Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation helps stores thank customers for their support and build lasting relationships. It allows you to send offers, discount coupons, or product suggestions to encourage repeat purchases, automatically turning customers into loyal clients and boosting sales.
Requirements to Activate Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation
Before running this automation, you must:
Install the e-commerce platform application.
Set up a WhatsApp message template specifically for Post-Purchase Re-targeting usage.
How to Set Up Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation
Follow these steps to activate the automation:
Click on the Automations icon and select Post-Purchase automation.
Set Up Discount Coupon: Click on the discount code banner, design your coupon, and then click Save and Continue. You can use a fixed discount code or skip this stage if you do not want to use any coupons.
Send Template Message: Click the plus (+) sign, choose the delay duration (from 1 day up to 14 days from the last order date), and select the appropriate template and click Save. You can add a second stage if needed.
Click Turn On Automation
Note: Except for the waiting period (delay) which can reach up to 14 days after the last order, the automated re-targeting campaign contains no other filters.
How Smart Sending Feature works with the Post-Purchase Automation
The Smart Sending feature in BusinessChat helps manage your customer communications by excluding certain customers from receiving multiple messages or being part of multiple automations within a short period.
Key Features
Once enabled the smart sending will:
Exclude customers who received a campaign in the last 5 days
Exclude customers who were part of automation in the last 5 days
Exclude customers who created an order in the last 5 days
For Post-Purchase automations, Smart Sending ensures that your "Thank You" notes or cross-sell offers are only sent to customers who haven't been bombarded with other marketing messages.
Default Status: Disabled by Default and Optional, meaning you can activate it if you want.
How it works: This automation is typically used for upsells immediately after a sale. Smart Sending is off by default to ensure these messages are delivered. You can enable it if you want to avoid sending upsells to customers who have already been targeted by other recent marketing campaigns.
You can activate Smart sending when you launch the post purchase automation by enabling the feature before publishing:
Automation statuses
When launching an automation for the first time, it will be in one of the following states:
Draft: The campaign is currently being created. You can edit, delete, or activate it.
Pending: (Common upon first launch) This appears if the campaign is launched while WhatsApp templates are still under review by Meta. The status will automatically switch to Active once the templates are approved.
Active: The campaign is currently running and accepting customers who meet the trigger conditions.
Paused: New customer entry is stopped. However, existing customers remain pending at their current step until you reactivate the campaign.
Disabled: The campaign is completely stopped, and all active customers are removed from the flow. You can find these under the "Inactive" tab.
💡 Tip
Automation with pending templates will be set to pending status. Once all templates are approved, we will set the automation to live, and you will receive an email.
How to Edit Post-Purchase upsell Automation
You can edit the Post-Purchase upsell Automation after creating it. The following information can be changed:
Message Template: To change the suggested products or the message text or the fixed coupon code. Remember that you must create a new message template first before you start editing.
Custom Discount Code Value: You can edit this directly by clicking the code button inside the automation and saving the changes.
Filters: The Post-Purchase upsell Automation does not contain any filters except for the delay duration; therefore, no filter changes can be made.
To make any changes to the Post-Purchase upsell Automation, follow these steps:
Click on the Automations icon from the homepage of your BusinessChat account.
Click on the Post-Purchase upsell Automation you want to edit.
From the page that opens, click "Edit".
To change the message template or delay duration: Click "Edit" to replace the current template with the new one, change the time to send the message if you want and then click "Save".
After finishing, click "Publish Changes".
Important Note: Customers who entered the automation before the changes were published will receive the old message, and the previous conditions will apply to them.
Post-Purchase upsell Automation Statistics
Once this automation is running, you can monitor its statistics from the automation page. The statistics consist of the following:
Started: We received a notification that the customer completed the order from the e-commerce platform, and the customer had not unsubscribed from your business messages.
Exited: The customer unsubscribed from your business messages during the automation, OR the customer started a new Abandoned Cart automation (which takes priority), OR the customer made a new purchase during the automation that was not attributed to this campaign.
Purchased: The customer made a new purchase during the automation run, and the purchase was attributed to this campaign.
Completed: The customer completed the automation up to the last message, OR the customer made a purchase, and that purchase was attributed to this campaign.
Note: You can Export the Report to identify customers who completed an order from this campaign, customers who did not receive the campaign message for various reasons, etc. You will receive an email containing the campaign report.
How to Export the Post-purchase Upsell Revenue Report
Go to the Automations page and click the post-purchase automation
Click Export from the top of the page to download the detailed report. Choose the time period and click "Export report" again.
You will receive the report via email.
Report Contents
The exported report includes:
Contact numbers associated with the automation.
Order dates.
Order amounts in USD.
Troubleshooting Orders and Revenue Attribution
Compare the contact numbers in the report with your e-commerce store orders.
Identify which orders resulted from your BusinessChat campaigns.
Use this information to verify revenue attribution and optimize your automations.
Using Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation to Request Product and Store Reviews
While BusinessChat does not provide a dedicated automation for requesting store or product reviews, Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation can be used for this purpose.
You can prepare a custom template for requesting a review and add it to a new re-targeting automation.
You can control the timing of the request, as this automation allows specifying a delay from 1 day up to 14 days from the order date.
Link Control: Post-Purchase Re-targeting Automation enables you to control the link you send customers to leave reviews; you can specify the store link or a custom link if you have a dedicated review page, for example.
Limitation: You will not be able to add a dynamic link for each customer leading to their specific order through this automation.
In a second stage, you can add a message to offer a discount on the next order as a reward or to thank customers who engaged with the product or store review request.
Troubleshooting Post-Purchase Automation
If you suspect the automation is failing, follow this diagnostic guide based on its current status.
Scenario 1: The Automation is Paused
If you navigate to the automation and see it is currently Paused, the issue is usually system-wide:
Ecommerce Connection: Check if your store integration has been disconnected or if the token has expired.
Payment Issues: Look for a red banner at the top of your dashboard indicating a "Payment problem" with Meta. If your payment method fails, Meta pauses all automations immediately.
Scenario 2: The Automation is Active (Messages Not Sending)
If the automation status is Active but customers are not receiving messages, follow these steps to diagnose the specific cause:
1. Check the Template Status
Inspect the specific WhatsApp template used in this automation. Even if the automation is active, the template itself might have been Paused or Disabled by Meta due to quality issues. If there is an alert on the template, you must replace it.
2. Investigate Specific Examples
If the template is healthy, gather 3 examples of customers who did not receive the message and perform the following checks:
Search the Conversation:
Locate the customer's chat in your inbox. You will need to search for the contact using their phone number, from the search box within the Contact page, click it to be redirected to ther conversation on the inbox. You cannot search for customers directly from the inbox.
If the message exists but has a Red Exclamation Mark (!): The system attempted to send it, but Meta rejected it. Hover over the red icon to see the specific error code (e.g., invalid number, spam limit).
If the message is missing entirely: Proceed to the next step.
Search Automation Execution Logs:
Important: This step uses the specific Automation Log Search tool, which is separate from your general contact list search feature. Its only purpose is to show technical history. It will not redirect you to the customer's conversation or open their profile.
If there is no trace of the message in the conversation, verify if the customer entered the automation flow at all, following these steps:
Go to the Automated Campaigns page.
Click the More button.
Select Search for a customer.
Paste the customer's phone number, then press Enter. You will see the customer's journey and interaction with all the automation that the customer was part of. (bulk campaigns are excluded from this)
Locate the Post-Purchase automation in the list.
Check the status: You will likely see an Exit Reason explaining why the flow stopped for this customer.
NOTE regarding Entry Failures: If the customer does not appear in the search results at all, it means they never triggered the automation.
For Post-Purchase automation, this typically happens for 1 reason:Order Status: The order status on your e-commerce platform was not updated to "Completed". The automation only triggers when the status explicitly changes to "Completed".
3. Contact Support
If you have verified that the order status is "Completed" and the template is active, but you still cannot find any record of the customer in the automation logs, please contact the BusinessChat Technical Support team for advanced investigation.