Purchase Frequency

What is purchase frequency?

Purchase frequency is the average rate at which customers buy products from a company during a certain period of time.

It can reveal a variety of insights into customer behavior and preferences and help marketers understand the types of products customers buy, how often they make purchases, and if there is an opportunity to increase sales by introducing new products or offering discounts.

Tracking purchase frequency over time can help marketers understand the effectiveness of marketing strategies and campaigns as well as assess the overall performance of the business.

How do you calculate purchase frequency?

Calculating purchase frequency is as simple as deciding a timeframe (ie. a week, a month, a quarter, a year) and dividing your total orders by the unique customers you served over that time.

i.e. Purchase frequency = TIME FRAME / TOTAL UNIQUE CUSTOMER ORDERS

What are the top five ways to improve purchase frequency?

Personalization: Personalizing content such as emails, ads, and SMS makes it more relevant and meaningful to customers, and can encourage them to purchase more frequently.

Discounts and promotions: Offering discounts and promotions on products incentivizes customers to make more purchases.

Recommendation engines: These are algorithms designed to increase purchase frequency by recommending products and services to customers that may be of interest to them based on criteria such as:

Putting the right product in front of the customer based on these factors makes them more likely to purchase.

Loyalty programs: Loyalty programs reward customers for making repeat purchases, thus encouraging them to keep coming back.

Post-sale support: Professional services such as installation, setup, and support can give an extra incentive to customers when they are considering their next purchase.

What negatively impacts purchase frequency?

There are several factors that can negatively impact purchase frequency.

Poor customer service, lack of product innovation, and high prices can all make customers less likely to buy a product or service, which over time can cause a reduction in customer retention and loyalty.

Businesses that fail to properly address customer concerns or are unresponsive to inquiries cause customers to become frustrated and less willing to engage with the brand.

Poor marketing efforts such as ineffective promotional strategies or incorrect targeting can also result in decreased purchase frequency.

Improving purchase frequency with Emarsys

Emarsys helps leading brands like PUMA, Pizza Hut, and Nike increase their acquisition, purchase frequency, average order value, and customer retention by using a rich set of customer, sales, and product data to power personalized omnichannel marketing campaigns.