How Extend Boosts Profitability at 5 Key Post-Purchase Touchpoints

As an ecommerce merchant, you know the importance of anticipating and meeting customer needs at key touchpoints. The hard part is striving to meet these needs without drastically increasing operational costs or missing revenue opportunities.

This challenge extends to the post-purchase customer experience, where you hope first-time buyers decide to become repeat buyers. But if your support teams struggle to process warranty claims, respond to shipping issues, and screen suspicious return requests for fraud, you’re less likely to get that second purchase. 

Without some degree of automation or customer self-service, customer satisfaction will drop due to clunky claim processes and slow resolution times. You’ll then face higher customer acquisition costs as dissatisfied first-time buyers churn.

Extend reduces churn by managing post-purchase touchpoints related to product and shipping protection, returns, and fraud detection. Our powerful tools do more than improve the customer’s overall experience and reduce operational costs at these touchpoints. They add value to other interactions designed to boost customer retention. Keep reading to learn how.

Post-purchase touchpoint #1: Order confirmation emails and tracking updates

Extend isn’t an email marketing platform and doesn’t send SMS marketing messages. But our products can add value to the all-important order-confirmation and shipping-update emails that follow a sale. 

One of Extend’s core offerings — product protection — safeguards products from various accidental damage that occurs during normal product use. Consumers usually purchase product protection at the point of sale, and you, the merchant, receive a portion of the revenue from sales.

After partnering with Extend in 2019 and promoting product protection, one of our electronics merchants saw an over 150% increase in revenue.

But say the consumer doesn’t purchase product protection at the point of sale, and later regrets it. They realize how much peace of mind they stand to gain from having a damaged product repaired or replaced without hassle.

And if that reminder to purchase product protection appears in a post-purchase email also containing a shipping update, customers are more likely to open it. According to a 2024 McKinsey survey, “About 50% of respondents” reported tracking “the status of orders to ensure that the shipment is progressing and remains on time.”

Besides satisfying the post-purchase customer need to track shipments, Extend turns this generic (but essential) follow-up communication into an opportunity to generate incremental revenue. 

Post-purchase touchpoint #2: Customer service interactions

Customer support is a crucial touchpoint where customer loyalty is won or lost. 2025 data from CX expert Shep Hyken paints the picture:

• 53% of surveyed customers say they “have left or switched companies because the self-service/digital customer service options were too difficult to use.”
• 63% of surveyed customers are “likely or very likely to leave a company because they couldn’t connect with a live customer support agent.”

McKinsey research from 2023 backs up Hyken’s findings about live agents, noting that even 71% of Gen Z respondents appreciate the “personal touch brought by live phone interactions.” 

But supporting a team of live agents is expensive, so it’s worth investing in seamless self-service resources wherever possible. When you offer Extend product and shipping protection, you do exactly that. 

Suppose a customer’s cat leaves a mess on a new couch, or a pair of eyeglasses disappears during delivery. If these customers purchased product or shipping protection, they can use their email address or order number to file a hassle-free claim with Extend. They answer a few quick questions about their claim, and Extend processes it in a matter of seconds. 

And in the rare event that Extend can’t resolve the claim right away, we can transfer the customer to our in-house live support team. This frees up your customer service teams to focus on other pressing tasks.

Post-purchase touchpoint #3: Customer loyalty programs

Sure, the opportunity to join a benefit-heavy loyalty program is a great way to encourage potential customers to make that first purchase decision. And it can also be a valuable post-purchase touchpoint. Back to Shep Hyken: “In 2025, customer rewards programs are important to 69% of American customers when it comes to giving a company repeat business.”

Loyalty programs are not silver bullets, however. Why? Members are getting bored with them. According to a 2024 Boston Consulting Group study, Americans are joining more loyalty programs, which increases “competition for their time, energy, and attention.”

The same study suggests “personalized benefits, free content, and relevant partnerships” are key to keeping customers’ attention. Extend can be one of those partners.

Many loyalty programs use points to determine which benefits members enjoy. Members redeem points for free shipping, discounts, and access to special products, to name a few. Why not add the benefit of Extend product and/or shipping protection on one or more orders in exchange for a certain number of points? 

Shipping protection by Extend provides coverage for a shipped package that is damaged in transit, lost, or stolen. It costs a fraction of an item’s retail price, making it a low-cost benefit members will appreciate the moment they need it.

And many will. According to a 2024 International Council of Shopping Centers Consumer Returns Survey, the most common reason (52%) respondents return an online purchase is product damage.

Once your members experience the relief of having a product lost or accidentally damaged in transit replaced at no additional charge, they’re more likely to stay in the program. Add Extend’s frictionless claim process, and you’ll give them another reason to stick with your brand.

Post-purchase touchpoint #4: Subscription notifications

Suppose you run a subscription for cosmetics. You’ll typically send a subscription notification announcing a soon-to-ship package. This touchpoint should also give subscribers the chance to skip a shipment or postpone its delivery. A subscription notification is an easy way to help customers remember to purchase Extend Shipping Protection.

Subscribers are arguably your most valuable and loyal customers because they generate revenue at regular and predictable intervals. They’re also sending the message that they don’t just want your products. They “need” them as part of their daily routine. Which means it’s doubly important for their packages to arrive based on the schedule subscribers have set.

Subscribers who purchase shipping protection can have a covered claim approved and receive a replacement item with minimal disruption to their routines. 

Just make sure to include a deadline for purchasing shipping protection in your subscription notification. Subscribers must purchase it before the product ships.

Post-purchase touchpoint #5: Return requests

When a customer initiates a return request, they expect the return to be free, easy, or both. If the return is neither of these things, then, like a poor support experience, customers won’t be as loyal. A 2024 UPS study confirms this trend: 40% of retailers surveyed “agree that improving the returns experience leads to increased spending with their brand.”

But since return fraud is so rampant, you can’t leave too many of the digital touchpoints that make up the returns experience to chance. A 2023 study from the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail paints the bleak picture: Retailers surveyed were losing “$13.70 to return fraud” for “every $100 in returned merchandise.”

Fortunately, Extend’s centralized post-purchase platform not only gives your customers the convenience of initiating returns and exchanges from a single, streamlined portal, but we can also screen every report of a shipping issue and fulfillment error for fraud according to specific criteria, like:

• Loyalty program membership
• Customer lifetime value (CLV/CLTV)
• Consumer risk score

This fraud evaluation happens in a matter of seconds, saving your support teams the time required to conduct a manual review of the return. 

As the merchant, you can control your response to the return based on Extend’s evaluation. For example, you can offer a loyalty program member with a high CLV and a legitimate account a refund or store credit. But a legitimate customer without a purchase history might only get a store credit.

With Extend, you are both protecting your profit margins from fraud and creating a positive experience for your customers.

Partner with Extend to maximize profitability at key post-purchase touchpoints

For online retailers like you, Extend can add value to key post-purchase touchpoints, turning some from potential liabilities into assets. From claim processing that doesn’t burden your in-house support team to making your loyalty program more competitive, Extend helps you nurture the customer relationship.

Even better, you can start realizing these benefits with minimal implementation time. Extend offers pre-built integrations for Shopify and BigCommerce, enabling deployment within days to a few weeks. Once implemented, our team provides ongoing optimization support to maximize performance and profitability.

You’ll maintain your branded experience throughout the customer journey, ensuring a cohesive look and feel. We present our product protection offerings in a way that enhances rather than disrupts the checkout process, with customizable messaging that matches your voice and values.

Ready to learn more about Extend’s post-purchase automation suite? Schedule a free demo today.