How to Drive Fashion eCommerce Customer Retention with Post-Purchase

85% of shoppers claim they would not purchase from an online retailer again after a negative delivery experience. This can be especially detrimental for fashion brands, where production volumes are high and profit margins low. Yet, the probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60-70%, versus a mere 5-20% for new shoppers.

Given that over ¾ of consumers say delivery is important to the overall shopping experience, refining your post-purchase experience will directly affect repeat purchases and can be a significant growth driver. 

In this article, discover how personalized package tracking, harnessing every delivery touchpoint, and data insights from both customers and carriers can help brands generate repeat purchases.  

Harness post-purchase personalization to increase customer retention

‍72% of eCommerce shoppers say they're more likely to become a repeat customer if a brand provides them with a personalized experience. To meet their expectations, customize the post-purchase customer journey based on your brand's needs and unique features. Then, tailor the experience to encourage repeat purchases. 

How? 

Pinpoint your customers' preferred communication channels and send them tailored post-purchase messages.

Thanks to existing post-purchase solutions, you can easily create your own notifications, as well as personalized tracking pages hosted directly on your website. Imagine your customers' delight when they get polished, branded (with your logo, fonts, colors) notifications that provide them with a premium experience.

It’s time to be present where your customers are and diversify your communication channels: 

• Traditional email notifications, but also…
• personalized tracking pages 
• SMS 
• CRM integrations like Zendesk & Gorgias 

Aligning with your customers' communication preferences gives them an unparalleled experience. Besides enhancing customer retention, loyal customers also champion your brand through positive word-of-mouth — a crucial growth driver considering 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations over traditional marketing.

Case in point:

Online shoppers eagerly anticipate their orders and are especially engaged with your brand during this time — but only if their experience is personalized. For instance, in 2022, Shipup customers checked the customized order tracking page an average of 3.5 times per order.

Another concrete example: Courir, the leading French sneakers brand, saw an average 60% open rate for post-purchase email notifications, thanks to smart personalization — 3X the average for e-commerce.

Leverage every delivery touchpoint to boost customer retention

As we’ve established, each stage of the delivery is a high-engagement touchpoint. These are prime moments to deepen your relationship with your customers.

This ranges from the tracking page, where you can display promotional messages and product recommendations, to proactive alerts ensuring real-time incident management. What’s more, leverage automated feedback forms to turn critics into ambassadors. 

Harness all these post-purchase touchpoints to increase customer satisfaction and in turn your repurchase rate.

How?

To turn your customers into loyal shoppers, take advantage of your tracking pages and post-purchase email notifications:

• Suggest recommended items,
• Showcase irresistible promotions,
• Share reassuring reviews,
• Feature compelling UGC (User Generated Content) such as videos.
  
  

Throughout the entire delivery phase, use real-time alerts to:

• Reduce WISMO (Where Is My Order?) tickets,
• Give your customers autonomy with an FAQ section,
• Reduce customer support contact rate.
  
  

Finally, be proactive with post-purchase surveys to:

• Address negative feedback promptly,
• Limit poor reviews on customer review platforms,
• Offer tempting promotions to entice customers.

Case in point

Take Courir. After implementing our proactive post-purchase solution, their average customer contact rate plummeted to 4%, compared to an 8% average in the fashion sector. They also gathered over 40,000 customer reviews post-implementation to enhance the customer experience.

Sportswear brand BOXRAW leveraged product recommendations and offers in their post-purchase email notifications, making it their 3rd highest revenue driver.

By intelligently tapping into these various touchpoints, they delivered an outstanding post-purchase experience, boasting an impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 58. Your happiest and most loyal customers are up to 5X more likely to return for future purchases compared to detractors. This underscores the importance of a refined and unforgettable customer experience.

Capitalize on customer and carrier data to increase customer retention

By collecting and analyzing post-purchase data, you uncover additional information about customer behavior and the efficacy of your shipping partners.

This clarity allows for more nuanced segmentation, increases repeat purchases and helps you negotiate better deals with carriers based on data. 

How? 

Track recurring orders through repurchase analytics. Some tools even offer actionable insights by analyzing the granular performance of promotional ads on your tracking page.

From a logistics perspective, analytical monitoring allows you to understand your carriers' performance across different time periods. The benefit is twofold for your brand: it not only guides you on which changes to make – like offering a broader choice of carriers – but it also empowers you to hold your partners accountable for their commitments.

With this strategy, you'll be better equipped to negotiate the most favorable terms for your business.

Case in point:

A fantastic example is NA-KD, a European leader in online fashion. By identifying 71,000 shipping issues, they cut refund costs due to transportation problems by 28% and enjoyed a 42% drop on average in WISMO tickets. That’s a substantial saving given that a single WISMO ticket averages €5 (£4).

Another example: lingerie brand Chantelle took advantage of their Shipup integration to evaluate the specific performance of their promotional pages. On their tracking page, they were able to gauge click-through rates for their sales page and maternity promotions, for instance, and were even able to identify the number of orders originating from these pages.

Thorough delivery data analysis pinpoints areas for refinement, which in turn allows you to improve your customer relationship by bolstering brand loyalty. Regular interactions generate more data which brands can harness to craft ever more relevant experiences, thus creating a virtuous circle of repeat purchases.

Reap the rewards of an exceptional post-purchase experience for fashion brands

Today, every touchpoint you have with your customer’s post-purchase journey presents an opportunity to boost loyalty through a top-tier customer experience.

To increase customer retention and sustainably maximize customer lifetime value (CLV), brands – especially in fashion – must: 

• Embrace personalization in their post-purchase communication, 
• Capitalize on customer engagement throughout the delivery journey,
• Delve deep into customer and carrier data to pinpoint areas of improvement.
  
  

These golden opportunities exist right now, yet they're all too often underleveraged by eCoommerc, as many aren't in full command of their delivery experience. Differentiate yourself from your competitors: be among the first retailers to truly listen to your customers and take decisive action, providing an unforgettable post-purchase journey.