After the purchase is before the purchase: Successful after-sales measures for strong customer loyalty in e-commerce

After Sales and After Sales Management – What exactly are they?

If you translate "after sales" into German, the meaning becomes immediately clear: after the sale. After sales is therefore the phase in which a customer has already made a purchase or placed an order and is now experiencing the product or service.

After-sales management encompasses all measures that companies take after selling a product. HubSpot aptly describes this as a kind of "sales aftercare." In the past, the term "after sales" was mainly understood to mean customer service. But there is much more to it than that. Digitalization in particular has opened up many new opportunities in this area. Overall, it is about supporting customers after their purchase and building a connection with them. In addition, another need is becoming increasingly important, especially in today's digital age: customers want to be entertained beyond the purchase. They like to browse through their own product and brand world and always want to discover new things.

After-sales management as part of customer relationship management

Customer relationship management, or CRM for short, encompasses the entire spectrum of customer relationship management. It therefore includes all measures for shaping and maintaining all relationships and interactions with your customers. These include, for example

• new customer acquisition
• Analysis and management of customer data
• Contact with existing customers
• Public relations and press relations
• Customer loyalty measures after the sale

The customer and their needs are at the center of all processes. All company activities are consistently geared towards this. After sales therefore describes the part of CRM that takes place after a sale has been made. After-sales measures are therefore aimed at those customers who have just purchased a product.

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After-sales as part of the customer journey

The phase of the customer journey that follows the completion of a purchase is specifically known as the retention phase. This phase therefore falls under the category of after-sales service.

The retention phase is all about leveraging and building on your customers' trust and fostering a connection by staying in touch with them and keeping them informed about new offers and other updates.

Traditional after-sales measures

As a shop operator, you have many different ways to accompany your customers beyond the purchase, to be present, and to retain them to your company through various measures. Among other things, you can:

• Provide informational material and customer magazines to keep customers up to date.
• Offer buyers access to an exclusive customer area on the website and membership in the customer club.
• Enable networks to connect customers with each other and build a networked community as a strong community.
• Reward loyal customers with discounts, exclusive offers, small gifts, or prize draws.
• Invite regular customers to specific events, such as a factory tour.
• Offer training courses to assist with the use of the product or service.
• Create special unpacking moments, e.g., with small package inserts or personalized flyers and brochures.

Needs-based after-sales measures

Need-based after-sales measures help you address customers’ specific needs based on their current situation and offer them relevant added value.

How to address your customers' needs effectively

To target customers even more effectively, you can tailor your after-sales efforts to the needs of your online store customers at each stage of the customer journey. As previously explained, the retention phase falls under after-sales. During this phase, the need for connection is addressed. We’ll show you how to specifically address this need to retain your customers, increase the click-through rate, and boost traffic to your online store.

Personalized emails to drive targeted traffic

Email campaigns and newsletters are a well-known tool for maintaining contact even after a purchase. If customers are satisfied with your products and services, they will be happy to connect with you. By keeping in touch, you can build customer trust and bring your customers back to your online store. It is important to personalize your emails and tailor the content to the interests and needs of your customers.

Utilize occasions and topics

You can use transactions as occasions for your emails. Other suitable occasions include your customer's birthday or seasonal events and holidays such as Easter, the start of the swimming season, etc. Here, you can also offer small gifts in the form of discounts or voucher codes to encourage your buyers to visit your shop again.
Depending on the occasion, newsletters on specific topics are also suitable. In the form of content and thematically appropriate and relevant product recommendations, you can offer your customers added value. You can find more information on this in our blog article Content Commerce: Creating online shopping experiences through content.

Display personalized product recommendations

In addition, you can use your emails to present new products or services to your recipients and recommend similar or additional items. With the behavior you have learned about your customers, you can tailor the product recommendations in your emails. This means that personalized emails with individual product recommendations are particularly relevant for your customers.
For example, you can refer to your customer's last purchase and recommend matching and complementary items for the last product they bought, or, as in the example from hagebaumarkt, use a themed newsletter to display product recommendations tailored to the preferences of the respective customer.

Newsletter on pet supplies with personalized product recommendations tailored to the preferences of the recipient from hagebaumarkt

Convey news and gather feedback

You can also provide information about upcoming events and share news. Opinion polls are also suitable as an after-sales measure. Messages such as "Your feedback is important to us" show your online shoppers that you value them. At the same time, such surveys provide you with valuable information and feedback about your products and services. You can then use this to optimize your processes, etc.
Personalized emails with relevant product recommendations allow you to build trust with your buyers and increase traffic to your online store.

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