Retention / Practical guide
Build a better second-order journey
The first purchase tells you what a customer wanted once. A second-order journey should find a useful reason to return, rather than assume every buyer needs a discount seven days later.
1. Find your actual buying window
Take customers with at least two qualifying orders and calculate days from first to second purchase. Review the median and the spread. Split by first product or category only when the sample supports it. Exclude cancelled and fully refunded orders; mark customers who have not had enough time to return.
2. Write the eligibility and exit rules first
Enter after a first qualifying order. Require marketing permission for the chosen channel. Before each message, recheck that there is no second purchase, opt-out, conflicting journey or unresolved issue that should pause promotion.
3. Give each message one job
Help the buyer use what they bought before asking for more. Then suggest the product, refill or occasion that follows naturally. If a discount is needed, account for its effect on contribution and exclude customers who already bought.
4. Measure the order you would otherwise miss
Track second-order rate and time to second order for comparable cohorts. Use an unmessaged holdout if traffic permits. Compare contribution after discounts, product costs, fulfilment and sending. An attributed order can still have happened without the message.
Examples use EUR excluding VAT. They are illustrations, not forecasts. The pricing page defines current allowances and usage units.
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