Why repeat buyers matter
A friend who comes back to your lemonade stand every Saturday is worth more than one stranger who stops once. Being kind and helpful is how you get friends to come back.
- A repeat buyer already trusts you, so you don't have to pay again to find them.
- Repeat purchase rate = customers who bought more than once ÷ all customers × 100.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) grows when people buy again (see course 3.1 for the formula).
- Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company (who later created the Net Promoter Score, Lesson 4) wrote in 2001 that "small increases in customer retention soon translate into big boosts to profits."
- Example of a company built around service: Amazon's first leadership principle is Customer Obsession, which says leaders start with the customer and work backwards.
- Open your sales list or order history.
- Count how many customers there are in total.
- Count how many bought more than once.
- Divide repeat buyers by total customers and multiply by 100. That is your repeat purchase rate.
- Write one sentence about why the repeat buyers came back.
- Check: you have one number you can compare next month.
Read the video script
[Host] "Most small businesses chase new customers and forget the ones they already have."
[Text on screen: Repeat purchase rate = repeat buyers ÷ all buyers] "Here's the number to watch: how many customers come back."
[Host] "Amazon's very first leadership principle is customer obsession: start with the customer and work backwards."
[Text on screen: Keep the ones you have] "Great service is marketing you don't have to pay for twice."
Count your customers from the last 3 months (or imagine 20). How many bought more than once? Calculate your repeat purchase rate.
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I'm learning "Customer Service That Brings Repeat Buyers" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Why repeat buyers matter". What the lesson teaches: - A repeat buyer already trusts you, so you don't have to pay again to find them. - Repeat purchase rate = customers who bought more than once ÷ all customers × 100. - Customer lifetime value (CLV) grows when people buy again (see course 3.1 for the formula). - Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company (who later created the Net Promoter Score, Lesson 4) wrote in 2001 that "small increases in customer retention soon translate into big boosts to profits." - Example of a company built around service: Amazon's first leadership principle is Customer Obsession, which says leaders start with the customer and work backwards. The exercise I'm working on: Count your customers from the last 3 months (or imagine 20). How many bought more than once? Calculate your repeat purchase rate. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Why repeat buyers matter" from the course "Customer Service That Brings Repeat Buyers". Here's what the lesson says: A friend who comes back to your lemonade stand every Saturday is worth more than one stranger who stops once. Being kind and helpful is how you get friends to come back. The activity: Count your customers from the last 3 months (or imagine 20). How many bought more than once? Calculate your repeat purchase rate. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- Bain & Company, Reichheld, "Prescription for cutting costs" (2001): www.bain.com/insights/prescription-for-cutting-costs-bain-brief/
- Amazon, Leadership Principles: www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles
Fast, clear, kind replies
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Fixing problems (service recovery)
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Measuring happiness with NPS
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Reviews, follow-ups and bringing people back
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Final project
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Quiz
How do you calculate repeat purchase rate?
Customers who bought more than once ÷ all customers × 100.
What three things do customers judge in every reply?
Speed, clarity and tone.
What does LAST stand for?
Listen, Apologize, Solve, Thank.
Which NPS scores count as promoters?
9 and 10.
40% promoters, 25% detractors: what's the NPS?
15.
Can you use a customer's testimonial in an ad without asking?
No; use testimonials only with permission and without distorting them.
Under most anti-spam and privacy rules, what must a promotional follow-up email include?
Identification of the sender and a working unsubscribe (and you generally need consent).
Final exam
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Certificate
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