use case · beyond paid ads
Neo finds what keeps your customers from coming back.
Customer value by cohort, the second order within 90 days, the weight of your best customers, then the causes in order: product, range, acquisition, experience, and last, email and SMS. Neo audits your email and SMS program from your Klaviyo exports and plans each month’s calendar.
4,000 advertisers and agencies already use Creaboost.
One constraint, the causes in order, and email last.
Three weeks before Black Friday, Camille wants to know what the customers the sale will bring in are really worth.
Run the retention audit before Black Friday. Why don’t more of our customers come back? I uploaded the Klaviyo exports.
Camille Durand · Tue, Nov 3 · 14:02
Neo · 14:29
- Shopify · live · 24 months, aggregates
- Klaviyo exports · uploaded Nov 2
- memory · economics of Oct 14, customer voice, events
- Meta · structure of Nov 2
audit of Nov 3 by retention_audit · November 2024 → October 2026 · economics of Oct 14, Shopify metrics & funnel for October, Klaviyo exports of Nov 2
Customers acquired with a code come back half as often: acquisition quality is holding back repeat purchase.
A new customer brings 1.3 times what they cost over 180 days: fragile. Product and range hold up. 41% of first orders use a code, and those customers come back at 11% within 90 days, against 22% at full price. First step: the post-purchase flow, live before the Black Friday customers arrive.
- repeat within 90 days
- 18%
- April → June cohorts · 22% at full price
- with a code
- 11%
- 41% of first orders · BF 2025: 9%
- gross profit ÷ nCAC
- 1.3
- 180 days · fragile between 1 and 2
- top 20% of customers
- 52%
- of revenue over 12 months · 49% a year ago
constraintRepeat purchase is held back by acquisition quality, because 41% of first orders go through a code, as shown by the 11% of those customers who order again within 90 days, against 22% at full price.
the causes, in order
- product qualitysolid
Few returns, and no product that drives customers away.
7% returns, mostly for size. The customers who come back least are not tied to any one product.
- returns 7%
- top reason · size
- rangesolid
The natural second order exists, and customers find it.
After a first pair of briefs, the most frequent second order is the three-pack, 52 days later at the median. When the first order is the three-pack, 27% come back within 90 days.
- median 52 days
- three-pack first · 27%
- acquisition qualityconstraint
Customers acquired with a code come back half as often.
The 10% welcome code stacks with sales. The Black Friday 2025 cohort came back at 9% within 90 days.
- 41% of first orders
- 11% vs 22%
- BF 2025 · 9%
- customer experienceneeds work
No message between shipping and delivery.
Delivery takes 3.8 days at the median. Parcel tracking comes up in the complaints of the customer voice.
- delivery 3.8 days
- parcel tracking
- owned medianeeds work
A welcome that is too short, and nothing after the first order.
From the Klaviyo exports: welcome flow scored 2 out of 5, two emails in three days, none on how to care for the briefs. Campaigns go to the whole list three times a week.
- welcome · 2 of 5
- post-purchase · 0 of 5
- campaigns · whole list
CAC payback in about 70 days: a customer’s cumulative gross profit passes $71 between day 30 and day 90. The full email and SMS program (flows scored, flow map, segments, December calendar) comes as a deliverable of its own.
not assessedNo post-purchase survey: who the best customers are, and which angle brought them, is still to be written. The source of the first order is known for only 61% of orders. Maison Lune sends no SMS.
next steps · by impact
- 01
Build the post-purchase flow: five to seven emails over 30 to 60 days, care first, the three-pack next.
why The first 14 days set the habit. No discount on the second order by default: it anchors a lower price before the habit forms.
horizon · before Nov 23- impact · high
- effort · medium
- retention team
- 02
Take the welcome code out of sales, Black Friday included.
why Customers acquired on deep discounts come back far less. The Black Friday plan already keeps the three-pack from stacking.
horizon · before Nov 23- impact · high
- effort · low
- founders
- 03
Test a signup form with no discount, early access to restocks and the size guide, against the 10% code.
why A form that promises only a discount brings in code hunters. The test is judged on buyers’ repeat purchase at 90 days, in a calm period.
horizon · launch Jan 5- impact · high
- effort · low
- retention team
- 04
Open a Meta budget for your existing customers, about $1,030 a month, to show new arrivals.
why Sized from the audience, never as a share of budget: monthly frequency (4 to 7) × reachable customers × CPM ÷ 1,000, with a target CPA around half a new customer’s.
horizon · December · target CPA ≈ $36- impact · medium
- effort · low
- media buyer
- 05
Send one email between shipping and delivery, with parcel tracking.
why The order information stays the heart of the message; one addition tied to the order, such as how to care for the briefs.
horizon · 30 days- impact · medium
- effort · low
- operations
Saved in Docs · Maison Lune · retention audit · Nov 3, 2026 · next audit proposed Feb 3
- Open the email and SMS program
- Schedule the audit every quarter
how Neo gets there
The causes in order, owned media last.
- data
Your store live, your Klaviyo exports.
Shopify live, over 12 to 24 months and in aggregates: cohorts, time to second order, products of the first and second orders, discount codes, returns. For email and SMS, Neo reads Klaviyo once it is connected, or the exports you upload: flows, campaigns, lists, forms, deliverability.
- skills · retention_audit, email_sms_program
Each level limits the ones below it.
Product, range, acquisition quality, customer experience, then email and SMS. Email amplifies repeat purchase once the levels above it hold. A customer’s value is read in gross profit over a stated horizon, and the share of returning customers in orders is never used as a signal.
- memory · Maison Lune
Economics, customer voice and the calendar.
Gross margin, customer value and the economics horizon; complaints and return reasons from Products & Customer Voice; sales and their dates in Events; personas, to see who comes back.
An audit every quarter, and the email and SMS program every month.
The audit lands in the chat and is saved in Docs. The email and SMS program starts from its findings: Neo plans and writes, your team builds and sends.
Explore Docs →docs
The retention audit.
Summary, customer value by cohort at 30, 90, 180 and 365 days, the three stages, the causes in order, owned media, paid media on existing customers, next steps and what was not assessed.
docs
The email and SMS program.
Flows scored 0 to 5, the flow map message by message, segments and cadence by engagement tier, deliverability, list growth, SMS and next month’s calendar. Neo also writes the emails and texts, in the brand’s voice.
tasks
The calendar around the 20th, the review every quarter.
Next month’s calendar around the 20th of each month, the program review in January, April, July and early September, the retention audit every quarter.
brands · memory
Your exports, uploaded month by month.
Each run reads the exports uploaded since the last one; with no new export, Neo keeps the latest figures with their date and lists the ones to upload.
go further
More use cases, and the product pages behind them.
questions
What teams ask us about retention.
Does Neo read our Klaviyo account?
Yes, once you connect it: Klaviyo is synced several times a day, like your ad platforms. Neo reads flow and campaign performance, lists and segments, forms, SMS and domain authentication, and every figure keeps its attribution window. You can also upload your exports to the brand’s memory, as Camille does here.
Does Neo send emails or change our flows?
Neo plans and writes: the flow map, the calendar, the copy. It sends no message, contacts no customer and changes no flow, segment, form or setting. Your team builds and sends.
Why not judge email on the revenue Klaviyo attributes to it?
Attributed revenue ranks flows and sends; it overcredits email and SMS. Neo judges the program on the second order, customer value and store figures, and proposes holdouts: 10% of the main flow’s audience, and about 5% of the list out of campaigns for a week, each quarter.
Does Neo see our customers’ data?
Neo computes on store data and writes aggregates only: no names, email addresses, phone numbers or order numbers in any deliverable.
Should we add SMS?
Once the email program holds: core flows live, campaigns converting, a healthy list. SMS serves quick decisions (a real deadline, a fresh cart, a restock), about 4 to 8 texts a month, with a recorded opt-in for every number. For your market’s rules, Neo follows what your counsel has approved.
See what brings your customers back.
Book a demo: we connect your store, and Neo reads your cohorts and what holds back the second order while you watch.