eCommerce

It’s easy to get caught up in the rush of ecommerce customer acquisition. For example, many stores prioritize marketing campaigns aimed at attracting new website visitors over keeping existing customers. But here’s why companies should rethink their disproportionate focus on customer acquisition: Attracting a new customer costs five times as much as keeping an existing one.

Chances are, your online store already has a loyal customer base. You’ve already done the work of convincing these buyers to convert at least once. This means they’re more likely to return for subsequent purchases, perhaps even becoming a loyal, long-term customer. Retaining these important consumers is an economical way to increase ROI.

But how? Start by thinking of the purchase journey as a never-ending cycle. Even after a buyer clicks “Confirm Purchase,” there are still ways to engage post-purchase.

Here are four mistakes to avoid in the ecommerce post-purchase journey. After all, how you interact with your customers in the aftermath of their transactions can make the difference between a one-time purchase and an ongoing relationship.

Failure to Follow Up

Put yourself in an online shopper’s shoes for a minute. You visit a new ecommerce website, browse the product catalogue, fill your cart with goodies and checkout. Then: Nothing besides a generic confirmation email. What gives? A lack of communication from an online store tends to be unsettling for consumers, as it leaves them wondering what’s happening on the back-end.

Make your customers feel valued by reaching out within an appropriate timeframe—usually between a day and a week, although subsequent follow-ups may be appropriate. Take the time to ask them about their purchasing journey. Are they happy with the product? Would they like to leave a review? Do they want to sign up for your email newsletter, so they don’t miss important updates and discounts?

Botching Order Fulfillment

If you want to establish a pattern of repeating consumer relationships, prioritize timely delivery. On one survey, 60 percent of respondents said they’re more likely to buy something from a store that can offer a firm delivery date. Similarly, nearly three-fourths of respondents named “receiving a package when it’s supposed to be delivered” as the top factor affecting future purchases.

Understanding how customer retention is tied into order fulfillment is the first step in refining how you get your products from point A to point B and beyond. Make sure your postal carrier has a good record of accurate, undamaged deliveries. For instance, if you sell electronics, you will need to devise a way to protect gadgets with heavy-duty materials. Nobody appreciates a broken device showing up on their doorstep.

Prioritize accurate packing and shipping. Reducing mistakes in this arena has a huge bearing on how many people revisit your website in the future.

Convoluted Customer Service

If something does go awry in during the post-purchase journey, the only remedy is responsive customer service. Make sure your customers can reach your team across multiple platforms before, during and after a purchase. Consider implementing an AI-powered live chat system around the clock, but especially during the hours when human specialists are not available.

Unclear Return Policies

Returns will always be part of the post-purchase journey. While your website should clearly feature a landing page with your entire return policy, customers may need a reminder after the fact. Give your buyers enough time to decide whether or not they want to return something—a 30- to 60-day window is typically appropriate, depending on industry. If it’s financially possible, accept returns for free. This will score you major points with customers.

Avoiding these four mistakes during the ecommerce post-purchase journey will help you boost customer retention levels and, ultimately, drive revenue.

Founded in 2012, Amazon Wine’s tagline was “Discover wines from around the world delivered to your door, direct from the winery”. Well, as of January 1st, 2018, Amazon Wine will be no more, due to complications involving laws affecting alcohol sales for companies such as Amazon that operate both as a retailer and marketplace operator. For Amazon, the decision to shut down Amazon Wine might have been an easy and obvious one, seeing as the marketing giant now has the ability to sell wine and other alcoholic beverages through its Whole Foods and Prime and Amazon Fresh venues.

Amazon has recently sent out an email to its wine sellers, telling them that their wines will still be available to be sold through Amazon channels other than Amazon Wine. The email reads as thus:

“Dear valued Seller, as Amazon continues to offer customers additional retail options for buying wine, we will no longer offer a marketplace for wine at this time, and Amazon Wine will close on December 31st, 2017.

Wine will continue to be offered through Amazon Fresh, Prime Now and Whole Foods Markets. Please see our FAQ for further details.

Thank you,

Amazon Wine.”

Amazon intends to notify its wine customer’s base in the near future via email and a message on the Amazon Wine webpage to the effect that the Amazon Wine page will be closed as of January 1st, 2018. Seeing as Amazon’s Fresh and Prime Now services can deliver alcoholic orders faster than Amazon Wine ever could, and without having to contend with laws that hamper alcohol trading, it makes sense that Amazon decided to shut down Amazon Wine in favor of these new, worry-free services that can take and ship orders faster than most any other alcohol delivery giants, including Blue Apron, Postmates and Drizly. Even Wine.com, which offers a wider variety of wines and other alcoholic beverages, cannot compete with Amazon’s fast delivery, and let’s face it, getting your booze faster is often a great incentive to switch shippers – and while other suppliers may have more choices, Amazon isn’t that shabby on brands, and will have something for most wine and booze fanatics across the globe.

So, goodbye Amazon Wine, Hello Amazon Prime and Whole Foods drinking aisle….We’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out.

If you own a Google Home device, you probably already know that you can use it to order purchases from a host of stores through Google Express, including Bed Bath and Beyond, Costco, the Google Store (of course) and Payless ShoeSource. Well, as of today, you can add retail giant Walmart to the list, as Google had announced last month.

The process is pretty simple. First, you need to link your Google account to a Walmart account. After that, you can shop to your heart’s content. You can use the Google assistant to place your order – all you have to do is tell it what you want, and it will give you a list of different brands, sizes and prices. For example, if you want to order diapers, the assistant will list what’s available (say, Huggies, Pampers, Parent’s Choice) and then the price for each and box size. Once it has re-read your shopping items, it will ask you to confirm your order and you’re good to go. What’s neat is that once you’ve placed an order for a specific item, the next time you want to order it, all you have to say is ‘Order (item) from Walmart’ and the Google assistant will remember which item it was without having to go through the list again. This might have a downfall, however, if you mean to buy a different brand or different quantity – you’ll have to remember what you bought last time and make changes if your needs have changed since your last order.

All in all, Google seems to be making progress with its Google Home and its Google Express feature. Although I’ve read about customers being dissatisfied at the long delivery times, I’m not sure if that’s on Google Express or on the various retailers taking their time to ship items. In any case, it’s about time that Walmart finally joined the Google family. I’m sure a lot of users have been anxiously waiting to be able to shop at Walmart through their Google assistant.