Post-purchase communication is a series of messages a customer receives from confirmation through to delivery. Its quality directly reduces the load on customer support, because most questions concern a single thing – when the goods will arrive. The basis consists of an order confirmation with an overview of the items and the expected date, a dispatch notice with the option to track the shipment, and a delivery notification. The key point is to proactively announce a delay before the customer gets in touch themselves; it is precisely silence during a delay that causes the most negative reviews. After delivery, a short satisfaction question and a request for a review make sense. All these messages are transactional, have a high open rate, and it is worth giving their wording the same attention as product copy.
See also: Transactional emails, Availability and Delivery Time, Complaints process as marketing.
