All aboard the retention train!
What strategies are you working with to bring customers back to make repeat purchases? You may not have put a ton of thought into the messages you send to newly-acquired customers before, but post-purchase communication is extremely important for optimizing the customer decision-making process, so every new buyer has a positive experience that ensures they return again and again.
Messenger and SMS marketing is your ticket to reaching a high customer retention rate. How? Through the post-purchase messages that you send to every customer. Let’s find out how right here.
The definition of post-purchase marketing is exactly how it sounds: it’s about the ways you continue conversations with customers after they’ve made a purchase. No matter if you’re a subscription service or sell one-time-purchase products, post-purchase marketing is an important part of the customer experience because you can continue to provide value after purchases to ensure a positive customer relationship.
Businesses use the post-purchase message opportunity to continue marketing towards customers in hopes of bringing them back for another purchase in the future. And in reality, it’s a really effective way to keep your brand relevant in customers’ minds. In fact, 80% of consumers said that consistent post-purchase communication from a brand is fundamental to their desire to make another purchase.
Most brands will think to use email first for all their post-purchase messages, but the truth is Messenger marketing leads to a 70% better open-rate than email marketing. To top it off, SMS marketing sees open rates as high as 98% compared to the 20% email has. This is why your store should start prioritizing Messenger and SMS to trigger post-purchase behavior, like making another purchase, from your previous customers.
However, even with using Messenger and SMS, email marketing is still an important channel for every online business. The real opportunity is when you offer an omnichannel experience, which is where most online stores miss the mark. Offering an omnichannel marketing experience is one of the best ways to leverage customer engagement. Research shows that companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement retain an average of 89% of their customers. That’s a significant increase compared to companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement, which only retains an average of 33% of customers.
The gist? Use Messenger, SMS, and email for the best results.
Want to see how one brand saw an additional $155,000 in revenue using just Messenger and SMS? Check it out.
According to a survey conducted by The Manifest, roughly 96% of people choose to interact with brands they follow on social media. This is why Messenger marketing is a major channel to drive revenue. There are a lot of ways you can reach out to customers to help drive the sale, but the biggest mistake is to think communication stops at the point of purchase.
To keep the momentum of the buyer decision process, here are the types of messages you should be sending customers following a sale. Some of these should be sent directly after the sale (like the “thank you” message), and others can be sent in a few weeks or months as a strategy to bring those customers back again.
Purchase confirmations and thank you messages
Order confirmations may seem obvious—of course, you have to let customers know that you received their order and give them an order number. But are you thanking every individual customer for their purchase? Are you writing something a bit more personal than just “Thanks. Here’s your order number”? What about giving customers the option to be notified about shipping updates directly through Messenger?
All of these questions and messages create a positive customer experience. When you show customers you’re thankful for their sale and give them updates about their order, you’re offering a direct line to important communication so that they know exactly what to expect from your business. For example, DOYOUEVEN uses Messenger to thank customers, give them their order number, and allow them to opt-in to all shipping updates with the click of a single button.
In an article by econsultancy, they found that post-purchase issues like poor delivery communications are responsible for 74.4% of all 1-star reviews on TrustPilot. This is why you must update your customers, and Messenger or SMS is the perfect channel to reach them because they’ll get your notifications within seconds.
Feedback or product review requests
After you’ve ordered something online, you may have received an email asking about your experience shopping with that brand. This isn’t something every business does, but it’s actually an important message you should send customers. Not only does it give customers an outlet to reach out to you if they feel like they have something to share, but it also shows them that you’re genuinely interested in their feelings and experiences. Here’s an example of how Pandora asks for feedback over email.
If you follow up with customers through Facebook Messenger, you’ll have an even better chance at getting a response and a review. This is because your customers will get the message instantly over Messenger, and it’ll be easy for them to respond through this channel. You can then use these reviews for other messages, such as product recommendations or cart abandonment reminders. For example, see how Ella + Mila ties in their product reviews to their Messenger cart abandonment reminders.
Want to learn how Octane AI can help you set up conversational automation that customers will appreciate? Book a demo to find out!
Product recommendations and product launches
Did you know that 73% of customers prefer to make purchases from brands that actually use customer data to make the shopping experience personalized? When you collect key data about customers to create accurate buyer personas, you can then use those personas to send messages containing relevant products to every customer. For example, if a customer previously purchased moisturizer for oily skin, a good product recommendation would be skincare products for oily skin.
Don’t forget to also let customers know when a new product they may like is launching. Based on previous purchases, you may be able to know what styles your customers are most interested in. DOYOUEVEN did this well when they restocked their HYPERFLEX collection that had sold out quickly. With this Messenger notification, they were able to let people who were previously interested in the product know that there’s a chance to purchase it now.
Both personalized product recommendations and relevant launch messages are great ways to bring back previous customers and ensure the best post-purchase outcome.
Discounts, coupons, or early sales access
Everyone loves a good sale or discount with the brands they love. This is one of the biggest reasons people choose to opt-in to marketing automation in the first place! They want to know when the best deals are coming, and they’ll be ready to shop.
It’s true that consumers redeem SMS-delivered coupons 10 times more than other types of coupons. Since Messenger reaches customers almost as instantly as SMS, it’s another channel where coupons are redeemed at a high rate. This is why Skinny Mixes sends sales updates through Messenger.
Sharing these updates to customers through Messenger and SMS is beneficial because your customers will feel like they got the first opportunity to shop your sale compared to those that have only opted-in to email notifications. This is why brands like The Swank Store use messaging like “secret sale” in their opt-in pop-up, and then they message customers with all the hype through Facebook Messenger.
Did you know that Skinny Mixes increased their monthly revenue by $280,000 with Messenger automation? See exactly how they did it!
Reminder to restock items that need replenished
Don’t forget about your customers who purchase items that will eventually need to be restocked. For businesses that sell these types of products, it’s especially important that you ensure a positive post-purchase experience. In fact, there is a 60% to 70% chance of converting a repeat customer, but these chances drop if customers aren’t satisfied.
If you follow our advice about sending thank you messages, shipping updates, personal recommendations, special discounts, and more, you’ll give customers a reason to continue engaging with your brand and choose your product when they need to restock an item.
Now that you see the strategy, it’s time for your brand to connect with its customers on Messenger and SMS. Without conversational Messenger automation, you’re missing out on reaching customers through an untapped channel. Unlike email, Messenger isn’t cluttered by businesses. Stand out to your customer, give them the attention they want, and drive your retention train home!
To learn more about how Octane AI’s customers increase revenue by 10% to 30%, book a demo right here!
The 250+ Page Playbook on Facebook Messenger & SMS Marketing for Ecommerce
Fast-growing DTC brands implementing this playbook have connected with 18x more customers, doubled their 7-day ROAS, recovered 5x more abandoned cart revenue & increased AOV 25%.
This article originally appeared in the OctaneAI blog and has been published here with permission.
