Turning customers into repeat buyers is a goal for most businesses. Once a customer completes a purchase with you, it becomes your job to figure out what it will take to keep them coming back for more. One way to help ensure you stay top of mind following their purchase is strategized post-purchase communication plan.
Let’s break down how to use a Marketing Automation workflow to do just that. We’re assuming the role of an online e-commerce shop that works with local artisans and gives back to the community. Through our post-purchase communication plan we’re working to encourage them to make additional purchases, while also establishing a connection to the company’s brand and mission.
Building The Workflow
The workflow begins with the purchase condition, used to confirm that a purchase has been completed. A message is immediately sent thanking the customer for the purchase, but that’s not all. A strategy has been put in place to help encourage customers to buy more. There’s information in the mailing detailing an option to add discounted products to the order before it’s shipped out. This encourages the the shopper to have another look at the shop’s offers, presented at exclusive discounts, and be able to complete an additional purchase before it’s shipped out. Here’s a GetResponse message template that would be a great fit to customize for this message:
To continue tracking this cycle, after the message sent action, the link clicked condition is added to confirm if someone clicked on the link to the discounted products. Next, another purchase condition is used to confirm if indeed another purchase was made. This can then trigger the sending of a second post-purchase mailing – with information on how much money they’ve saved.
Both for those who did complete that second purchase, and those who do not even click the offer link, there’s a delay of one day and then another message is sent. The strategy behind this message is important – it is not to sell. This is to make the customers understand why being a customer is to be a part of something bigger – a movement, a community. Here, educating customers on the business mission and how they contribute to that is a key method to establish their connection to the brand.
Two days later another message is sent inviting the customers to join the company’s referral program. This is another strategic move as it works to establish a relationship with the customers, and increasing revenues at the same time.
The mailing details how they can refer people to the store, earn discounts on products, and exclusive benefits for particular artisans the shop works with.
Using the link clicked and URL visited conditions, it’s possible to gauge who had interest in the referral offer, and eventually signed up to join. Then, those who signed up are tagged and sent a referral sign-up confirmation message. Here’s another great message template you could start with:
Those who didn’t join the referral program are also tagged, as it’s important to be able to keep track of the different levels of involvement for subscribers on the mailing list. This allows for more precise targeting down the line in the marketing funnel. You can read more about tagging here.
After waiting another day, a final message is sent in this workflow. The final after-purchase follow-up includes a survey to learn what other aspects of the business the subscribers are interested in, and also works retarget with new shop offers they may find interesting.
What Does This Achieve?
The whole purpose of this workflow is to make the customer feel like they are more than just a dollar-figure to the shop. It’s about creating a relationship, making a connection through more than just transactions. By involving them in the mission, and making them feel as though they can actively contribute to that mission, you are gaining trust and loyalty.
The beauty of automation is that while maintaining a human touch and voice to marketing is key – if someone were to manually go through each of these steps for each customer –they would soon be drowning and leave out customers that weren’t able to be reached in time.
With automation, particular elements of the marketing funnel may be automated to help maintain consistency and ensure all of customers are contacted. This frees up manpower to focus manual and personalized attention in other ways: engaging on social media, creating custom content, and in-store events.
Create your e-commerce workflow today and start honing your post-purchase communication strategy!
But don’t worry, you’re not alone out there. Our experts are available 24/7 to help you with your workflows.
Have you created any automation workflows yet? Do you have an e-commerce shop? Let us know more about your automation goals in the comments below!
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