Repeat purchase automation: profit lives in post-sale

Quick answer: a company's profit comes from customers who buy again, on a regular basis, because the acquisition cost was paid once and the results keep coming. To get there, automate in your CRM a post-sale that delivers value (confirmation, usage tips, a replenishment reminder before the product runs out, appointment reminders and a satisfaction survey), triggered by dates and stages, and not just promotional blasts.

Handing out flyers on WhatsApp is bad. Nobody wants to receive a digital flyer. But being expected on WhatsApp, getting the right message at the moment it helps, is something else. That's when you become relevant.

In this article I show how I think about the customer lifecycle and which automations I usually build to drive repeat purchases.

Why repeat purchases are where the profit is

What makes profit happen inside a company isn't selling to a customer once. It's having a customer who buys from you on a regular basis. The investment you made to win them was made once; the results keep coming over time.

I like to joke that selling the first time is acquisition. Selling the second time is delivery, it's results. A well-served customer buys again and refers others.

Think about the opposite: you spent money to prospect a customer and then you can't sell to them again without having to go after them all over again. A good part of that investment was lost. In post-sale, you don't need to go after anyone. That's where LTV lives.

The small automation that makes sense

A client in the pet industry hired me for a very simple automation. When a sale is marked as won, 30 days later a message goes out: "your pet food must be running low, shall we order more?".

Sometimes it's a small thing, but it makes sense. And it's the kind of thing nobody remembers to do manually.

The same goes for the lead who messages, says "hi" and disappears. The person picked up their phone, was going to sort it out, then someone called them, there was dinner to make, they forgot. An automatic message to those who "messaged and vanished" helps recover that conversation.

Timing is the secret: get ahead of the repeat purchase

If a customer buys soap every three months, I'd reach out again at two. That gives you a month to work the sale until they actually buy.

My fear is you reaching out at three months and hearing: "oh, I bought some last week".

So the rule is:

Find out the usual purchase frequency (it may vary from customer to customer).
Schedule the follow-up before the end of the cycle, with enough slack to run a comfortable sale.
If the repeat purchase is monthly, at around 25 days you already send a "hi". If it's every 60 or 90 days, schedule the follow-ups with the same reasoning.

Post-sale with value, not just promotions

Once a person enters your base, they only leave if they ask to. But what they receive needs to help the person on the other side. Examples:

Confirmation: did the order arrive? Is everything OK?
Usage tips for the product they bought.
Scheduled maintenance: someone installed an air conditioner today, a year from now there's a check-up, cleaning, filter change. You can leave it scheduled.
Regular marketing communication: out of sight, out of mind. And sometimes a customer bought one product and discovers you also sell another.

Clinics: reminder before, survey after

In a clinic, the date and time field of the next appointment becomes the trigger for everything. Based on it, the CRM schedules actions for before and after that moment.

Before: a reminder a few days ahead ("just a reminder that your appointment is in three days") and another a few hours ahead, because of traffic. You can include buttons: "confirmed" keeps the appointment; "I need to reschedule" takes the patient off the confirmed list right away.
After: the satisfaction survey (NPS). And here it can be a button. The patient arrived, the front desk taps "present", like a school roll call, and the survey goes out on its own.

Not everything works the first time. Sometimes we build it, put it into practice and realize it doesn't work as well as we'd like. That's part of it: adjust and keep going.

Step by step to automate the customer lifecycle

Organize your CRM first. With leads and deals organized, you can act on them at any time.
Create a post-sale pipeline or stage. When a sale is won, the card moves there automatically.
Define the repeat purchase cycle for each product or customer profile.
Schedule the follow-up before the end of the cycle, with a timer: after X days, the card moves and the message goes out.
Build a follow-up for those who disappeared: they replied and went quiet for a while, an automatic follow-up goes out.
Use dates as triggers: appointment, installation, delivery, renewal.
Include valuable content, not just offers.
Look at your pipeline numbers to find where conversion breaks and adjust.
Start with the base that already knows you. They're more likely to buy faster and generate cash while you structure the rest.

Frequently asked questions

What is repeat purchase automation?

It's setting up your CRM to reach out to the customer again before the product runs out or the service needs to be redone, based on the date of their last purchase.

When should I contact a customer to buy again?

Before the end of the cycle. If they buy every three months, reach out at two, so you have time to guide the sale.

Do post-sale messages annoy customers?

They do when they're flyers. When the message helps (confirmation, tips, a maintenance reminder), the customer starts expecting it.

How do I automate NPS surveys in a clinic?

With an attendance button in the CRM: when the front desk marks that the patient has arrived, the survey is sent automatically after the appointment.

Do I need AI for this?

No. Most of these automations run on simple date and stage rules inside the CRM.

Keep reading

Want to build your company's post-sale?

If you want to turn one-time buyers into recurring customers, talk to Aurora, our assistant: talk to Aurora on WhatsApp.

Profit lives in repeat purchases: automate the customer lifecycle