This article was written by Michelle Weger.
When one of my team members got married, she was very specific about her lipstick.
She doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, but she knew what she wanted – something that wouldn’t smear and didn’t have a sticky texture.
So she did what anyone would do: she spent tons of time researching different brands and reading reviews, then went online and ordered what should have been the best option for her.
Except it wasn’t.
And neither was the brand she tried after that.
Or the one after that.
Each time she thought she found the perfect choice, there would be a problem with it.
- One brand made her lips dry out.
- Another looked nice… until she smiled and the colour “cracked” so her lips looked wrinkly.
- A third tasted like she was drinking perfume.
- And even more smeared and had a sticky texture – the exact characteristics she didn’t want.
It wasn’t until she visited a store in person that she found the perfect lipstick.
How?
There was a salesperson in the store who helped her.
She explained to the salesperson what she was looking for and all the problems she’d had up until then. The salesperson knew exactly what my team member was talking about… and as it turned out, it wasn’t the lipsticks that were the problem.
It was how they were being used.
The salesperson gave my team member a ton of tips and tricks that she hadn’t seen online or in the countless reviews she’d read:
- Using a lip scrub to get rid of any dry skin
- Starting a daily lip mask treatment so her lips stayed smooth (and selling her the best one to use)
- Applying the lipstick more lightly than she expected
As a product expert, that salesperson knew far more about what they were selling than what my team member could find out herself.
In fact, those tips would have applied to any of the brands she had previously tried.
Imagine if she had received those tips and tricks right after she purchased the very first lipstick online.
The lipstick would have been perfect. She would have stopped her search, and likely repurchased the lipstick when she ran out.
So why did the company miss out on such an obvious chance to WOW their customer?
The company knew what she purchased well enough that she was receiving targeted ads on her Facebook profile.
It was in her purchase history so she could easily go back and rebuy it if she wanted to.
They even sent her an email asking for a review.
So clearly they have the info. They have the setup. And yet they – like so many businesses – are missing an opportunity to create a life-long customer through strategic post-purchase emails
A post-purchase email campaign is any follow-up emails you send your customers after they buy from you.
These emails might look like:
- An email confirming your customer’s order
- A shipping notification when their order is sent.
- Reminders for your customers to place their next order before they run out of your product (not that I would know what it’s like to constantly run out of dog food or anything…)
(And if you don’t have any of those post purchase emails set up, you need to get in touch with us right away because you’re definitely missing out on sales!)
Don’t settle for the generic emails built into most ecommerce platforms.
Every single post-purchase email you send is a chance to WOW your customer.
If you are already sending those emails, there’s one more you should consider.
Think of what you sell and imagine you’re talking to a new customer who has never purchased that item or service before.
What questions do they usually ask you?
What tips and tricks do you have that aren’t always commonly shared?
Send them that information in one of your post-purchase emails.
You can personalize your customer’s experience and give them above-and-beyond customer service without even lifting a finger.
Happy customers buy more, leave great reviews, and personally recommend you to their circles.
That means more money in your pocket, period.
