Enhancing the customer journey: post-purchase stages and touchpoints

How aware are you of an individual customer’s path to purchasing a product, and beyond? After all, customers rarely purchase on a whim.

Gaining a deep understanding of how your customer thinks and feels at each stage of their journey with your business is integral to meeting their needs and capitalising on opportunities. It’s also critical in terms of transitioning existing customers – who have made a purchase – into powerful promoters and brand ambassadors who will attract new customers and target audiences.

Failing to acknowledge post-purchase customer expectations and user experiences is a grave oversight – not to mention a missed opportunity: research suggests that 93% of consumers consider the post-purchase experience important, with 83% believing there is room for improvement.

What is customer journey mapping?

Salesforce define customer journey mapping as ‘a visual representation of every interaction a customer has with a brand along their customer journey. It tells the story of the customer’s experience as they progress through all the touchpoints between customer and organisation, from initial contact and purchasing to the ultimate goal of long-term brand loyalty.’

Mapping is not only important in terms of engaging and empathising with customers, but in providing businesses with ideas and ways to better serve their customers through actionable insights. For example, highlighting the perfect ways to position a product or service.

Why else is customer journey mapping important?

• It offers a deeper understanding of customer needs, objectives and expectations
• It identifies and eliminates pain points in order to deliver smoother overall journeys
• It highlights ineffective touchpoints that can negatively impact conversion rates
• It assigns ownership of various touchpoints and increases accountability
• It increases the likelihood of customer satisfaction, customer retention, customer loyalty, and better customer experiences.

What are the main stages and touchpoints along the customer journey?

When we mention customer journey stages, we’re referring to:

• Awareness – a customer first encounters a brand, often when they’re trying to organise something or are seeking a solution to a problem. As an example, the awareness stage may involve a customer using Google to search for ‘hotels in New York’, browsing different links and also looking at things to do while there.
• Consideration – a customer begins to evaluate their options rather than browsing casually. During the consideration stage, the customer may decide they want to be based in Manhattan and narrow down their criteria from there (comparing metrics such as pricing, reviews, and proximity to attractions).
• Decision – a customer completes their research and is ready to take action. The purchase decision stage may look like the customer making a final decision from their shortlist of hotels and booking their stay.
• Retention – a customer has made a purchase and a brand pivots to focus on strengthening the relationship. For example, as part of the retention stage, the customer – who has had a fantastic time at the hotel – is offered discounted stays with the hotel brand and is happy about using them again in future.
• Advocacy – a customer who has had a positive experience lets others know about it. The advocacy stage may involve the customer leaving a glowing review on TripAdvisor, sharing and tagging the hotel on social media, and making referrals to friends, and opting for product and service renewals.

Customer touchpoints, on the other hand, are the individual interactions that a customer has with a brand during each of the stages – and occur both online and offline.

Pre-purchase touchpoints include engaging with social media posts, online ads, websites, Google search results, emails, and videos; purchase touchpoints include e-commerce or in-store visits, making enquiries, reading testimonials, research and comparing products and services; post-purchase touchpoints include receiving order notifications, contacting customer service teams and chatbots, using membership or loyalty programme benefits, reading follow-up communications, filing exchanges, and making referrals or repeat purchases.

How do you map post-purchase touchpoints?

A point-of-sale purchase does not signal the end of the customer journey. Far from it.                                                                                                                                   

To map the touchpoints your customer may encounter following a purchase, consider the ongoing journey from their perspective and list all possible interactions they may have with your business during the retention and advocacy stages.

A template of your process may look a little like this:

1. Break down the retention and advocacy stages to identify further touchpoints. For example: order confirmation messages; shipping, tracking and delivery information; product use and support, such as tutorials and customer service interactions; feedback surveys and reviews; and follow-up communications, loyalty programmes, and personalised offers.
2. Gather data from customer interactions. Adopt an omnichannel approach to collecting feedback and insights to identify where and how customers are getting in touch post-purchase. This may include web analytics, social media platforms, emails, and customer service records.
3. Visualise each key touchpoint. Use mapping tools to bring the post-sale customer journey to life. This could range from the simple (diagrams and flowcharts) to the more sophisticated (Miro or Lucidchart software).
4. Collect and analyse customer feedback. Remember to ask customers for feedback. Direct experiences often offer actionable, valuable insights that might otherwise be missed.
5. Loop in key stakeholders. Every team or function involved in overseeing certain post-purchase touchpoints should be invited to contribute their insights, from marketing and sales to customer service and product development.
6. Plot opportunities and pain points. Identify where and why customers have positive experiences, as well as where and why they encounter issues or indicate dissatisfaction.
7. Design a plan of action. Select relevant strategies to address pain points and inefficiencies and capitalise on areas and moments that are working well and delighting customers. For example, you might decide to offer more robust customer support, enable enhanced shipping and tracking, or focus on hyper-personalising marketing campaigns and interactions.

Remember to revisit and update your post-purchase touchpoint map in line with further feedback, data insights, and changes to business processes.

How can marketers improve interactions after the purchasing process?

As marketers, understanding the touchpoints of a buyer’s journey enables you to optimise interactions and craft a fantastic customer experience – and, with any luck, increase the number of loyal customers. You don’t need to manage every individual touchpoint: rather, they can be managed collectively to offer a more satisfying, smooth, personalised, and cohesive overall journey.

There is no shortage of ways in which brands can help customers to feel special, valued, supported after they have purchased. Here are four examples of how to increase post-purchase customer success:

Fantastic ongoing customer support is, arguably, the most important post-purchase point of contact. Customers don’t want to be left high and dry, feeling like achieving the sale was all that mattered to the brand. Offering friendly, helpful, seamless, cross-channel support is key – and will contribute to the customer’s positive impression of the business.

Customer loyalty programmes and reward incentives are a great way to retain business, secure future purchases, and offer customers long-term value. They work best when highly personalised and driven by what the customer needs and what they find meaningful.

Implementing post-purchase email marketing signals to a customer that you are invested in a longer-term customer-brand relationship. It encourages customers to dig deeper into the brand, engaging with anything from blog posts and social media links to tutorials and related products. Plus, it keeps the brand at the forefront of their minds.

Taking time to deliver memorable ‘unboxing’ experiences can make a big difference to a customer. It can elevate the perfectly acceptable unboxing of a product to an event that delights a customer and makes a brand stand out from competitors.

Capitalise on customer journey touchpoints to drive better experiences and outcomes

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