Interview of Guillaume Truchet with Le Figaro

Guillaume Truchet, Head of Sales – Southern Europe at parcelLab, was invited a few weeks ago on the set of the program Itinéraire Entreprise, in partnership with Le Figaro.

In this interview, Guillaume discusses the interest and benefits of offering a memorable post-purchase experience. He also discusses the growth of e-commerce as well as post-purchase communication standards in France.

The growth of e-commerce

According to FEVAD, the e-commerce sector reached nearly 30 million euros in the first quarter of 2021, registering nearly 15% growth compared to the first quarter of 2020.

In this increasingly competitive environment, it is crucial for brands to offer post-purchase experiences that live up to their customers’ expectations in order to build loyalty and stand out from the competition.

Status of post-purchase communication in France

From a study of the top 100 French e-tailers, we know that 24% of them have no control over post-purchase communication. They delegate this to the carrier, losing control of the customer experience.

Our study also reveals that 55% of brands communicate with the carrier in the post-purchase phase. This leads to a risk of contradiction and confusion for the consumer.

In a way, by doing so, e-tailers are delegating the customer relationship to third parties and neglecting their customers after checkout.

The benefits of a better post-purchase experience

Investing in a better post-purchase experience means strengthening the bond between brand and customer and increasing customer value over time. Concretely, this can be translated in different ways for the brand:

• Reduce customer service requests: the more fluid the experience and the more proactive the communication, the less the customer will need to contact customer service to obtain information on the follow-up of his order.
• Increase the number of positive reviews: the review request will be made at the right time, in a positive dynamic, which increases the chances of increasing the number of positive reviews.
• Increase sales: post-purchase communications and especially the follow-up page will generate additional traffic on the site and increase the re-purchase rate. The brand can also use post-purchase emails to generate additional and cross-selling.
  

  In conclusion…

Brands go to great lengths to attract new consumers to their site and convert them into customers. A positive and memorable post-purchase experience helps build long-term customer loyalty, conversely a negative experience can be prohibitive; for example, 55% of customers who have encountered a delivery issue will no longer order from that site (source: E-commerce Nation.)

With the rise of online consumption, it is now essential for brands to offer a post-purchase experience as qualitative and memorable as possible.