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 phases of the customer journey after the purchase have been completed are, more precisely, the two phases of customer loyalty and customer trust. These two phases therefore fall within the scope of after-sales.

The customer loyalty phase is about keeping satisfied customers entertained even after they have made a purchase and enabling them to browse through their own product and brand world.

The customer trust stage is about leveraging and further building your customers' trust by maintaining contact with them and keeping them up to date on new offers, etc.

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

To target customers even more effectively, you can tailor your after-sales measures to the needs of your shop customers at each stage of the customer journey. As already explained, the stages of customer loyalty and customer trust can be assigned to after-sales. This means that the needs of entertaining and connecting are addressed in both of these stages. We will show you how you can specifically address these needs in order to retain your customers, generate repeat purchases, and increase traffic to your online shop.

A distinction can be made between push and pull measures. Most after-sales measures involve the retailer actively approaching the customer in a targeted manner and "pushing" their products and services onto the market. In marketing, the term push is also used for this. These measures are effective in retaining customers and motivating them to make repeat purchases.

However, it would be even better if customers visited the online shop regularly on their own initiative. Such a measure, which creates a natural customer loyalty effect, would fall under pull – the interest now comes from the target person, and the products or services are actively sought after by the customer.

Personalized shopping area to increase customer loyalty (pull)

In order to meet the need for entertainment and thus create customer loyalty, the personalized shopping area represents a special after-sales measure.

Personal favorite items at a glance

A personalized shopping area helps to create this natural customer loyalty effect. This is an area of the online store that is dynamically and individually tailored to each individual customer in terms of layout, design, and content. In this area, users can find products from their favorite brands and categories without having to search for them specifically and filter them manually. They are also inspired by new products and can keep up to date with shopping news.

Content and interactive elements for a mix of service and entertainment

Relevant content suggestions create further added value. The constant stream of new ideas and the playful possibility of interactivity—for example, online shoppers can put together a suitable product set with just a few clicks—offer customers a mixture of service and entertainment. This encourages them to visit the shop regularly on their own initiative to stay up to date with new products, trends, and topics.

This after-sales measure creates a natural customer loyalty effect, ensures loyal customers who enjoy shopping with you, and thus increases the repurchase rate.

Three possible streams in the OUTLETCITY METZINGEN online shop as an example

Personalized emails for targeted traffic increase (push)

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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