Library / Guides / Replenishment is a clock

Guidedtc

Replenishment is a clockIf you wait for them to remember, you will reacquire them at full CAC.

Candles, coffee, supplements, pet food, pool chemicals, linens — the second order is a date, not a brand story. Interns set the interval from real use, not from a guess that matches the campaign calendar. CEOs stop pausing replenishment flows 'for a drop'.

00

In plain words

Intern through CEO

Find the real empty date (burn time, bag, tin, filter). That is the flow, not 'monthly newsletter'.

  1. 01

    Find the real empty date (burn time, bag, tin, filter). That is the flow, not 'monthly newsletter'.

  2. 02

    Subscribers and one-time buyers are different. Do not coupon people who already pay you.

  3. 03

    The reminder should land before they are in another store, not after they are empty and annoyed.

Who

Same lesson. Three jobs.

Read your row

Intern

What you actually do

Run steps 01 and 02 this week. Do not add a feature. From the product, not from marketing's mood.

Operator

What you protect

Protect the sequence. Subscribers and one-time buyers are different. Do not coupon people who already pay you.

CEO

What you refuse to fund

Do not fund more traffic or more seats until the scoreboard in this lesson is a number you will defend. The reminder should land before they are in another store, not after they are empty and annoyed.

Steps

Do this in order

Why, then done when
  1. 01

    Name the interval

    From the product, not from marketing's mood.

    Why: A wrong clock is spam or silence.

    Done when: A number of days you can defend.

  2. 02

    Split subscribe vs one-time

    Different journeys.

    Why: Acquire coupons on subscribers are how you train cancellations.

    Done when: A subscriber test does not get the one-time refill coupon.

  3. 03

    Remind before empty

    Lead time for shipping.

    Why: A reminder after they ran out is a reacquisition, not replenishment.

    Done when: The math includes ship time.

  4. 04

    Keep it useful

    What they bought. How to refill. Not a lifestyle essay.

    Why: They already know you. Help them reorder.

    Done when: The email could be forwarded to a partner who just needs the link.

  5. 05

    Do not pause for campaigns

    Peaks still empty tins.

    Why: Pausing is how you pay Meta for a refill you already earned.

    Done when: Flows stay on.

The CEO test

What % of last month's revenue was second+ order from flows vs campaigns? If nobody knows, you are still an acquisition company wearing a retention hat.

Why

Questions people actually ask

Pushback is normal

We don't know the interval.

Then week one is learning it from reorder data or from asking once in post-purchase. Guessing '30 days' for everything is how you get muted.

Apply

Use-case pages for this leak

Klaviyo

Working notes

DTC Retention Scorecard

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