Three steps
- Segments. Split every order by what was bought. By contents rather than by amount.
- What gets bought on top. For each segment, find the product or service that most often comes as the second purchase.
- The window. Calculate the median time between the first purchase and the second.
How to build the call list
- Take the customers whose window falls in the next two or three weeks.
- Exclude test orders and internal records.
- Exclude anybody who complained or returned goods: they need a different conversation.
- Sort by the value of the first purchase: start with whoever paid more.
- Split into groups by what you will be offering.
On a furniture project we broke down two and a half thousand orders and got thirteen segments. The repeat-purchase window turned out to be about a month and a half, and the main product for a second purchase was not furniture but the accessories around it.
The conversation script
- open with what the person already bought, specifically
- ask how they are using it and what they are unhappy with
- offer what genuinely fits their purchase
- quote the price straight away
- agree a specific deadline
A «just checking how things are» conversation does not work: it makes the customer find their own reason to buy.
What to measure
- conversion on the call list
- average deal size of a repeat purchase against the first one
- the share of monthly revenue from repeat purchases