Preparing for the transition to the winter season

With September arrived, our summer garden starts to transition out. The beans, tomatoes, and squash are still producing but they are near their end. We've been planting autumn and winter plants in any bare spots but some summer plants are going to hold out to the very end. So I've...

Using patterns to find answers in data

I've been teaching my daughter multiplication the past two weeks. Instead of memorizing the 12-by-12 chart, I'm teaching her patterns that she can use with any number (2 * a number is just doubling a number, 4 * is just doubling 2 *, etc). Once she learns the patterns she...

Adapt your marketing to avoid your worst customers

At some point it's not worth it to market to some customers for reorders. They might be unresponsive. They might be chronic returners. Or they might just cost too much to reach so even when they do order, you're not turning a profit. Your limit will depend on how much...

Using order volume and total sales to spot growth problems

It's useful to see how your order volume changes over-time. It'll give you a different perspective than total sales. Combine the two you can learn a lot about your overall business health. If your order volume has increased and your total sales have increased, you're growing. If your order volume...

Detecting when processes are getting too stressed

I started saving garden seeds this year. As part of the process I'm doing germination tests on them to make sure they're viable and likely to grow. The tests involve keeping them wet and checking on them every few days while recording their progress. The details aren't important here. What...

New period comparison insights added to Repeat Customer Insights

Repeat Customer Insights has received updates to its data analysis and insights engine. Now the Store Analysis and Customer Purchase Latency reports will automatically compare the various metrics to how they performed in the past. You can select any year or quarter available in your account and the app will...

Improve your customers for the long haul

This year the garden has been yielding so-so. Some plants are crazy productive (tomato, kale) while others failed (spinach) or grew slowly (lettuce, potato). It makes sense though. This is the first year for most of it and the second year for the rest, so the soil and ecosystem as...

Using cumulative cohort reports to find groups of the best repeat buyers

A Repeat Customer Insights customers was asking about how the cumulative orders in the Cohorts Report work: Why doesn't the sum of month 1 to n on the cohort customers % match the nth month for the cumulative cohort %? The percentages are based on how many unique customers have...

Repeat customer checklist to build better repeat customers in your Shopify store

I was thinking about what can be done to make this year's holiday rush better. I put together this checklist for Shopify stores to maximize the value from new and repeat customers. Give customers a reason to subscribe to your emails. New customers are added to a New Customer Welcome...

Using alternative customer segmenting models when your Shopify store is still growing

The RFM model works really well for large stores. With 125 unique segments, there's a lot of fine-tuning potential. For smaller stores (and stores that don't want to fiddle), it might be too much as it is. Say you get 500 orders per month (6,000 per year). That means you'll...