Today we live in a social world so many people are now talking about a marketing hourglass rather than a marketing funnel. Once the sale occurs, brands and retailers have the opportunity to answer questions supporting their consumers, to learn about what else the consumers might need and to then encourage those consumers to share the experiences with the brand or retailer. The goal is no longer just to make a sale, but to encourage satisfied consumers to share their experience with friends. Getting consumers to be advocates after sales is the goal.

I believe consumers will welcome more post-purchase follow up, as long as the communications sent meet one of 3 requirements:

1. They are informative and useful to inform the customer of shipping status and contributing to problem resolution as needed.

2. They are relevant to the context of the item purchased and how the item will likely be used by the customer. For example, if a blender is purchased, a follow up about “how did that first smoothie taste?” could be well-received and lead to increased satisfaction and possible re-purchase.

3. General follow up regarding overall shopping experience and satisfaction with the item or service purchased.

Post-purchase engagement should have a central owner. A customer experience lead or retention lead must be in place to design, specify and execute consistent practices from the moment the “buy” or submit button is clicked. A silo orientation breeds dysfunction. CMO plus e-commerce senior management must get together and make a commitment to service the needs of the buyer. Trial leads to repeat purchase. Issues with the product, delivery or call center follow up creates negative buzz through social posts and personal stories shared with family and friends. As online sales continues to grow exponentially, this approach to seamless post purchase engagement is a must have. Only 9 percent of those dissatisfied make a point to share. That leaves 91 percent to become anti-sponsors of your enterprise. The risk is real and the price steep — make it happen — soon!

The post-purchase experience is the next frontier in retailing. The ongoing shift from transactional to experiential retailing continues to turn on the “sale” as goal and destination. To truly pivot to experience-based retailing, then post-purchase needs to be part of the “experience journey” and not limit our thinking and actions to a “purchase journey.” And this goes well beyond the traditional service contract on a washing machine or dishwasher (not to discount the value of those).

How does your customer use the product? How will she use all those ingredients to make that special pasta sauce? Is that roll of toilet paper really soft or strong? Which wine went well with the fresh fish purchased from Whole Foods or Kroger? Does that non-dairy ice cream get your seal of approval? There are tons of ways for brands and retailers to engage post-purchase if they have that mindset in place and are prepared to engage accordingly — most importantly that they have a process to bring those post-purchase insights into the next engagement cycle with that customer.

Post purchase review requests are good but for the customers, the best value is information about the product they purchased, i.e. how to use it properly, increase usage rate and maximize benefits from the purchase. Immediate cross-sell and upselling from my point of view is counterproductive since the customer hasn’t derived value yet. Make sure the customer is happy and engaged with the purchase, then you can ask for a recommendation in social media for it.