How many customers come back, and what to do about the ones who don't
Knows how to calculate what share of customers come back for another purchase or appointment, sets the number of weeks without a visit after which someone counts as lost, and sets up a standing check to see who crosses that line, along with the message meant to win them back.
You're billing less this quarter, and you don't know if it's because new customers aren't showing up or because your regulars have stopped coming back. You check the schedule on an ordinary Tuesday and it looks thinner than it did six months ago, but that's not data, that's a hunch. Without a real number for how many customers repeat and how often, any decision you make about pricing, promotions, or messaging is a shot in the dark.
By the end of this, you'll have your own rule for what counts as a customer coming back, then the real repeat rate calculated from your own numbers, and the average time between visits for each service. With those three numbers, you'll set the exact week when a customer goes from late to lost, put a standing check on your calendar to see who's crossed that line, set up the automatic email to the customer if your tool has that, and write the message meant to win them back.
This is for anyone who already has a few months of appointments or sales written down somewhere, even if it's just a paper planner or a spreadsheet; it's not for someone who just opened and doesn't have a single repeat customer yet.
- Write, in one sentence, your own rule for what counts as a customer coming back
- Calculate the percentage of customers who repeat over a specific period, using your own data
- Set, in weeks, the point where a customer goes from late to lost, and a standing check to see who's crossed it
- Write a different win-back message depending on whether the customer buys on price or on trust
It helps to have on hand your list of appointments or sales from the last few months, with dates and who bought.
The 6 lessons
In the order it makes the most sense to read them.
- 1
What counts as "they came back" in your business
You'll walk away with your own rule, written in one sentence, for what counts as a customer coming back, and what doesn't count even if it looks like it.
7 min - 2
Out of every ten, how many come back
By the end, you'll know your real repeat customer rate, calculated from your own data for a specific period, and the calculation mistake that skews it the most.
7 min - 3
How often repeat customers come back
You'll walk away with the average return interval for your customers, service by service, and with a rule for choosing the mean or the median depending on how much data you have.
7 min - 4
The week you stop expecting them back
By the end, you'll have pinned down, in weeks, the exact moment a customer goes from late to lost, and you'll know why that number is yours, not one copied from somewhere else.
7 min - 5
How to find out every week who's crossed your limit
By the end, your abandonment limit turns into something that doesn't depend on your memory: a fixed check-in on your calendar to see who's crossed it and, if your tool has it, the automatic email that goes out to the customer.
4 min - 6
What you write to the one who crossed the line, and who you don't write to at all
By the end, you'll have the message ready to win back the customer who crossed your cutoff week, worded differently depending on whether they choose you for trust or for price, and you'll know who you should never write to.
4 min