LTV +35% via Funnel Redesign: From One-Off Sale to Repeat Cycle
We fixed the funnel and then asked: what makes them come back?
The Porto shop sold tents at €80 AOV. Traffic 9k, checkout 1.9%. The 12-point audit got us to 3.4%. But LTV barely moved. One sale does not make a business. I give each of those points its own question and its own measurement in CRO Audit Template: 12 Checkpoints That Move Revenue.
I mapped the post-purchase window. 83% of second purchases happened between day 18 and day 44. After that, silence.
We built a 30-day cycle, not a campaign.
Day 0: delivery card. Not email. Physical card inside the parcel: "How to pitch this tent in 3 minutes + QR to 60-sec video". Support tickets -31%, first-use NPS 8.4.
Day 2: use check. Plain text email from the owner: "Did the tent fit in your backpack? Reply yes/no". Reply rate 22%. No design, no button. I ran the same plain-text trick against no-shows in a booking tool I sold to one barbershop, and I show those numbers in Micro-SaaS for Local Services: From $0 to $3K MRR in 90 Days.
Day 14: care, not promo. "Two mistakes that kill waterproofing", a short guide. Unsubscribe 0.2%, but reply "thanks" 9%.
Day 28: repeat trigger. "Your gas canister is likely empty. Re-order in one click, same address, 10% off next 48h". Conversion 4.1% on that segment. Not a generic "we miss you".
What we did not do: loyalty points, app, 10% pop-up on entry. All of that tested earlier and came back noise.
Stack: Shopify + Klaviyo, no custom code. One segment: buyers of tent in last 45 days without second order. One flow, 4 emails, 1 card.
Numbers (6 months, same traffic):
- Checkout: 1.9% → 3.4%
- Repeat purchase (45 days): 11% → 19%
- AOV second order: €84 (+5%, add-on suede)
- LTV 180 days: €89 → €120 (+35%)
Failure first: we tried "subscribe and save 15%" and got a 1.2% take rate. Wrong product for subscription. Cycle beat subscription.
Check your own gap: export orders, plot days between order 1 and 2. If you see a hump at 20-40 days, you have a cycle to build. If the line stays flat, fix product-market first, not funnel. I open every revenue job with that export, and I map the stage in CRO as a Pipeline: From Analytics to Revenue.
Want the Klaviyo flow export? Message for funnel audit and I send the 4-email copy + segment filter.