Each week in our Shopifreaks newsletter, I offer a tip to help Shopify store owners maximize the sales potential of their stores. This week’s tip is about post visit customer experience.Are you 100% aware of every e-mail communication your customers are receiving after visiting your store?Common examples of post visit communication includes:Abandoned cart e-mails to encourage checkout completion. (“We noticed that you didn’t finish your purchase so we’ve saved your cart. Click here to complete checkout.”)New customer promotions. (“Join our newsletter for 10% off your first purchase.”)Review solicitation e-mails. (“What’d you think of your product? Click here to leave a review.”)Discount follow-up e-mails. (“Thanks for your purchase. Here’s a discount code to use on your next one.”)Referral solicitations. (“Here’s $10 to give to your friends. You’ll earn $10 in store credit for every sale you refer.”)Social media follow requests. (“Thanks for your purchase. Join our community on Facebook to stay in the know about our products.”)Shipping updates. (“Your order has been sent! Click here for shipping updates.”)While all those communications offer their own benefit to store owners — collectively they can be overwhelming for customers. Especially if they all come in within a few days of each other.Relationships with brands are built over time. Make sure you’re not trying to force expedite the relationship with too much e-mail communication in too short a period of time.Also make sure that your e-mail triggers are working as intended. A few days ago, I ordered a carry-on bag from a brand I like, and about 2 hours later I received an e-mail notifying me that they saved my cart and encouraged me to complete checkout — followed by another reminder e-mail the next day.The only problem was — I already bought the bag! Their abandoned cart software was not recognizing that I had completed the purchase and was triggering the e-mail anyway. This can be confusing to customers who may think that there was a problem with their order or that it didn’t go through. It’s also a waste of an e-mail touchpoint with customers and contributes to communication overload. Common examples of post visit communication gone wrong:Does your abandoned cart e-mail go out to customers who already completed purchase? Even worse, does it offer them a discount as an incentive to complete an order they already paid full price for?!Does your new customer coupon go out immediately after someone joins your list? Or is it accidentally set to send the next day? Does it deliver the same promotion that you advertise on your site? Does the coupon code still work or has it expired?Do your e-mails requesting a product review go out BEFORE or AFTER the product arrives? Has the customer had a chance to use the product before you ask for a review? Does it offer an easy way to seek resolution such as a return or exchange if the customer is NOT happy with your product? Or is leaving a bad review the easiest option? Does your e-mail offering a discount on future orders come before your customer has received their first order? Do you expect repeat customers prior to completing their initial purchase experience? (ie: Before you’ve delivered your end of the deal.)So you want my referrals… have you made sure I’m satisfied with your product and customer service before asking me to send my friends your way? Is your product even shareable? Should a hemroid cream brand offer a referral program, or is that not the type of product customers are putting on social media despite your incentive? Same goes with B2B products… is your customer’s social network the same as their professional network?Do the links to your social media profiles work or did you change social handles at one point and never update your e-mails? Are you asking me to join your most valued network first and foremost or sending me an e-mail with 15 social profile links and expecting me to follow along on every platform? Do your shipping updates provide all the information I need to track my order within the e-mail itself? Or do I have to login to your website with an account that I never created in order to view the updates?The list of examples of ways that companies can blunder e-mail communication goes on and on, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what to look for with your own e-mail communications. As an online store owner, you need to be your own “Undercover Boss” and shop at your store so that you can experience the entire shopping journey and post visit experience that your customers are having with your brand. You might discover that it’s not as streamlined as you’d like and that you may be guilty of communication overload. Are you guilty of any of those e-mail blunders? After you test your store, pop back onto this thread and let me know how you improved your customer’s post visit experience. see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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