Holding revenue after the bestseller disappeared
The flagship product, a third of sales, was discontinued. Returning customers carried the business.
Revenue within 1.2% year over year
~
Returning customer sales up 20.5%
~
Repeat buyers worth 2.3x one time buyers
~
Revenue within 1.2% year over year ~ Returning customer sales up 20.5% ~ Repeat buyers worth 2.3x one time buyers ~
Brand: DTC air purifier brand
My role: Retention and lifecycle strategy, cohort analysis
Data: Shopify sales and customer cohorts, Klaviyo
The situation
The flagship product, 34% of the prior year's sales, was discontinued with no replacement. New customer sales fell 18.7%. Without a change, total revenue was set to drop with them.
What I did
Shifted the focus to customers the brand already had: filter subscriptions, segments by product owned, the referral program, and winback.
Tracked value by acquisition cohort to show where repeat revenue came from and which customers were worth investing in.
Results
Ecommerce revenue held within 1.2% year over year
Returning customer sales up 20.5%, with 28.5% more returning customers (January to October 2026)
Customers acquired in early 2025 repeat at 43% by month 15
Repeat buyers are worth 2.3x one-time buyers
Email subscribers repeat at 52%, compared with 31% for non-subscribers
What this means for your brand
Acquisition can stall for reasons outside marketing's control: a product goes away, ad costs spike, a channel dries up. A strong base of returning customers is what keeps revenue steady when that happens, and it has to be built before you need it.