Being completely transparent with you, the first purchase is the expensive one. You've paid Meta, you've paid for the creative, you've paid for the discount. The money's made on what happens next.
Get someone to buy twice and they tend to become a regular. That's the hinge. Everything in your post-purchase setup should be built around getting that second order.
what "good" looks like
- Around 20% repeat purchase rate once new flows are in is decent.
- About 30% is what we aim for once flows and campaigns are properly dialled in.
- Give it a full quarter before you judge retention. Second purchases can take around three months to land, so judging it after three weeks tells you nothing.
how we go after it
Keep the order emails clean. Order confirmation, shipped, delivered: plain, no cross-sells, no upsells. That way they count as transactional and land in the main inbox, not promotions. The upsell work happens in a separate post-purchase flow once the transaction's cleared.
Split the journey by what they bought. Someone who's just committed to a subscription needs a different welcome to the club than someone who bought once. We'll often run three onboarding emails for subscribers and one for one-off buyers.
Look after the top end. The top 5% or so of purchasers typically drive the bulk of revenue. VIPs and repeat buyers get treated like VIPs. Everyone else gets quick, easy cross-sell wins.
Teach, don't just discount. Some of our biggest jumps in order value have come from swapping a discount email for an education email: how the product's made, why it's premium, how to get the most out of it. We barely look at discounting outside big sale events now.
"Die-hard fans, not discount hunters. That's the whole game."
Founder, Smiles Consulting