With several options available to consumers at a touch of a button, exceptional post-purchase customer service can be a vital differentiator for your brand. While many retailers prioritize creating outstanding service during the buying journey and for prospective customers, the significance of the post-purchase experience is often overlooked.
In this blog, we discuss the importance of post-purchase customer service in retail and how you can enhance these experiences for your customers.
The importance of post-purchase customer service in retail
Post-purchase customer service is more than just resolving issues; it’s about maintaining a connection with your customers and ensuring their continual satisfaction with their purchases. A recent Salesforce report found that 90% of consumers say the post-purchase experience is just as important as the quality of the products, highlighting the importance of maintaining engagement with your brand following a purchase.
Deliveries have become the main physical connection between brands and consumers, highlighting the importance of effectively managing the order process to enhance the consumer experience. For example, providing detailed order status updates and complete returns process will help ensure your customers have a positive experience.
“When customers are happy, they’re far more likely to stay with you. Smart use of technology is crucial in building that loyalty, ensuring they have no reason to look elsewhere.”
Additionally, with 93% of customers more likely to reorder from a business with excellent customer service, how you treat your customers post-purchase can play a significant role in their decision to repeat buying from you.
In our podcast discussing how companies can push the boundaries of customer service, Mat Arnold, Technical Specialist at Microsoft, highlights the importance of customer satisfaction.
Interested in finding out more? You can watch the podcast episode below.
How you can improve post-purchase experiences
A recent survey revealed that 83% of customers believe there’s room for improvement in the post-purchase process. This indicates a clear opportunity for retailers like you to enhance customer experiences. Here are several strategies you can implement to elevate your post-purchase interactions:
Leverage data
To continually enhance the post-purchase experience for your customers, it is essential to analyze data to evaluate and improve the customer journey. This requires a robust IT infrastructure with integrated systems that can collect real-time customer insights and performance metrics, as well as feedback after delivery. By analyzing this data, you can identify pain points in the post-purchase journey and identify opportunities for improvement.
“The companies that will succeed in the future are those equipped not only with the necessary technology and platforms but also with the right data," says Mat Arnold, Technical Specialist at Microsoft, in our podcast discussing how companies can push the boundaries of customer service. "For example, a customer service agent may benefit from sales data, just as a sales agent needs to be informed about customer service issues.”
Bang & Olufsen (B&O), a Danish high-end consumer electronics company, is an example of a company that recognized it needed to overhaul its IT ecosystem to obtain the data it needed, as it no longer aligned with its premium brand and evolving business model. By standardizing its systems and integrating processes across sales, distribution, and service, this shift has enabled the company to capture detailed customer data throughout every stage of the customer journey.
Jonas Dan Jørgensen, CIO at B&O, explained how the new IT infrastructure will enhance both online and in-person experiences: “When purchasing a luxury product like B&O, it's imperative that the experience reflects that luxury. We believe in creating a seamless connection between online and physical store experiences. Customers can explore online and complete purchases in-store—or vice versa. The key is to provide a comprehensive luxury experience, and our new, simplified IT system will support that.”
Similarly, Schibsted Denmark has successfully integrated its CRM system following the implementation of a sales and finance platform, creating a cohesive data ecosystem. This integration enables Schibsted to better manage complex customer relationships and processes - from handling subscriptions and payment schemes to addressing customer service inquiries.
“We now have a complete overview of sales and customer relationships," said Jacob Lego Boye, Project Manager at Schibsted Denmark, reflecting on the new IT setup. "We're also exploring the increased use of AI technology to develop the best possible chatbot, as improving processes for both customers and our internal teams is crucial.”
Enhance communication channels
After a sale, customers often have questions, need support, or simply want updates about their purchases. By enhancing and diversifying your communication channels, you can ensure that customers can easily reach out whenever they need help.
Adopting an omnichannel approach allows customers to choose their preferred platform, making it convenient for them to connect with your brand. This strategy also necessitates that your team has complete context regarding all customer engagements across different channels to effectively resolve any issues.
In our customer service podcast, Toby Harris, Business Applications Sales Executive at Microsoft, highlighted the importance of offering multiple channels for customer communication, “Customer service expectations vary based on factors like generation and profession. Even something as simple as the option to send a text message can make a big difference. Today, people expect personalized and timely updates in real-time. It’s vital to keep them informed instead of requiring them to call you, as by that point, it’s too late and they're already frustrated.”
There are solutions available that can enhance the visibility of your communication channels and provide a competitive edge in your post-purchase experiences. For example, B&O has refined its strategy by developing a streamlined ecosystem that aligns with their new business model, which includes a significantly larger network of partners and emphasizes omnichannel support.
“Our goal is to develop an IT and process landscape within a unified ecosystem, allowing us to collaborate as effectively with our partners as we do internally," explained Jonas Dan Jørgensen, CIO at B&O. "We've adopted an integrated approach to innovation and customer service, where new technology plays a pivotal role in improving the overall customer experience.”
Chatbots are another solution that can provide your customers with 24/7 post-purchase support for inquiries related to order status, returns, or product usage. They can also escalate more complex issues to human agents, ensuring that customers receive help quickly without unnecessary delays.
Better service with generative AI chatbots
However, achieving customer satisfaction involves more than just speed; it also requires effective problem-solving and personalization. This is why generative AI chatbots are gaining popularity, as they can enhance customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and reduce costs. Research from Gartner indicates that 42% of top-performing organizations have already implemented generative AI in production, with one of the primary use cases being customer service automation.
By equipping chatbots with generative AI, you can develop a digital workforce capable of understanding and addressing customer needs with a level of accuracy and depth previously limited to human capabilities. When integrated with your CRM, these AI systems can access extensive historical data, including past purchases and interactions, allowing them to deliver precise answers and recommend tailored solutions based on each customer's unique needs and experiences. However, this also requires strict user authentication to protect privacy and ensure that the personalized assistance provided is both relevant and secure, helping to maintain customer trust.
Interested in finding out more about generative AI chatbots? Read their potential and how to implement them in your business by clicking here.
Streamline the return and exchange process
Recent reports indicate that customers are increasingly taking charge of their buying journeys, seeking greater control over their experiences. This shift highlights a growing desire to minimize reliance on customer service for routine tasks.
A customer portal offers a centralized platform where your customers can manage every aspect of their orders. Through these portals, customers can initiate returns, access their order history, track deliveries, download invoices, and find answers to frequently asked questions.
However, developing a customer portal that meets your current needs and adapts to future business requirements can be challenging. Here are several key challenges you’ll need to consider:
- You will need to integrate several system solutions over time to handle future needs and requirements
- Your customer portal must often solve complex business logic that combines multiple business processes and functions
- You must support various business models, requiring a comprehensive solution that meets both your customers' and your company's needs in the short and long term
- Consider both internal and external users with different requirements
- Ensure that the user experience is modern, guiding, and comfortable for getting started
Read more about customer portals and find out what it takes to build a world-class solution by clicking the button below.
Involve your employees in enhancing post-purchase experiences
Customer loyalty is getting hard to achieve, but easier to lose, especially with bad post-purchase experiences. Fortunately, new technologies can help you transform your business operations so you can continue to delight and keep customers coming back for more.
Remember, any changes you make to your operations with technologies will require a cultural shift – and that vision starts at the top of your organization. Leading and managing your people through change is central any business transformation. People often fear change, especially if they haven’t been properly involved and informed.
In the pursuit of delivering an exceptional post-purchase experience, it’s easy to focus solely on the customer-facing aspects of service. However, prioritizing the employee experience is equally crucial. The quality of service your customers receive is often a direct reflection of how well your employees are supported, informed, and aligned with your company’s customer-centric goals.
For example, B&O ran a series of seminars and workshops to help the entire organization take ownership of the transformation. In connection with the design of the new IT landscape, advisors from Columbus talked to employees from all parts of B&O's organization. "We noticed that employee perception of B&O's end customer varied depending on where in the organization we asked," explains Stig Birger Madsen, Market Manager Retail Solutions at Columbus.
"It was important for us to deal with that variation in customer image. We worked to increase the degree of familiarity employees had with the individual end customer across B&O's own internal stakeholders, regardless of whether we’re talking distribution, sales, or service. That will enable us to give every customer a luxury experience.” In collaboration with Columbus, a roadmap has been created for the technology that will support the processes and power B&O's organizational transformation.
Jonas Dan Jørgensen, CIO at B&O, believes the 18 months of analysis and preparation in collaboration with Columbus were well spent, "We now have the best possible design, having been challenged and advised by Columbus to ensure that our goals are achieved most effectively.”
Interested in reading more about B&O's digital transformation journey? Read the case study in full by clicking on the button below.
Alternatively, for more information on how we could help your business, reach out to one of our experts by clicking on the button below.
