Most companies can quickly tell you what their top sellers are. That’s important. But if you want to understand how to keep your customers coming back for more, you need to study product performance at the customer segment level. Who’s buying what? What will they buy next? And what do their purchases say about their long-term value to your brand?

One and Done

There have been many stories of one-hit wonders—products that attract lots of buyers but don’t translate into lasting customer relationships.

Take the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air purifier. It was wildly popular—at one point, The Hustle reports it accounted for 45% of the company’s sales. (See How one man built The Sharper Image into the world’s wackiest gadget store, The Hustle, 2018)

It attracted a surge of new buyers, but most didn’t return for more. In other words, it boosted revenue in the short term but failed to build brand loyalty.

Many companies saw similar trends during the pandemic with home office furniture and gym equipment. Those products met a need in the moment, but once that need subsided, so did demand. The lesson: analyze the rebuy rate and near-term value (NTV) by first product. That helps you know if new customers are likely to return next year—or if you’ll need to replace them with fresh acquisition just to hit your goals.

They Like What They Like

I often get asked: What’s the next best product to get a buyer’s second purchase? The answer usually comes from a path-of-purchase analysis, which shows what customers buy first and what they buy next.

Surprisingly often, the pattern is simple: pants buyers buy more pants, and gift buyers buy more gifts. Customers like what they like. 

For brands, that means two things:

1. Don’t underestimate the power of consistency. Customers often want a repeat of what worked for them.
2. If you want to expand their basket, do it with adjacent products. A pants buyer might not jump to dresses, but they may be open to tops that complete the outfit.

Gateway Products

Some products serve as powerful entry points to long-term loyalty. In banking, it’s a checking account—it becomes the hub of the relationship. In department stores, it was hosiery—an everyday essential that kept shoppers coming back.

Every brand has its own gateway products. Identifying them allows you to:

• Build acquisition strategies around the products that create “stickiness.”  Build lookalike models to acquire more customers with similar behaviors.
• Test promotions to see if they drive loyalty over time.
• Invest more in marketing the products that establish deeper relationships, not just quick revenue.

What Keeps My Best Customers Shopping?

Your best customers don’t all shop for the same reason. Some rely on replenishment—products like skincare, socks, or coffee that need replacing regularly. Others are motivated by discovery—new arrivals, seasonal launches, or limited editions.

The key is to tailor your approach and communication to keep them engaged:

• Do my best customers keep coming back because they need me or because they love discovering something new?
• Can I segment my communications so that replenishment buyers get reminders before they run out, while newness seekers get sneak peeks and early access?

Seasonal and Occasion Buyers

Gift items, gift boxes & wrap, and holiday SKUs naturally spike at certain times of the year. But those buyers don’t always translate into year-round customers.

By flagging “gift-only” or “holiday-only” buyers in your database, you can build strategies that acknowledge their behavior without overspending on off-season marketing. For example, a customer who only buys from you in November may be worth keeping in your file—but requires a different strategy than a loyal monthly shopper.

Pulling It All Together

Top sellers matter, but they’re just the starting point. To build long-term customer relationships, you need to look deeper:

• Which products are one-and-done?
• Which create habits?
• Which open the door to loyalty?
• Which define seasonal or occasion-only segments?

When you look at product performance through the lens of customer behavior, you move beyond chasing transactions and start building a brand that customers return to—again and again.