Does this happen to you?
ou purchase something from an online store and after a few months, go back to the store to buy the same thing again. But then you realize you’ll have to browse the entire store to find that particular item. And when you fail to find it, you open another site to look for the same item.
This is a common scenario. But think of it from a business owner’s perspective. If this happens in your store, you should be worried, because you’re losing out on repeat sales.
So, is there a solution?
Yes! What your Shopify store needs is an Order History feature.
What is order history?
Order history is a feature through which customers and stores can keep a track of the customers’ current and past purchases. In short, it is a record of the customers’ purchases. It also holds information such as shipping, delivery and payment details, among others.
Order history is helpful to both customers and store owners. Customers can track their orders, and store owners/marketers can identify customers’ buying trends, interests, etc. There are different kinds of order history information such as:
- Active order
- Pending order
- Completed order
- Canceled order
- Returned order
- Abandoned cart
- Shipped order
This illustration shows the different types of order history that you will typically see the likes of Amazon displaying:
How does order history help businesses?
Shopify order history gives a peek into many insights
Dates: There could be certain dates or periods when customers tend to purchase more. For example, during festivals, sales, at the beginning of the month around salary days, etc. By tracking trends related to dates, you can manage your store inventory accordingly. Moreover, once you know the slow periods, you could run discounts and deals to increase sales during those periods to ensure consistent sales.
Products: There might be some products in your store that outperform others. There might be some that never sell. And some products might be selling well together. There are many such product trends that you can understand from your Shopify purchase history section. These product trends will help you plan and manage your inventory, understand which products need more attention, and even how to display products. For example, products that are bought together could be displayed side-by-side. But you can do this only when you track this data.
Customers: Your store will have different kinds of customers. Some may purchase a lot, some occasionally, and some may never return after buying once. By keeping a pulse on which customers are buying what, when and how much, you can use the data for personalized and targeted marketing to boost sales.
For example, when you know what a customer has bought recently, you could cross-sell and recommend complementary products that will add value to them. Moreover, your Shopify order history data will also help you segment customers into single-time customers and repeat customers. Based on these segments, you can target them through relevant marketing campaigns.
Next, you can craft your marketing strategies based on the insights you gather. Here are some strategies:
Upsell and share recommendations: When you have information such as what customers have bought and what they like, you can upsell and recommend more products that will add value to them.
Share personalized marketing messages: By gathering information about who bought what, canceled orders, repeat orders, you can craft relevant and targeted messages for individual customers.
Target customers through paid social media promotions: You can smartly use the order history page data collected from your website for your social media marketing campaigns. You could segment your customers through the order history data and target them accordingly on social media or other channels.
Purchase history helps improve customer retention
According to a Forrester study, it is customer retention and not customer acquisition that marketers and brands will focus on in the coming years. And why not!
Retention is a strategic need for businesses to drive profits. But instead of the traditional retention strategies such as loyalty programs and incentives, marketers are paying more attention to what customers do after they make a purchase – their post-purchase experience.
Your Shopify store’s post-purchase period is a unique opportunity for you to engage customers. This period is often overlooked by brands. Take, for example, the number of times customers check their order status. On average they check it 3.5 times per purchase. Now imagine if you have 10,000 orders per month, you have 35,000 opportunities to connect with your customers when they visit the order history section! That’s a goldmine of opportunities for you to run retention strategies. Isn’t it?
Offer and improve personalized customer experiences
You can improve individual customer experiences by gaining insights from their order histories. When you keep a track of what a customer bought and when, among other details, you can use the information to offer personalized shopping experiences to them.
For example, if a customer prefers to buy a specific type of item, you could recommend similar products or alternatives for them to explore. Offering personalized shopping experiences can help increase the average order size of individual customers. 86% of customers say personalized experiences impact their purchase decisions. Your Shopify order history page is the best place to start digging for data that you can use to target individual customers.
Make better business decisions
For businesses, data is gold! Data can help you make informed decisions based on numbers. It can help you predict future demands with greater accuracy.
For example, your Shopify order history data from different customers can tell you which items are doing well and when they need to be stocked up so that you do not miss out on sales. This is just one example. There are many insights you can gather from order history and use them to make better business decisions.
Order history can help increase sales and sale frequency
Today, customers base their brand loyalty on many factors such as price, product, quality and experience. Customer experience is one of the most important factors for eCommerce.
Providing comprehensive order history is a part of boosting customer experience, which in turn, helps increase sales. According to a report by PwC, 86% of buyers are willing to buy expensive items from brands that offer good shopping experiences. And order history is definitely a key part of your customer experience.
Reduce manpower, support time and cost
Imagine if customers had to depend completely and only on customer care for their order status. In this case, you would need to have a customer support team and incur added costs such as office rent, salaries, equipment, utility bills, etc.
All these overheads would add up to a huge monthly expense. Instead, an automated order history feature on your customer account page website would make the entire process more efficient, cost-effective and simple for you.
How does order history help your customers?
Customers can track their orders
On average, customers look up their order history 3.5 times per order. This shows that customers are anxious and like keeping a track of their purchases. And rightly so, because in most cases, they’ve already paid for their purchase. When customers buy from your store, they expect to receive all details. They want to know how and where to track their orders.
This is where your Shopify order history page helps. It can keep the customers updated about their product status – the location where it’s at, the expected delivery time, the tracking ID and more such details. Knowing these details lessens customers’ worries. They do not need to put in too much effort into tracking their order. It gives them assurance and confidence.
Removes ambiguity, brings clarity
Since all the order details are clearly mentioned in the order history section, there’s no scope of ambiguity or confusion. Every detail – location, delivery date, mode of delivery, etc. – is included in the order history. This brings clarity. When brands offer clarity and clear information to customers, there are lesser chances of conflicts and issues. At the end of the day, this adds to a good customer experience and peace of mind.
Makes reorders easy and quick
Customers who want to reorder items that they had purchased in the past, can simply go to their Shopify order history page and buy through that page. They either have to click on that item to open the product page, or click on the ‘reorder’ button, if there is one. This makes the process of reordering easy and quick for customers.
Improves customer experience of your Shopify store
Everyone is busy, and customers are no different. They don’t want to waste time or effort in contacting stores just to track their orders. When buyers receive updates and know the precise details about their order, they feel good about their experience with the store. Today, customer experience is everything! When customers have a good experience in stores, they feel like buying more and trust the brand more.
Set up order history in your Shopify customer account page with Flits
With so many benefits, you’re definitely going to give serious thought to order history on your site. Aren’t you? And we’ll make it easy for you to enjoy all the above benefits and more, with Flits customer account page.
With features such as Order History, Store Credits, Wishlist, Recently Viewed Products, Social Login, Advanced Dashboard, Reorder, etc, you can quit guesswork and use data to make your business decisions. Flits is a one-stop solution for all features on your customer account page that help boost sales and engage customers.
