How to get repeat customers for an online store

Most online shoppers buy once and never return. A 2025 study by the German ecommerce company Uptain, reported by Händlerbund, found that only 14.77% of online shoppers placed a second order in the same shop.

The same study shows why the ones who return are worth the effort: returning customers spent 80.41 euros per basket on average, against 59.90 euros for one-time buyers.

Bain & Company has long argued that keeping a few more customers moves profit far more than it moves revenue: in its words, raising retention by as little as 5% can lift profits by as much as 95%. The exact figure depends on the business, but the direction holds for any shop that pays for traffic.

Repeat customer rate: customers who ordered at least twice in the last 12 months, divided by all customers who ordered in that time. Your shop platform's customer report or an export of orders by email gives you both numbers.

Time between orders: the median number of days from the first to the second order. Uptain found the second order arrives about two weeks after the first on average; your own number tells you when to send the follow-up.

Revenue from returning customers: the share of revenue from people who bought before. Watch it monthly. If it falls while total revenue grows, you are buying growth with ads instead of keeping it.

No offer brings back a customer whose first order arrived late, damaged or different from the photos. Fix delivery times, packaging and product descriptions before spending on retention.

Send a shipping email with tracking the day the order leaves, and a short note if anything is delayed. Silence after payment is the moment buyers start to doubt the shop.

Put something useful in the parcel: a care guide, a size tip for next time or a handwritten thank-you. It costs little and makes the shop memorable when the next need comes.

Email 1, on delivery: check that everything arrived, explain how to use or care for the product, and give a direct contact for problems. No selling yet.

Email 2, about a week after delivery: ask for a review. A customer who writes a review has thought about the product again, and the review helps the next buyer.

Email 3, shortly before your median time to second order: a recommendation based on what they bought (refill, matching item, next size) and, if your margin allows, a next-order offer with an expiry date.

Send these only to customers who agreed to marketing emails where the law requires consent. Service emails about the order itself, such as shipping and delivery, do not need it in most countries, but the review request and the offer usually do.

A code for the next order, printed on the packing slip or sent in email 3, gives a clear reason to come back. Make it single-use, tied to the customer and valid for 14 to 30 days so it creates a deadline.

Prefer offers that protect margin: free delivery on the next order, a free sample, or a fixed amount off above a minimum basket (for example 5 euros off orders over 50 euros). A flat 20% off everything trains customers to wait for the next code.

Products that run out make the best repeat offers: coffee, cosmetics, pet food, filters. Remind the customer when the product is likely to be finished, not on a fixed calendar.

A points program works when customers buy often enough to see progress: groceries, cosmetics, pet supplies. If people buy from you once a year, points expire in their heads before they can use them.

Keep the rules short enough to fit in one sentence, such as "1 point per euro, 100 points is 5 euros off". Count the real cost: every point given is a discount you will pay later.

For shops with rare purchases, simple perks work better than points: early access to new products and sales, free delivery for returning customers, a birthday gift, or a VIP list for customers above a yearly spend.

A game after the first order gives the customer something to look forward to instead of one more discount email. Put the link on the order confirmation page or in the post-purchase email: the customer spins a wheel, scratches a card or opens a mystery box, and the prize is for the next order.

With DealCraft the result is decided on the server before the animation, you set the win rate and a budget cap so the total cost is fixed in advance, and each prize can carry a minimum purchase and an expiry date (seven days by default). Prizes can be a percent off, a fixed amount off, a free item or a custom reward.

Keep most prizes small and useful, such as free delivery on the next order, and a few large ones rare. The point is a reason to return within the next week or two, not a giveaway.

Define "lapsed" by your own data: a customer who has not ordered in two or three times your usual time between orders. For most shops that is between 60 and 180 days.

Send a short win-back series: first what is new since their last order, then a direct question (did something go wrong?), then one offer with an expiry date. Stop after that; repeated discounts to people who no longer open your emails hurt delivery for everyone else.

Read the replies to the question email. The answers (price, delivery, quality, a competitor) tell you what to fix for the customers who have not left yet.

Spending the whole budget on new traffic and nothing on the customers who already paid.

A discount on every email. Customers learn to never pay full price and wait for the next code.

One newsletter for everyone. A first-time buyer, a regular and a lapsed customer need different messages.

Hiding the way to contact the shop. A problem solved quickly often earns more loyalty than an order that went perfectly.