Winning the sale might feel like the finish line. But it’s just the start of the next race.
What happens in the minutes, hours, and days after someone clicks “buy” determines whether they become a loyal customer or quietly disappear. It shapes whether they leave glowing reviews or file returns. And it directly impacts whether your customer acquisition costs pay off in the long run.
Many eCommerce brands obsess over conversion rates, and that’s fine. But the post-purchase experience is where lasting customer relationships get built. Or where they fall apart.
To understand what works in post-purchase strategy, we talked with Brandon Thurgood, who leads marketing at Redo, a platform that helps eCommerce brands turn one-time buyers into repeat customers. Thurgood works with brands daily on post-purchase behavior, post-purchase emails, and the entire customer journey from order confirmation to review request.
We sent him 15 questions about the post-purchase experience. His answers cover everything from post-purchase dissonance to post-purchase surveys. Here, you’ll find loads of practical insights from someone who sees what works and what doesn’t across dozens of brands.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. What do customers usually do right after they buy?
The moment the transaction goes through, customers enter a specific mindset. They’re not relaxed. They’re anxious and actively looking for confirmation.
“A lot of times they’ll look at order confirmations and look for a timeline on when they’ll receive the product. Then it’s more of a waiting game for when the product will show up on the doorstep,” says Thurgood.
But, of course, the waiting game isn’t always passive. Customers are refreshing their inbox, hunting for shipping confirmations, and checking tracking numbers. They want proof their order is real and moving.
This first window in the post-purchase experience is critical. Leave customers guessing about whether their transaction went through and doubt creeps in immediately.
“Was my card charged? Did I enter the right address?” You don’t want these questions to have a chance to take root.
The fix is simple but essential: confirm the order immediately and set clear expectations for what happens next.
2. How do you stay in touch with customers after they purchase?
Post-purchase communication holds the entire experience together.
Thurgood describes the typical approach: “There’s a series of transactional emails sent via automations that highlight the order confirmation, when the product is shipped, when they should expect the package, when the package is delivered, asking for a review, etc.”
Customers are actively looking for information during this period. Many will search for tracking information or shipping status to resolve their “where’s my order” questions, Thurgood notes. There’s a decent amount of waiting for the product to arrive.
These emails serve one main purpose: answer the “where’s my order” question before customers have to ask. When done right, they keep buyers informed and confident about their purchase.
3. What makes customers regret their purchase decision?
Post-purchase dissonance—that nagging feeling that maybe you made the wrong choice—is real. And it’s driven by three main factors.
First, unmet expectations. Thurgood points to scenarios where customers receive the product and it doesn’t meet expectations: it doesn’t fit right, the material wasn’t the quality they expected, or they feel like they overpaid for a product.
Second, competitor advertising. As Thurgood explains, “Competitors most likely have ad campaigns running that are triggered based off their purchase so they’re seeing a lot of similar or competing products on social media during this time that they’ll likely compare to the product that they purchased.”
During the waiting period between purchase and delivery, customers are being actively retargeted by your competitors. That plants doubt.
Third, shipping and communication problems. Thurgood notes that shipping delays or poor communication from the brand can contribute to regret, especially if customers have to wait longer than expected or are unclear about when they’ll receive the package they were excited about.
None of these are completely preventable. But proactive communication can manage the doubt before it turns into a return request.
4. How quickly do buyers start doubting their choice?
Faster than you think.
“Almost immediately,” says Thurgood. “There’s a lot of anticipation built up during the shipping process that when the product arrives, it can be a make or break moment.”
But doubt doesn’t just appear at delivery. It starts earlier—sometimes before the package even ships. According to Thurgood, doubt can set in before the product even arrives if shipping takes longer than expected, gets delayed, or shows up damaged. In those cases, there’s an immediate letdown and lack of trust in the brand if there isn’t proactive communication around the delivery.
The other critical moment is first use. Doubt can emerge after the first use of the product if it doesn’t perform or feel the way customers expected when they purchased it, Thurgood explains.
This is why post-purchase behavior matters so much. The window between purchase and satisfaction is short, and it’s full of opportunities for doubt to creep in. Your communication strategy needs to address that reality head-on.
5. What causes customers to return items they just bought?
Returns are expensive. They eat margins, tie up inventory, and signal something went wrong. Understanding the root causes helps you prevent them.
Thurgood breaks down the most common return reasons:
- Fit or size issues, especially in apparel. The product doesn’t fit or feels different than imagined. Better sizing guides and accurate descriptions help here.
- Product doesn’t match description. Size, color, texture, or specifications differ from expectation. This is usually a product page problem—your content isn’t setting accurate expectations.
- Defects, damage, or quality issues. Items that are faulty, broken, or damaged in transit. Points to either manufacturing problems or inadequate packaging.
- Wrong item or variant shipped. A mismatch in what was ordered versus what was delivered. This is a fulfillment accuracy issue that erodes trust fast.
- Better alternative or buyer’s remorse. Customers change their mind or find a competitor’s version. Ties directly back to post-purchase dissonance. That is, they saw something better while waiting.
- Poor usability or product doesn’t work. The product fails to function or is hard to use. Often means product education was missing or insufficient.
- Shipping time too long. The item arrives after customers no longer need it, such as seasonal purchases. When delivery drags out, the original need might have already passed.
Each of these return triggers points to a specific fix. That might be better content, better fulfillment accuracy, better packaging, or better communication.
6. When should you send your first email after a purchase?
“Immediately,” Thurgood says. “Confirmation/thank-you should be sent immediately. This helps customers know that the transaction was successful and they have purchased the product.”
That instant confirmation email does more than just recap the order. It provides psychological reassurance that the transaction worked and the customer didn’t just throw money into the void.
After that initial confirmation, the rest of the sequence should be triggered by your fulfillment process. As Thurgood explains, “you should have a series of transactional emails triggered based on your fulfillment process to actively update customers on their shipping, [helping] them feel confident and informed about the delivery of their product.”
7. What should post-purchase emails actually say?
Post-purchase emails need to balance information with promotion. Get the balance wrong and you either leave customers confused or annoy them with sales pitches while they’re waiting for their order.
Thurgood’s framework for what to include:
First, the essentials: “include when customers should expect their order, confirm what products were included in the order for confidence, and give a link to the tracking page that they can go to for tracking updates on-demand.”
After the transactional basics are covered, you can layer in additional content. Thurgood notes that you can “confirm the order, include additional and relevant product recommendations for a new purchase, include promotional content and incentivize a repeat purchase with a special deal. After the order is delivered, you should request a review on the product as well.”
The key is sequencing. Lead with information customers need. That is: order details, shipping timeline, tracking link. Save the promotional content for after delivery or at least after the item has shipped.
8. How many follow-up emails are too many?
There’s a difference between transactional emails and promotional emails. Customers tolerate—and actually want—more of the former than the latter.
Thurgood’s advice: “lean towards overcommunicating on transactional emails about the order but limit the quantity of promotional emails that are sent pre-delivery of the order.”
For transactional updates about shipping and delivery, more is better. Customers want to know what’s happening with their order.
For promotional content? Less is more. Typically two to four marketing emails after the transactional emails are completed is common, according to Thurgood.
The worst mistake is overwhelming customers with sales pitches while they’re still waiting for their first order to arrive. That signals you care more about the next sale than delivering on the current one.
9. Do customers want tips on using their purchase?
It depends on what you’re selling.
According to Thurgood, “if there is any education or best practices associated with the product, then quick communication after the order is delivered or right before delivery to prepare the customer for the arrival of the product is a great option.”
Timing matters here. Don’t send product education emails during the waiting period when customers just want tracking updates. Send them right before delivery to prepare customers, or right after delivery when they’re ready to use the product.
Format matters too. Thurgood recommends that these emails should “include the content needed in the email and have options for more in-depth trainings and videos if the end user needs more information.”
Give customers what they need immediately—quick tips, setup instructions, basic guidance. Then offer pathways to deeper resources like video tutorials or detailed guides for those who want more.
Don’t assume everyone wants the same level of detail. Some customers want to figure it out themselves. Others want comprehensive walkthroughs. Provide both options.
10. Should you ask for a review right away or wait?
Timing a review request is about balancing urgency with experience. Ask too early and customers haven’t used the product enough to have an informed opinion. Wait too long and the moment passes.
Thurgood’s recommendation: wait three to seven days after the delivery of the item before requesting a review. The reasoning is simple—give customers time to have used the product and had a good experience before pushing for a review.
Customers need time to unbox, use, and form an opinion. But not so much time that they forget about the purchase entirely.
11. What’s the best time to survey recent customers?
Post-purchase surveys and review requests follow similar timing logic.
Thurgood recommends the same time frame as the review request.
That three to seven day window after delivery gives customers enough experience to provide meaningful feedback without letting so much time pass that the purchase becomes a distant memory.
12. How long should a post-purchase survey be?
Thurgood’s guidance is clear: “the shorter the better while still collecting the information that you’re looking for.” His recommendation is to decide as an organization what the most impactful information you can gather from your customers is and cut out any fluff.
His recommendation for structure: a mix of scale questions and ratings is best with optional free form at the end.
Long surveys lower completion rates. Every additional question is another opportunity for customers to abandon the survey halfway through. Focus on the questions that will inform your most important decisions.
13. What one question tells you the most about customer satisfaction?
According to Thurgood, the classic NPS question is the most telling: “On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend [product/brand] to a friend or colleague?”
Net Promoter Score gets criticized sometimes for being overused, but there’s a reason it’s become standard. It captures overall sentiment and separates promoters from detractors in a way that’s easy to track over time.
The magic of NPS isn’t just the score itself—it’s what you do with it. Promoters (9-10) are candidates for case studies and referral programs. Passives (7-8) need a reason to become promoters. Detractors (0-6) require immediate follow-up to understand what went wrong.
14. Do customers actually fill out post-purchase surveys?
Yes, but don’t expect overwhelming response rates.
Thurgood says that you can expect results to typically fall “somewhere between 10 and 20% completion rate depending on the product and the loyalty to the brand. You can try and use multiple channels (email, on-site customer support chat, social media, etc) to try and increase response rate.”
15. How do you turn post-purchase feedback into action?
Collecting feedback is pointless if it just sits in a spreadsheet somewhere. The value is in what you do with it.
Thurgood emphasizes that “having a system in place for what to do with feedback is huge. The key is having a clear way to consolidate feedback, group the feedback into key buckets and then assign internal ownership on each bucket—product, operations, support, logistics, and so on—so there’s an owner based on the varied feedback received.”
That organizational structure matters. Product feedback goes to the product team. Shipping complaints go to operations or logistics. Customer service issues go to support. Without clear ownership, feedback just becomes noise.
Thurgood also emphasizes integration with product development. “A portion of the product roadmap should be dedicated to improving current products, and the feedback would inform this portion.”
The brands that win on post-purchase experience aren’t the ones collecting the most feedback. They’re the ones using it to get better.
Final Thoughts
The post-purchase experience is where customer acquisition costs get justified. You can spend heavily on ads and conversion optimization, but if the experience after checkout is weak, you’re just buying one-time transactions.
Post-purchase dissonance is real. Customers start doubting almost immediately. They’re anxious, actively looking for information, and being retargeted by your competitors during the entire waiting period.
Your job is to manage that doubt with clear communication, meet expectations with accurate product descriptions and reliable fulfillment, and build trust with proactive updates and thoughtful follow-up.
Send that first email immediately. Overcommunicate on transactional updates. Wait 3-7 days before asking for reviews. Keep surveys short and focused. Most importantly, actually use the feedback you collect to improve.
None of this is complicated. But it requires intention and systems. The brands that nail post-purchase strategy don’t wing it—they build repeatable processes that turn buyers into customers and customers into advocates.
