Why repeat customers are important
In the land of eCommerce, repeat customers are vital — but why? Firstly, as the name suggests, repeat customers return to your store to make multiple purchases. These customers in turn have a higher Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and ensure cash flow throughout the year (not just in sales seasons).
According to a Customer Retention report by Metrilo, the average repeat purchase rate for eCommerce brands is 28.2%. It’s worth noting that this benchmark varies per industry. Here’s how to calculate repeat customer rate for your store: Repeat customer rate = repeat buyers number / total of buyers.
Brands who have a solid repeat customer rate are able to build a good reputation for themselves. New customers are likely to avoid buying from a business that has no repeat customers (or no customers to endorse their products).
Acquisition vs Retention
We’re all familiar with the spiel — it costs 5x more to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing ones. Furthermore, 60% of all of your sales will come from your existing customers. To calculate revenue from returning customers, use the calculation: RRC = (revenue from repeat purchases / total revenue) * 100.
Focusing a decent portion of your marketing efforts on customer retention will pay off tenfold. With email and SMS automation, as well as onsite Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), your ROI will significantly increase over time. 
Increasing Repeat Purchase Through Klaviyo Email and SMS Automations
With strategic email and SMS strategies, your automations will reach your customers at the right time in their journey with your brand. Unlike campaigns that take up time and resources to produce on a regular basis, once they're live, email and SMS automations continue to make money in the background. With all of your customer data in one place, Klaviyo offers a smart solution for eCommerce brands to nurture their customers.
Automated messages have a bigger opportunity to be personalised to the customer. Here’s a few examples:
- Leave something in your cart? —> Get a cart reminder at the right time.
- Created a positive text-only review? —> Get a thank you and reminder to add a photo.
- Made your 5th purchase over all time? —> Get an email from the founder expressing gratitude.
By nurturing your customers from the moment they sign up to your newsletter list, make their first purchase, to the time they return to browse your site, you increase the opportunity for repeat purchase.
Offering relevant product recommendations, targeted content and personalised information can all be done through Klaviyo forms and automations, as well as campaigns. By requesting information from customers throughout their journey (as opposed to all at once), customers are more likely to engage.
Maximising Klaviyo’s Predictive Analytics
Klaviyo’s predictive analytics helps eCommerce merchants to better understand their customers via a series of metrics, including:
- Predicted date of next order
- Average time between orders
- Churn risk prediction
- Average order value (AOV)
Rather than guessing when a customer might be due to place an order, Klaviyo’s Expected Date of Next Order metric looks at the customer’s past orders and purchasing behaviour, and compares it to that of all of your other customers.
This flow can be used as an extension to your Post Purchase strategy (not in replacement of) and will need to be tailored based on your product offering. For example, eCommerce stores that offer replenishable products should consider the individual product’s average lifespan.
“By leveraging customer behaviour data with Klaviyo’s predictive analytics, businesses can tailor their marketing efforts to individual preferences, anticipate customer needs, and nurture lasting connections. This inevitably drives repeat purchases, fostering a cycle of loyalty and sustained revenue.” Robert Gibson, Manager, APAC Partnerships
Want more repeat customers for your brand?
The team at REP. are ready to chat. We specialise in email and SMS marketing with Klaviyo to give customers a personalised experience with your brand that keeps them coming back. From strategy and creative, through to implementation, we take care of everything. We consider your tech stack as a whole, so each touchpoint is not only relevant, but takes their experience a step further and creates a long-lasting impression.
If you’re ready to get more repeat customers for your eCommerce store, you can contact us at hello@wearerep.com to get started.