quickly receive their refund and enjoy a frictionless returns process, while bad actors are kept at bay.
Create a clear path to dispute resolution
A dispute doesn’t have to spell the end of a positive customer/merchant relationship. Merchants that can provide clear pathways to resolving an issue — including in-app dispute forms, accessible contact numbers and reaching out to a customer directly if something goes wrong — are more likely to retain the customer and build a strong brand reputation.
The post-purchase experience poses both opportunities and challenges for ecommerce merchants. It’s a chance to create positive brand associations, build trust and strengthen customer relationships.
Unfortunately, fraud doesn’t end at the checkout, so ecommerce merchants must stay vigilant to the creative ways fraudsters target the post-purchase phase, including returns abuse and chargeback fraud. Signifyd is an ecommerce protection partner, with tools designed to prevent fraud and improve the customer experience during every stage of the customer journey — from providing Account Protection on the front end, Guaranteed Fraud Protection at checkout and Intelligent Returns providing personalized return insights to merchants.
Photo by Getty Images
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FAQs
What is the ecommerce post-purchase experience?
The ecommerce post-purchase experience refers to any interaction a customer has with your business once they’ve purchased an item. This includes shipping notifications and updates, delivery, the return process and any interactions with the customer service team.
Why is the post-purchase experience important in ecommerce?
A bad post-purchase experience may stop customers from coming back, which reduces their customer lifetime value. A bad post-purchase experience can also cause brand damage and negatively impact an ecommerce merchant’s bottom line. And it can leave merchants open to post-purchase ecommerce fraud, like first-party fraud and return abuse
