Ever wondered how some mall stores manage to stay in business and cover high rent, even with just a handful of customers? The answer often lies in the infamous 80/20 rule. You’ve probably heard it before: 80% of your profits come from just 20% of your customers. In other words, most of their revenue comes from a small group of loyal customers who keep coming back and making repeat purchases. Whenever a person comes back to your store for more than 1x, they can be categorized as a repeat customer. This guide will help you understand what repeat purchases are all about and five foolproof ways to increase your repeat purchases and maximize your store’s ROI. 

Understanding Repeat Purchases 

A repeat purchase happens when a customer returns to your store to buy again after their first purchase. These customers are often your most loyal ones. For example, Mofu visits your jewelry store and buys a necklace. Happy with his purchase, he comes back three days later to buy a bracelet. That makes Mofu a repeat customer!

Why Repeat Purchases Matter 

The benefits of having customers who did repeat purchases are dramatic. Let’s learn why: 

Lower cost retention vs. acquisition 

The efforts of having to market a new product can be seen as below: 

• You need ads, promotions, or special campaigns to grab their attention.
• You need to provide discount or promotion to hook them to your store 
• You need to create new content to educate your customers about your products

… and many more. On the other hand, these are the efforts done to maintain your current customers: 

• Sending an email reminder
• Offering a discount
• Running a loyalty program to encourage them to shop again

It’s clear that this whole marketing process of acquiring new customers takes time and money compared to maintaining your customers. Since your current customers already know and trust you, it’s easy to get them to shop again.

Higher customer lifetime value (CLV) 

Figuring out CLV helps you see how much each customer is worth to your business over time. It’s a key eCommerce metric because it tells you how much you can spend to attract new customers and what’s worth investing in keeping them around. With this insight, you can make smarter decisions and grow your business the right way. But ultimately, it all boils down to trust. The more customers spend at your store, the more they trust you. Therefore, in order to have a higher CLV, it’s important to first gain your customers' trust. As your loyal customers tend to return back to your store, this signals that they have high trust in your store, therefore contributing to your CLV. 

Below is a chart reflecting the CLV level by industry. We can learn that stores that are in the home and garden industry tend to have the highest CLV. Although books and literature have the lowest CLV, this problem can be addressed by having a subscription based service or loyalty program.

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Word of mouth marketing

A traditional yet all time foolproof form of marketing is the word of mouth strategy. Before purchasing a product, customers tend to ask their close friends or family for advice. This is because humans tend to trust the opinions of people they value. Personal recommendation felt more authentic compared to advertisement. There are many ways to do word of mouth marketing: 

• Using an influencer to promote your product
• Tagging your brand on social media, or UGC
• Creating an excitement or buzz around your product
• Referring new customers to your brand

Your repeat customers have a big potential on becoming your store’s advocate. This translates to word of mouth marketing! Since your repeat customers keep on coming back to your store, it’s a sign that they have trusted your store. Hence, they are more likely to recommend your store to their friends or family. When this happens, it creates a cycle of referrals and new customers. 

Action Tip: Ensure every purchase meets or exceeds expectations to turn customers into advocates.

Proven Strategies to Drive Repeat Purchases to Your Store

Make Their Shopping Experience Personal with Akohub’s Retargeting Feature

We all love the feeling of being understood, and so do our customers. One way of making them feel understood is by showing them products they might like. Have you ever shopped online and seen products suggested just for you? Maybe it was based on something you recently bought or looked at. That’s how retargeting works! 

Merchants can  use data from their past purchases or browsing history to recommend similar or complementary products. For example, if someone buys a pair of running shoes, suggest socks, workout gear, or a fitness tracker. Then, they can send an email with text like, “We thought you’d like these!” grabs attention. To sweeten the deal merchants can pair their recommendations with a discount. For instance, “Get 20% off these items we picked for you!” 

Let’s learn from the best - Adidas. They understand well on how to reconnect with potential customers who didn’t complete their purchase. Their retargeting ads  are a great example of how to bring people back to your store. What sets them apart is the mix of humor and relatability to their messaging. Most importantly, we can learn that they provide a clear and actionable CTA 

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Retargeting feels personal when done right, like Adidas’ example. As long as the messaging addresses your customers pain point (showing the exact product they viewed), it shows that your brand pays attention, building trust and loyalty over time.

You don’t need to be a global brand like Adidas to benefit from retargeting. Tools like Akohub’s Retargeting feature can help you reach customers who showed interest in your products but didn’t buy.

Keep Your Customers Engaged with Notify Me 

We understand that keeping your customers happy and coming back is key to growing your business. But what happens when the product they want is out of stock? To address this issue, you can use Notify Me! When a customer visits your store and sees an out of stock item, they don’t have to leave disappointed because they can sign up for an alert. As soon as the product is restocked, they’ll get an email or SMS to let them know. Here’s an example on how it looks like: 

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Back in stock notifications work differently than flashy ads cause you’re not bombarding them with advertisements. Instead, you’re showing up like, “Hey, remember that thing you loved? It’s here again.” It’s personal, thoughtful, and effective. Most importantly, merchants who integrate a back in stock notification means that they are engaging with their customers proactively, which a lot of other merchants lack. Apps like Notify Me! Can help you to send auto restock alerts via email/text/push notifications. Additionally, you get to create a sense of urgency by showing the stock level too. 

Conclusion 

Keeping customers engaged, especially repeat purchases, doesn’t have to be hard. With the right tools, you can create a great shopping experience that makes them want to come back. For example, merchants can use Akohub Retargeting feature to win back lost customers and Notify Me! to re-engage with them when products are back in stock. 

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