Gaining and keeping customer loyalty remains a key goal for most firms. In general, loyal shoppers contribute to both higher revenues and higher profit. In today’s post, we examine the value of shoppers second purchases. Why? If we get customers to return at least once, chances increase for turning them into loyal shoppers.

First, consider these posts:

• Better Retaining Customers
• Consistency Makes Good Customer Experiences Better
• Getting Loyal Customers and Turning Them into Advocates
• Post-Purchase Communication Is a BIG DEAL

Understanding the Value of Shoppers SECOND Purchases

As Jacqueline Renfrow reports for FierceRetail:

“In general, firms know that a second purchase usually results in increasing a customer’s lifetime value. Still, some firms never get past the first purchase by providing follow-up communication. Many shoppers miss that follow-up contact. To learn more, marketing firm Bluecore examined post-purchase messaging to customers. 80% of respondents comprised first-time buyers. And they patronized 16 apparel firms. The findings: Second-time buyers become 130% more valuable. Also, customer value does continue to grow with each purchase. BUT the biggest jump in value happens between the first and second purchases.”

“In fact, many second transactions, about 60%, occur within 100 days of the first purchase. After that 100 days, the chances of a second purchase drop below 10%. But the research shows that even covering just 5% of these 80,000 one-time buyers could lead to $550,000 more in revenue over the next two years.”

Therefore, more firms need to focus on driving second customer purchases. They must be aggressive in doing so.

Click the image to read Renfrow’s full article for FierceRetail. How would YOU drive greater second purchases from first-time customers?

“Marketers should focus on repeat buyers, not acquisitions.” (iStock/Rawpixel-Ltd)