Customer Retention: How to Track, Analyse, and Improve Repeat Purchases in ProfitPeak

Retention is critical for long-term profitability in direct-to-consumer brands.
With ProfitPeak, you can track repeat purchase behaviour, identify at-risk customers, and design strategies to improve loyalty. This guide outlines key questions, what they reveal, and how to act on them.

1. Cohort Retention Analysis

Prompt	What it gives	Recommendation
Group customers by their first purchase month and show their retention patterns.	Reveals how well cohorts retain over time.	Identify cohorts with strong retention and replicate their onboarding or marketing strategies.
How many new customers have we gained through the first week of x period and how many of them returned in the next 100 days?	Tracks short-term retention for new customers.	Optimise early engagement flows (welcome emails, onboarding, cross-sells) to boost early repeat purchases.
What percentage of customers who purchased in x period made a second purchase?	Measures the “second-order” conversion rate for a given month.	Introduce post-purchase campaigns or incentives to convert more first-time buyers into repeat customers.
Identify customers who ordered in x period and also ordered after y period (repeat customers).	Identifies loyal or returning customers in a specific cohort.	Recognise high-value repeaters with VIP perks or targeted offers.
How many customers made repeat purchases in the last quarter?	Provides a broad view of active returning customers.	Use this to benchmark retention and evaluate success of loyalty or reactivation campaigns.
What is the churn rate for customers who made their first purchase in Q1 2025?	Highlights the proportion of customers lost over a defined period.	Implement retention strategies for at-risk cohorts, such as win-back emails or loyalty incentives.

2. Retention by Channel, Product, or Campaign

Prompt	What it gives	Recommendation
Compare retention rates of customers by acquisition channel (Meta, TikTok, organic, referral).	Shows which channels bring the most loyal customers.	Allocate budget to channels with higher retention or design nurturing campaigns for low-retention channels.
Identify products or collections that drive repeat purchases.	Reveals which SKUs encourage loyalty.	Promote high-retention products in marketing and bundle them with new arrivals.
Analyse retention by first purchase type (full price vs promotion).	Determines whether discount buyers are likely to return.	Use this insight to adjust promo strategy or implement post-promo retention campaigns.

3. Behavioural & Engagement Signals

Prompt	What it gives	Recommendation
How does email or SMS engagement correlate with repeat purchase behaviour?	Shows which channels influence retention.	Increase targeted messaging to highly engaged users and re-engage inactive customers.
Identify customers who have gone more than X days without purchase but previously were repeat buyers.	Flags dormant or at-risk customers.	Run win-back campaigns, special offers, or personalised reminders.
Segment retention by average order value or purchase frequency.	Identifies which spend levels or behaviours predict loyalty.	Tailor rewards or VIP programs to high-frequency or high-value repeat buyers.

4. Predictive & Forecasting Retention

Prompt	What it gives	Recommendation
Forecast 90-day retention for customers acquired in the last month.	Provides an early view of future repeat behaviour.	Allocate retention marketing resources based on predicted churn or repeat probability.
Predict lifetime retention for cohorts acquired during key campaigns (BFCM, holiday, product launch).	Measures long-term loyalty from promotional periods.	Adjust future campaign targeting and nurture sequences to maximise long-term retention.

5. Churn & At-Risk Customer Insights

Prompt	What it gives	Recommendation
Identify cohorts with the highest churn over the last 6–12 months.	Highlights problem segments needing attention.	Design targeted win-back campaigns and engagement flows for high-churn cohorts.
Segment churn by first purchase type or channel.	Reveals if specific acquisition strategies lead to lower retention.	Adjust acquisition spend or nurture campaigns to improve retention in weaker segments.
Track churn after first, second, and third purchases.	Shows the drop-off points in the customer journey.	Implement targeted campaigns at key drop-off points to reduce churn.

Putting It All Together

Systematically asking these questions in ProfitPeak allows you to:

Understand who repeats and who churns
Identify which channels, products, or cohorts drive loyalty
Intervene with win-back campaigns, loyalty programs, or upsells
Improve long-term profitability by increasing repeat purchase rates

Retention insights are most powerful when combined with CLV data, allowing you to prioritise high-value cohorts for engagement and retention efforts.