The first order broke even. The second one never came.
- Client
- Marrow
- Industry
- Coffee
- Engagement
- Full growth marketing
- Running since
- August, 5 months
- Channels
- Meta, Google, Email and SMS
Marrow could acquire a customer at break even all day long. What it could not do was get that customer to buy a second bag, which meant the whole business was one long, expensive introduction with no second act.
- +41%
- Repeat ratechange
- $118
- Sixty day valueper customer
- 3.2x
- Blended ROASat exit
The challenge
Acquisition was fine and retention was an afterthought bolted on by a plugin. The welcome flow sold the same bag the customer had just bought. Nothing in the experience acknowledged that somebody had already made a decision, and the subscription was priced as a discount rather than as a habit.
The approach
Sell the next bag, not the last one
The post purchase sequence was rewritten around what a person actually wants to know in week one, and what they want to try in week three.
Price the habit
Subscription moved from a blunt fifteen percent off to a construction built around cadence and choice, which is what the category buys on.
Creative that assumes a second order
Acquisition creative stopped promising the cheapest first bag and started showing what a month of it looks like. Cost per first order rose slightly. Everything after it improved.
The results
Repeat rate moved first, then sixty day value, then the blended return followed both. The account is now allowed to pay more for a first order than it used to, because the second one is reliably there.
The media buying barely changed. What it was buying did.
Nobody had asked us what happens after the first order. That turned out to be the entire business.