Five types of online shopper and their post-purchase communication expectations

When it comes to post-purchase communication, every shopper is different.

Some consumers want regular delivery updates and reassurance that their parcel is progressing. Others would rather hear nothing until it arrives at their door. Some prioritise speed, while others care more about flexibility, accurate tracking, or simply knowing exactly what will happen if something goes wrong.

These differences might appear small, but they can have a significant impact on customer loyalty.

ZigZag’s 2026 research, After Checkout: The New Rules of Post-Purchase Experiences in UK Retail, conducted with Retail Economics, found that 62% of UK consumers would stop shopping with a retailer following a poor delivery experience, while 64% say the same about a poor returns experience.

That makes the period between checkout, delivery and potentially returning an item one of the most important – and often underused – parts of the ecommerce customer journey.

You can download the report here>>

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Why is the post-purchase experience so important for retailers?

UK online non-food sales reached an estimated £111.7 billion in 2025, but ZigZag’s research suggests post-purchase communication falls short of shoppers’ expectations on £23.5 billion of online orders.

The problem is that consumers don’t necessarily distinguish between the retailer, warehouse, carrier, returns provider, and payment provider involved in fulfilling an order.

To them, it is one experience.

If tracking information is inaccurate, the retailer gets blamed. If a carrier experiences a delay and nobody communicates it, the retailer gets blamed. If a return disappears into a warehouse with no acknowledgement or a refund takes longer than expected, the retailer’s relationship with that customer is put at risk.

Retailers may outsource parts of fulfilment and logistics, but they cannot afford to outsource ownership of the customer experience.

This is why a strong ecommerce post-purchase strategy needs to connect delivery tracking, customer communications, returns management, refunds, and customer support rather than treating each as an isolated process.

What do customers want from the post-purchase experience?

There isn’t a single formula for creating the perfect post-purchase experience.

Instead, ZigZag’s research identifies five pillars that shape consumer expectations after checkout: clarity, convenience, speed, visibility, and relevance.

The balance between them changes according to the shopper and the purchase.

A customer waiting for an expensive order may want detailed tracking and reassurance. Someone buying a routine product might only need confirmation that everything is progressing normally. A shopper whose parcel is delayed suddenly requires far more communication than they did five minutes earlier.

In fact, 95% of consumers expect an update within 24 hours when there is a problem with a delivery, return or refund. Almost a quarter expect acknowledgement within an hour.

The lesson for retailers isn't simply to communicate more. It is to communicate better.

That means providing the right level of visibility, speed, clarity, convenience, and relevance at the moments that matter.

ZigZag’s research identifies five major consumer cohorts that can help retailers understand what “better” looks like.

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1. Convenience Maximisers: remove the work from online shopping

23% of consumers | 27% of online non-food spend

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Convenience Maximisers are particularly valuable ecommerce customers. While representing 23% of consumers, they account for 27% of online non-food spending, making them the highest spending of the five post-purchase cohorts.

Predominantly Millennials, these are busy, time-poor consumers who expect ecommerce to fit around their lives rather than the other way around.

Unsurprisingly, 70% rate convenience as extremely or very important.

How should retailers engage Convenience Maximisers?

The objective should be to minimise customer effort.

Give shoppers accurate delivery estimates and proactive notifications so they don't have to repeatedly check their parcel status. Provide a branded tracking experience where information is easy to find. Make delivery and returns policies accessible and provide flexible delivery and returns options wherever possible.

Most importantly, anticipate problems.

ZigZag's post-purchase platform transforms real-time parcel events and carrier data into personalised customer communications, allowing retailers to proactively communicate important status changes rather than waiting for customers to ask, ‘Where is my order?’.

Convenience should continue if an item needs to go back, too. Connecting outbound delivery with a digital returns experience means customers can move naturally from tracking an order to initiating a return, selecting an appropriate returns method, and following its progress towards refund or exchange.

Do the work so your customer doesn't have to.

For high-spending Convenience Maximisers, reducing friction can be an important ingredient in turning an occasional customer into a repeat one.

2. Confidence Seekers: visibility builds loyalty

22% of consumers | 23% of online non-food spend

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Confidence Seekers purchase online around once a week and account for almost a quarter of online non-food spending. Typically Gen X, this group needs reassurance that the retailer remains in control of their order.

For Confidence Seekers, silence can be more damaging than bad news.

They place the highest importance of any cohort on visibility, with 86% rating it extremely or very important. Speed matters too, with 84% describing it as extremely or very important.

That doesn't necessarily mean every problem has to be solved instantly.

ZigZag’s research highlights an important distinction: speed means fast acknowledgement, not necessarily instant resolution.

A missing parcel may require investigation. A returned product may need to be inspected. A refund may depend on payment processing. Customers can understand these operational realities when they know what is happening.

How should retailers engage Confidence Seekers?

Retailers should focus on proactive exception management.

Connecting carrier, warehouse, delivery, and returns data gives teams greater visibility of emerging problems. Instead of discovering a delivery issue when an angry customer contacts support, retailers can identify incidents earlier and trigger the appropriate communication.

ZigZag brings carrier data into centralised logistics and incidents dashboards, helping teams monitor delivery performance and investigate exceptions while customer-facing tracking and notifications keep shoppers informed.

If a parcel is delayed, tell the customer.

If the expected delivery date changes, update them.

If their return has arrived, confirm it.

If the refund requires additional processing time, explain what happens next.

A customer may forgive a delay. They're much less likely to forgive being left in the dark.

3. Self-Reliant Browsers: communicate less, but make every message useful

15% of consumers | 20% of online non-food spend

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Self-Reliant Browsers are predominantly Gen Z consumers who are comfortable navigating ecommerce independently.

They don't necessarily need – or want – a retailer constantly checking in.

They prefer light-touch support, useful information and minimal retailer intervention unless something goes wrong.

For these shoppers, excessive communication risks becoming noise.

How should retailers engage Self-Reliant Browsers?

Give them the tools to find information themselves.

A reliable, mobile-friendly, branded order tracking page allows customers to check delivery status whenever they choose without contacting customer services.

Proactive communications can then be concentrated around genuinely useful moments: dispatch confirmation, an important change to the estimated delivery date, a delay, successful delivery, or an issue requiring action.

This creates another opportunity for retailers.

Transactional post-purchase communications tend to attract unusually high engagement because customers have a genuine reason to open them. ZigZag's post-purchase solution can combine branded tracking and multichannel notifications with relevant marketing content, product recommendations, and personalised offers. The platform reports delivery notification open rates of up to 65% and click-through rates of 30%, alongside increases in repeat purchases for retailers using the technology.

The important word, however, is relevant.

A delivery update shouldn't become an excuse to bombard customers with promotions. When communications genuinely help the shopper first, carefully selected recommendations, loyalty messages or incentives can add value rather than friction.

4. Functional Pragmatists: make ecommerce simple and predictable

12% of consumers | 18% of online non-food spend

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Not every customer is looking for an all-singing, all-dancing post-purchase experience.

Functional Pragmatists value clear information, visible progress, and straightforward support without over-engagement.

They want ecommerce to work.

How should retailers engage Functional Pragmatists?

Focus on getting the fundamentals right.

Provide an immediate and clear order confirmation. Send an accurate dispatch notification. Give the customer a realistic delivery window and an easy way to track their parcel. Make the returns policy straightforward to find and understand. If they return something, acknowledge receipt and explain when they can expect their refund.

The same principle applies to customer support.

If a shopper can see exactly where their order is, what has happened and what they need to do next, there is much less reason to contact customer services.

This can make improving the customer experience and reducing operational costs two sides of the same strategy. Better tracking and proactive notifications can reduce avoidable WISMO (Where Is My Order?) enquiries, while digital returns communication can reduce “Where is my refund?” and “Have you received my return?” contacts.

ZigZag connects these interactions from checkout through delivery and returns, creating one post-purchase journey rather than forcing shoppers to navigate disconnected systems.

5. Certainty Planners: clarity starts before checkout

29% of consumers | 13% of online non-food spend

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Certainty Planners are the largest group by population but account for a smaller proportion of online spending.

Typically Baby Boomers, these customers shop online less frequently and place particular importance on knowing exactly what they are agreeing to before they purchase.

For them, a good post-purchase experience actually starts before checkout.

Delivery cost is the strongest pre-purchase information need across consumers, followed by delivery timing and returns policy. Overall, 72% of consumers agree that clear delivery and returns information before checkout makes them more likely to buy online. Among Certainty Planners specifically, that rises to 86%.

How should retailers engage Certainty Planners?

Remove surprises.

Make delivery costs clear. Provide realistic delivery dates. Explain the returns policy. Be transparent about returns fees and available methods. Tell customers when refunds are triggered and approximately how long the process takes.

Then make sure the post-purchase experience delivers against those promises.

This is particularly important for returns. Customers need an easy way to start the process, followed by confirmation that the returned item has been received and information about what happens next.

Clarity isn't just customer service. It can influence conversion before the shopper has even placed their order.

Personalisation shouldn't stop at checkout

The bigger lesson from these five cohorts is that retailers shouldn't interpret personalisation purely as a pre-purchase marketing strategy.

Retailers invest heavily in personalised recommendations, targeted advertising, dynamic website experiences and sophisticated CRM programmes to convince somebody to buy. Then, immediately after checkout, many customers are handed over to a generic carrier tracking page. That is a missed opportunity.

The post-purchase journey generates rich contextual information: what someone bought, where their parcel is, whether it is delayed, whether they returned it, why they returned it, whether they exchanged it, and whether they were satisfied with the experience.

Used intelligently, this information can help retailers decide when to communicate, what to communicate and when not to communicate at all. That is where relevance becomes as important as frequency.

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From delivery tracking to a complete post-purchase experience

Modern post-purchase management goes far beyond sending an email saying an order has shipped.

ZigZag's platform brings together delivery communications and returns management, allowing retailers to support the journey from purchase through delivery, tracking, returns, exchanges, and refunds within a more connected ecosystem.

Retailers can use capabilities including branded tracking pages, multichannel notifications, smart delivery estimates, incident detection, logistics analytics, customer feedback, personalised marketing opportunities and digital returns management.

Behind the customer experience sits a global logistics network spanning 3,000+ carrier lanes across 170+ origin countries, helping retailers connect digital customer experience with the physical movement of parcels.

That connection matters. A tracking page is only useful if the underlying carrier information is accurate. A proactive delay notification relies on detecting the delay. A fast refund relies on knowing where a returned product is. And effective customer support relies on agents having access to the same information the customer has. Connecting those datasets creates the foundation for a genuinely joined-up post-purchase experience platform.

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Better post-purchase experiences can reduce costs as well as build loyalty

Customer experience is only half of the equation.

Poor post-purchase visibility creates operational work.

Every customer who has to ask where their parcel is, whether their return has arrived or when their refund will be processed creates an avoidable customer service interaction. That is why improving ecommerce tracking and returns management can have an impact far beyond customer satisfaction.

ZigZag's post-purchase offering is designed to centralise carrier data, surface incidents earlier and provide customers with more information without requiring an agent to intervene. ZigZag reports outcomes across customers including reductions in WISMO enquiries and customer service tickets, alongside improvements in satisfaction and repeat purchasing.

Better communication isn't simply about sending more emails. It's about using data to prevent uncertainty becoming a customer service problem in the first place.

Build for behaviours, not stereotypes

The five cohorts aren't hard-and-fast rules, and retailers shouldn't create rigid customer journeys based solely on somebody's age or generation.

A Millennial can be a Certainty Planner. A Baby Boomer can be a Convenience Maximiser. And the same person's expectations can change dramatically according to what they're buying.

Someone ordering a £15 T-shirt may be happy with a dispatch email and delivery confirmation. The same customer buying a £1,500 laptop may suddenly check their tracking page five times a day.

Context matters. ZigZag's research found that shoppers want more detailed communication when the stakes increase – particularly for expensive purchases, delayed or missing deliveries, damaged products, and unresolved refunds.

That means the future of ecommerce post-purchase communication isn't simply segmentation. It's adaptive communication.

Retailers need the underlying data and technology to recognise what is happening and adjust the experience accordingly.

After checkout is where the next purchase begins

Retailers have traditionally concentrated their optimisation efforts on everything leading up to the buy button: acquisition, website experience, product discovery and checkout conversion.

But the first purchase isn't the end of the customer journey. It's the beginning of the next one.

When 62% of shoppers say a poor delivery experience could stop them shopping with a retailer again, and 64% say the same about returns, what happens after checkout has a direct relationship with whether that customer comes back.

The retailers best positioned to build loyalty will therefore be those capable of adapting to different customers and different circumstances – providing reassurance when reassurance is needed, convenience when time matters, clarity when uncertainty exists and silence when everything is going exactly to plan.

Because the best post-purchase experience isn't the one that communicates the most.

It's the one that understands what the customer needs next.

Discover how ZigZag connects delivery tracking, customer communications and returns management to create one end-to-end post-purchase experience.

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