Changing an ecommerce lead right into a first-time purchaser is a giant deal.
Instantly, they’re now not simply one other title in your advertising and marketing listing: they’re a paying buyer.
Which suggests they’re properly on the best way to changing into a loyal repeat purchaser. And, as everyone knows, loyal clients spend extra, follow you after unfavorable experiences, and usually tend to advocate you to family and friends.
Whoa—let’s pump the brakes for a minute.
Certain, some first-timers will flip into high-value repeat clients. However tons extra will buy as soon as, then slip away like Homer Simpson backing right into a hedge.
That’s why, on this article, I’m going to share a few of Drip’s tried-and-trusted customer-first methods for remodeling informal buyers into repeat consumers.
Who Are “Informal Buyers”?
After we speak about “informal buyers”, we’re particularly referring to individuals who’ve signed as much as your e-mail listing and positioned precisely one lifetime order.
They may go on to make a bunch extra purchases. Or this would possibly develop into a one-and-done relationship.
Sadly, most clients fall into that second bucket, with analysis displaying there’s solely a 27 % likelihood a buyer will purchase once more after putting their first order.
However, as that chart demonstrates, the chance of shopping for once more will increase considerably with every order a buyer locations.
So should you can compel extra first-timers to make a second buy, you possibly can count on a giant uptick in your buyer lifetime worth.
4 Methods for Partaking & Changing Informal Buyers
Any variety of exterior elements would possibly cease an off-the-cuff shopper from shopping for once more. However you’ve received a greater likelihood of driving repeat purchases should you make use of these customer-first methods and workflows…
Technique #1: Get to Know Casuals Higher
The most important barrier to your probabilities of re-converting informal buyers is that you just don’t know them properly sufficient but.
However you possibly can change that.
Which is exactly the goal of this repeat buy technique:
1. Construct an Onsite Quiz
Need to know the easiest way to seek out out what your clients love? Ask them.
Notice: You’ll be concentrating on everybody along with your onsite quiz, not simply casuals. However that’s hardly an issue; what model doesn’t wish to know extra about their clients?
Now we’ve cleared that up, let’s check out this technique in motion, courtesy of pure skincare model Three Ships.
Their quiz asks a bunch of questions on your magnificence regime and preferences, out of your pores and skin kind and skincare objectives to the kinds of merchandise you’re occupied with and the values and causes you help.
All of which implies that when Three Ships reaches out to informal buyers, it’s not making an attempt to shut the deal from scratch. As a substitute, it’s showcasing a bunch of merchandise and presents that completely align with the shopping for behaviors of particular person clients.
2. Share Outcomes By means of E-mail
Having gathered all that information, Three Ships follows up by sharing the outcomes through e-mail:
Certain, this e-mail incorporates a bunch of merchandise, which ordinarily wouldn’t be tremendous participating. However as a result of they’re positioned as a part of a personalised skincare routine, it feels such as you’re receiving one thing invaluable, not simply one other laborious promote.
It’s virtually such as you’re a Hollywood star being given a routine that’s completely tailor-made to your wants forward of your subsequent main position.
Or a minimum of that’s how I wish to think about it.
Whether or not or not you agree, it’s unattainable to disclaim that clients love this sort of bespoke messaging. Certainly, virtually three-fifths of customers say they’re extra more likely to change into repeat consumers after a customized purchasing expertise with a retailer.

3. Run an Onsite Marketing campaign Selling Related Merchandise
Certain, e-mail advertising and marketing is nice.
However you additionally want to succeed in informal buyers past the inbox.
Meaning hitting them with focused popups, sidebars, and slide-ins displaying related product suggestions, based mostly on the outcomes of your onsite quiz.
Once more, Three Ships will get it proper right here:
And have you ever observed that, as much as this stage, we haven’t even hinted at providing the client a reduction?
There’s a transparent lesson right here: should you take the time to really perceive informal buyers, you stand a much better likelihood of driving that all-important second buy.
4. Share a Low cost Code
If, in spite of everything these focused product suggestions, you nonetheless haven’t closed the deal, it’s time to step issues up by providing a reduction code.
However not simply any outdated low cost; give your informal shopper the prospect to economize on the kinds of merchandise they highlighted throughout your onsite quiz.
Once more, Three Ships nailed it:
We informed them we <3 oil serums, so hey presto, they conjured up a 20 % low cost on that particular product class. When advertising and marketing is that this personalised, it actually doesn’t really feel like promoting in any respect.
Technique #2: Construct Out Your Content material Calendar
Not all methods contain workflows.
Whereas these advanced, multi-stage methods usually get all of the glory, you possibly can get pleasure from simply as a lot success with a single e-mail or popup—supplied you get the messaging proper.
This method is all about considering past the “basic” advertising and marketing emails you already ship and constructing a content material calendar designed to entice, convert, and delight informal buyers.
In fact, the right method will fluctuate from one model to the subsequent, but it surely ought to mix some or all of those components:
| Onsite | ||
| Entice | Engagement emails: drive folks to your website by selling a quiz, weblog submit, recipe, and so forth Referral emails: promote your social channels and referral program | Promote guides Share product info Run a quiz Provide downloadable content material |
| Convert | Gross sales emails: inform informal buyers your new sale has begun Seasonal emails: tailor-made to occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mom’s Day, Black Friday, and so forth. Promotional emails: spotlight a selected product or class | Promote your sale Run embedded “store the look”-style promotions Promote particular merchandise or classes |
| Delight | Curation emails: share fashionable content material Model-building emails: share your values, model story, and behind-the-scenes content material | Spotlight your worth proposition Promote customer support Run exit-intent surveys |
Generally, goal to ship X entice, X convert, and X delight emails per 30 days to offer your messaging the most effective likelihood of hitting dwelling with informal buyers.
Technique #3: Nail Your Publish-First-Buy Campaigns
What’s the most effective likelihood to promote to informal buyers? Proper after they’ve positioned their first order.
At that time, they’re already within the shopping for temper, and your model feels shiny, new, and thrilling. Don’t give these coronary heart eyes an opportunity to fade—strike whereas the iron’s sizzling with this killer post-first-purchase technique:
1. Ship Publish-First-Buy Emails
To be clear, after we say “post-first-purchase emails”, we’re not speaking about transactional emails like order confirmations and delivery updates.
These are a minimal expectation. On prime of that, you additionally want a devoted post-first-purchase workflow incorporating 4 important components:
Let’s see these steps in motion courtesy of flower and plant supply firm Bloom & Wild.
Following your first buy, they share a heartfelt thanks message that additionally asks should you’d be form sufficient to assessment your order:
Identical to that, they’ve ticked off the primary two components of an ideal post-first-purchase workflow.
As soon as the supply has been made, they comply with up with a short rationalization of tips on how to take care of your flowers, plus a hyperlink to an in-depth plant care information on their web site:
Having obtained your stunning floral association, you could be occupied with sharing the love along with your nearest and dearest.
To that finish, the ultimate step in Bloom & Wild’s post-first-purchase sequence features a low cost code encouraging you to splurge on presents:
From begin to end, this feels much less like a gross sales sequence, and extra like a model genuinely wanting clients to get probably the most from their purchases.
That’s the way you flip informal buyers into repeat consumers.
2. Add a Low cost Code To Your Receipt Web page
Every week could be a very long time in politics, but it surely’s an eternity within the fast-paced world of ecommerce.
As soon as a buyer leaves your website after making their first buy, there’s an excellent likelihood they received’t take into consideration you once more till their order arrives. They may by no means come again.
So get them occupied with their subsequent buy by together with a reduction code in your receipt web page, similar to Bloom & Wild does:
Professional tip: For a extra seamless buyer expertise, share the identical low cost code in your post-first-purchase e-mail workflow.
Technique #4: Say “Goodbye”
Prefer it or not, some clients are destined to purchase as soon as and by no means once more.
Possibly they didn’t like your product. Possibly your model simply didn’t resonate with them. Or perhaps that they had a really particular itch—and now you’ve helped them scratch it, they’ve moved on.
Both manner, they’ve gone, and it seems to be like they’re not coming again.
Retaining these checked-out clients subscribed to your e-mail listing isn’t doing anybody any good, so it’s time to make one final Hail Mary try and re-engage them.
And if that doesn’t work, bid them adieu.
1. Construct a Sundown Workflow
A sundown workflow is about beginning the painful technique of breaking apart with an off-the-cuff shopper, whereas extending an olive department which may—perhaps, hopefully—coax them again to your retailer. It is available in two components:
- An “Is that this actually it?” e-mail
- The emotional last goodbye
Once more, let’s see how this seems to be IRL, this time courtesy of the nice of us at Black Journey Field.
For step one of their workflow, they’re completely upfront, stating that the client hasn’t been participating with their emails and asking “what offers?”.
As you’ll have realized, their use of a suggestions survey neatly hyperlinks this workflow to our first technique about attending to know your informal buyers. In the event that they reply, downside solved: you possibly can loop them into a complete different workflow and begin sharing personalised product suggestions.
But when the recipient doesn’t have interaction, Black Journey Field follows up with this goodbye e-mail:
For my cash, they strike precisely the appropriate tone right here.
Slightly than making an attempt to make informal buyers really feel dangerous for not studying their emails, they attempt to half on good phrases—whereas providing the client one last likelihood to remain subscribed.
If solely each breakup was this amicable!
2. Unsubscribe & Deactivate Lapsed Accounts
When a buyer completes your sundown workflow with out participating in any manner, form, or type, there’s just one factor for it: take away them out of your advertising and marketing listing and deactivate their account.
Don’t really feel too dangerous.
Certain, it’s a disgrace they by no means grew to become a repeat buyer. However on the flip aspect, they had been spoiling your engagement metrics by by no means opening your emails. And if you find yourself with a bunch of lapsed clients in your e-mail listing, you would possibly even run into deliverability issues.
Truthfully, you’re higher off with out them.
Create Buyer-First Methods With Drip
By this level, it’s in all probability clear you could solely implement these customer-first informal shopper methods with a little bit assist out of your advertising and marketing automation platform.
Particularly, you want a platform able to figuring out and segmenting casuals, then concentrating on them with stunning, on-brand emails and onsite campaigns.
Briefly, you want a software like Drip.
Check-drive our confirmed ecommerce workflows by signing up to your free 14-day trial as we speak!

