What is an Exit Strategy?
An exit strategy is when a site provides an alternative purchase to an online customer who just bought a product or service from the site. The product could be related to the purchase the customer made, but it is not a necessity that the exit strategy be related to the product sold.
Let’s say a site is selling software online and a customer just bought a web design software package. The next obvious need that the customer might have is software to design unique images, or site templates to utilize in his designs.
Where the exit strategy comes into play, after the web design software is purchased on the site, is to provide the purchaser with links to additional software that might be needed to compliment the package sold.
The customer would otherwise have searched for additional software in the future when needed. In this case, the exit strategy is related to the product.
The exit strategy does not necessarily have to be related to the product sold. You could even provide links to sites to solve PC problems or Web Hosting after the purchase was made.
The main purpose of providing an exit strategy is to direct the online customer who would otherwise have just left the site after making the purchase.
In extreme cases online giants like Amazon.com, use exit strategies to give online purchasers alternative options to buy from competitors if the customer doesn’t want to purchase an item from their site.
Providing an exit strategy to online customers, adds value to their online shopping experience. It is also a means for the site to earn extra commission by means of sale referrals, from online customers who would otherwise have hit a roadblock in terms of post sale direction from the site.
