January 16, 2025
How do companies keep in touch with and stay top of mind with their customers after they’ve made a purchase? Some are shrugging their shoulders in response to this question. If you don’t know about post sale techniques, you’re probably not retaining many of your existing customers.
While every business owner understands the importance of using effective sales techniques to land new customers, post sale techniques can do more to build loyal customers in the long run. Loyal customers spend 10 times more than other customers throughout their lifetime.
Relationship experts say cuddling after intimacy breeds a long-lasting relationship with your spouse or partner. You and your customers have a different type of relationship, but the needs are the same – post sale techniques are your version of cuddling after intimacy (the sale). Skipping this important part costs you customer loyalty.
Here are 5 effective post sale techniques to try at your company. See if they don’t increase your customer retention rates and win you more loyal customers!
5 Post Sale Techniques to Try
1. Consider the shipping method
If you ship products out to customers, you’re in charge of knowing all the carrier options for shipping them. Different carriers can get certain types of packages to your customers sooner than others, making the experience much more positive for your customers. One way to win loyal customers is to create the expectation, “When I buy from this company, I always know I will receive my order as quickly as possible.”
Tip: Small packages ship more quickly via USPS than carriers like UPS or FedEx.
2. Make account access a cinch
After the purchase, one of the best post sale techniques to try is making account access easier than ever. Once someone has made a purchase from your business, logging into their account can be a bothersome barrier that prevents them from logging in and buying from you again.
Don’t let that happen! Make it easy for customers to access their account by making the signup part of the original transaction. Email their account information and login details to them afterward to make logging in in the future much easier.
In the email, let them know they can access order information and details directly from their account page to encourage them to log in and give it a try.
3. Follow up after the purchase with a personal touch
Following up after the purchase can be a valuable way to earn customer loyalty. The personal touch is part of what builds loyalty in a customer relationship. If you can send a personal email to each customer that makes a purchase, you’re that much closer to building a legion of loyal followers. You can automate this process to make it easier if you have a large number of orders coming through each day.
Here’s what a personal email might look like after a recent purchase:
“Hi Jennifer! I’m Tanya, the CEO of Conversational. I just noticed you signed up for the free 30 day trial of our virtual receptionist service! I think you’re going to be so pleased with the amount of time you’ll save. Just a few tips as you get started:
The free trial lasts for 30 days or 1000 minutes, whichever milestone comes first. Remember to complete the questionnaire we just sent over so we can have our receptionists answer your phone in the manner you prefer. Once you return your completed questionnaire, we can have you up and running within the hour!
You should have also received an email with your Conversational account login information. Hang on to that – you’ll need it to check your monthly minutes usage, preferences, etc. Thanks again for choosing us and let us know if you need anything along the way!”
4. Automate delivery emails to set expectations
Managing expectations is a large part of ensuring customer satisfaction. If you can help your customers develop the right expectations for when their products will arrive, you will deal with a lot less customer disappointment. Set up automated emails to send out when your customers place an order that contains tracking numbers, expected delivery times, and shipping norms.
Being honest about delivery expectations, even if the dates are later than your customers expected, works in your favor. It’s better than having a customer discover the delivery date will be much later than expected only when their package arrives a month later.
5. Throw a little extra their way
This is one of the easiest post sale techniques to try. Throwing in something extra with your customers’ purchases will help create loyalty by building a “special” relationship with customers. When we receive something additional we weren’t expecting from a business, it takes us by pleasant surprise and gets the halo effect working in that company’s favor.
Drop a company promo item (pens, magnets, coozies, etc.) into the shipment box or just spritz the inside of the box with a signature fragrance to give your customers a nice surprise when they open the box.
