The future is hard to predict, particularly when it comes to your customers’ next purchase.

Replenishment campaigns can generate substantial revenue growth as they allow retailers to capitalize on a recurring customer need. That being said, not all products may be a good fit for every campaign and identifying the right behavior is crucial to delivering the best results.

With a Customer Data Platform (CDP) you can identify your top products, and analyze the behaviors that lead to that next purchase. CDPs, like Lexer, provide retailers with the tools to take a close examination into behavioral and purchasing data to create an effective strategy. In this post, we’ll show you how to find the products that might lead to replenishment behavior and help you lay out the groundwork for future campaigns.

What is a replenishment campaign?

Getting customers to return for an additional purchase is a goal of every retailer. But, how to encourage that returning purchase can vary depending on the specific retailer, their products, and their customers.

Replenishment campaigns urge customers to return to a brand to purchase the same product they purchased previously. Sometimes these campaigns can even encourage customers to purchase a larger supply of that same product. When launched effectively, these campaigns help retailers directly satisfy customer needs and can in many cases make a recurring purchase a part of a customer’s routine.

Are your products consumable?

Unfortunately, not all products will inspire replenishing behavior from customers. 

For example, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for a denim retailer to launch a replenishment campaign for a best selling pair of pants if the repurchase frequency is low. On top of that, even if customers were buying the same pair of pants more than once, it’s likely there’s a long period of time between purchases, making predictions hard to nail down.

On the other hand, the repeat purchases of consumable products such as make-up, skincare, wellness, and pet products can be far easier to predict, promote, and convert.

For retailers, being able to predict precisely when customers are ready for an additional purchase can improve marketing strategies and generate revenue. If you can figure out when your customers are ready to buy again, you can trigger relevant messaging exactly when your customers are in need.

Additionally, knowing when an influx of purchases is going to occur can strengthen your supply strategy. If you preemptively know when a majority of your customers’ will replenish, you can ensure your product is readily available so that your customers don’t have to wait to receive their next order or deal with an ‘out of stock’ message.

How to identify consumable products

Before launching a campaign first ask yourself, ‘is my top product consumable?’ This step is crucial as a high-quality non-consumable product won’t necessarily result in clear targetable behaviors.

Next, identify whether or not there are signs for repeat purchases associated with your top product. This may require a bit of digging, but with the help of a CDP you can pinpoint if your customers are returning to purchase the same products in a regular pattern.

Once you’ve identified a replenishment behavioral pattern, target the customers who are either already replenishing or are on track to do so. Take a deep dive into your data to create customer segments based on the products they’re purchasing and the time it takes to convert to the next sale. Once you have these segments created, push messaging that encourages these customers to make another purchase.

With Lexer’s Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP) you can discover your top products and identify relevant customer behavioral patterns to create highly effective replenishment campaigns. Thanks to Lexer’s predictive analytics tools you can pinpoint when your customers are likely to replenish so you can hit them with exactly the right messaging at the right time. Built with busy retailers in mind, Lexer supports leading brands and retailers in driving sales growth through improved customer engagement.

This article was adapted from Lexer’s playbook, ‘How a CDXP can help beauty brands drive replenishment purchases and increase marketing ROI ’. If you liked this, you’ll probably be interested in the playbook as well. Click here to download the playbook.