1 - Here's some information from a recent project.

I studied first-time buyers to see how many of the customers progressed to Loyal status after a year.

Hint - not many customers make it to Loyal status.

2 - In my Customer Development framework, customers purchasing for the first time are in the Welcome stage, those purchasing for the 2nd/3rd/4th time are in the Emergence stage, customers buying for the 5th time are in the Loyalty stage.

3 - In this recent project, only 25% of first-time buyers purchased again within a year.

23% (almost all of the 25%) were stuck in Emergence ... they bought for a 2nd/3rd/4th time.

Just 2% progressed to Loyalty.

4 - Now, the instinct of marketers is to squeeze as much profit out of the 2% who become loyal.

The instinct could be adjusted.

Why not focus extensively on customers with 1 or 2 purchases and coax them along so that they have a chance to become Loyal?

5 - That's the goal of any Customer Development project. We seek to find ways to move customers along ... with the most important/influential period being the first three months (Welcome stage) following a first purchase.

6 - Through email marketing, website personalization, print, and at times outbound calls ... we facilitate movement from a first purchase (Welcome) through a 2nd-4th purchase (Emergence) to Loyalty (5th purchase and beyond).