If you just got here, this is part of a 30-part series on improving your WooCommerce store. The posts you might have missed focus on:
And today we're looking at your site's funnels and one-time offer features. But to do that, we need to make sure we're all on the same page. Because frankly, most people never touch, change or adjust the default checkout system that comes with WooCommerce.
So what is a funnel? Particularly, how does it relate to the checkout process?
When people talk about funnels, they're mostly talking about the flow that a person navigates when they're approaching your store. They're mostly talking about what turns a lurker or visitor into a shopper. If you're strategic, you show a prospect one thing, and the next time they return you might show them something else, and after they buy, you might show them something else. Each time you're drawing them in closer and helping them transition to a shopper.
That's the funnel that most people talk about. It's common and it's a good funnel to talk about. But that's not my focus here. I'm talking about a different process. I'm talking about what happens when a person makes a purchase.
In this tip, I'm looking at your WooCommerce funnels that start once a person has completed their check-out and doesn't end until they leave the site. And for most people, that's the same moment.
But it doesn't have to be.
Some people call these, or have experienced them as “one-time offers (OTO).” One-time offers appear after a purchase and tell you that for a limited time only (the “one-time” part of the offer) you can also purchase something else (normally at a discount).
Many of us just turn off at this point, because it feels extra salesy or pushy. But that's a function of the visual appearance, the forced rundown clock and more.
The reality is that a post-sales option can be a helpful, useful, and fantastic way to help your customers, and one that they appreciate.
Creating intelligent post-sales options
If you were buying a Canon printer wouldn't you like to know that the people at Canon never include a USB cable with their printer? It's a silly move on their part, but a brilliant cross-sell because without the cable, you're pretty much hosed.
That's a great example of an intelligent post-sales option as well. If you don't do upsells or cross-sells but know that you have something of value that a customer might want, a post-sales option makes sense.
I recommend membership plugins. If I were selling one, and you bought it, wouldn't it be nice to also offer you a complete installation service for a fixed fee? It's what I've told MemberPress they should do.
Not everyone will want it, but enough will—which makes it a smart post-sales option to present.
- Installation services after a software purchase
- Case / bag option after an expensive electronics purchase
- Training after the purchase of a tool
All of these situations make great sense for a post-purchase offering.
Creating post-purchase offerings with WooCommerce
One of my favorite approaches to creating post-purchase offerings is to use a custom plugin that I invested in. My friend Daniel from Shop Plugins built this solution specifically so I could use it with some customers and I'm thrilled to say it's available to everyone.
It's officially a Redirect Thank You plugin for WooCommerce.
What that means is that it's a solution that does much more than what we're talking about here. But I love how easy it is for creating post-checkout funnels.
It works in a really simple way:
- You create a product
- You create a custom page that you want people to see after that purchase
- You use the plugin to redirect people after that purchase to the custom thank you page
That's it, in a nutshell.
Getting fancy with the Redirect Thank You plugin
Want to get really fancy with this? Do this:
- Create a product that is inexpensive but delivers value.
- Then create an associated product that is a bit more expensive but makes the earlier purchase awesome.
- Then create a product that only makes sense if you've bought the other two.
- Now create a custom thank you page that recommends the second product to buyers of the first.
- Then create a custom page that recommends the third product to buyers of the first and second.
- Now use the plugin to create a multi-step post-purchase funnel.
Want an example?
If I were selling guitar picks, I would make my second product be replacement string. If someone bought my pack of extra guitar picks and extra string, I would offer them a bag or container to hold them both as my third product.
Does that make sense?
And the beauty of this approach, and this plugin, is that it's easy (and nothing suggests you have to get cheesy, pushy, or sleazy).
If you add value to your customers, they'll not only buy but they'll thank you.
And you can do it all with the WooCommerce Redirect Thank You extension from Shop Plugins.