“You can’t build a proper CRM on Amazon.” You might hear this sentence quite often. And it’s partially true. But to conclude from this that customer retention on Amazon is generally impossible would be a mistake. Because the purchase data that Amazon provides to you as a seller is full of valuable insights. You just have to know how to read them.
Why a Lack of CRM is a Strategic Risk
In the classic e-commerce world, CRM is the backbone of profitability. On Amazon, however, most agencies and brands optimize only for ACOS or, at best, for Contribution Margin 3, which can be conveniently identified using the Valuezon Performance Cockpit.
The problem: These metrics are either too limited in scope or only measure the outcome, not the cause of success. They focus solely on the moment of purchase, not on the customer relationship before and after. Anyone who does not understand customer retention is taking a significant risk:
- Misallocation of budgets: You heavily invest in products that may attract first-time buyers, but have an almost zero repeat purchase rate.
- Margin pressure: If you have to win every sale again and again through expensive ad clicks, rising click prices will eat up your margin.
- Dependence on the algorithm: With no loyal regular customers, you are extremely vulnerable to every change in the Amazon ranking algorithm.
Real growth on Amazon only happens when you shift your focus from pure new customer acquisition to maximizing customer lifetime value. The Valuezon Loyalty Tool makes exactly that possible.
The Basics: What the Tool Analyzes
The tool accesses the order reports from Amazon Seller Central. These can be retrieved retrospectively for up to 18 months on the first attempt. That’s enough to identify some meaningful purchasing patterns. Anyone who continuously adds new data over time will gain an ever clearer picture of their customers.
At the start is the question: Who are your customers anyway, and how do they shop? Based on distinct customer accounts, the tool calculates:
- How many different customers have ordered from you?
- How many of them have ordered more than once? (Repeat Purchase Rate)
- What is the average basket value – and does it differ significantly between first and repeat purchases?
- What is a customer’s average value across their entire purchase history? (Customer Lifetime Value)
- How often does a customer order on average, and how many days are there between two orders?
These numbers sound simple. But most sellers don’t know them. Yet they form the basis for almost every strategic decision. The tool is divided into 5 analysis areas that highlight specific loyalty patterns, from which various customer retention actions on Amazon can be derived.
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The 5 Analysis Areas: Simply Explained
The Repeat Buyer Analysis: Who Comes Back and Why?
Here we take a closer look at how purchase behavior changes with the number of orders. Do customers who order a second time buy more? Do they buy more often? Does the interval between purchases get shorter or longer? Do basket sizes grow or shrink over time?
This may sound like a detail. But it’s highly relevant. Because if you know that the second purchase is significantly larger on average than the first, it will completely change your view of new customer acquisition.
Side effect: Detecting arbitrage dropshippers. If a customer orders 15 or 20 times within a few months, it’s often not a sign of extreme loyalty, but a warning signal. Such patterns frequently indicate so-called arbitrage dropshippers: individuals who offer your products at inflated prices on other platforms and have them shipped directly from your Amazon FBA inventory to their customers, without your knowledge. The tool makes these irregular purchasing patterns visible. With the associated order numbers, you can investigate in Seller Central and, depending on the situation, initiate legal action, for example due to violation of image rights.
The Basket Analysis: What do your customers buy together?
In the “Brand Analysis” section, Amazon itself shows you with the “Basket Analysis” which products are frequently bought together in a single purchase. What the tool can do beyond that: It doesn’t just look at individual purchases, but analyzes cross-selling effects across the entire purchase history of a customer.
That means: Which products are bought by someone who ordered this product first, over the entire course of their customer relationship with your brand? This opens up entirely new possibilities. For example, ideal use cases or certain customer segments can be derived based on their buying behavior.
Example: In the dietary supplements sector, a strong cross-selling effect can be observed between, for example, Vitamin D3/K2, C, and Zinc—a classic immune system bundle. If you know this, you can develop targeted bundles, place cross-selling content on product pages, or create combined promotional campaigns.
The Loyalty Cohort Analysis: What distinguishes loyal customers from one-time buyers?
Here, customers are segmented based on their purchase frequency and compared with each other. Do customers who have ordered three times or more have a higher average basket value? Do they buy more products per order? Do they cover a broader range of the brand’s assortment?
This analysis reveals whether and how particularly loyal customers differ from others, and whether there are certain products that especially loyal customers buy disproportionately often.
The Product Cohort Analysis: Which product makes customers especially loyal?
This is one of the most exciting questions that the tool can answer: Which “entry product” generates the most loyal customers?
The result surprises many sellers: The bestseller is not automatically the product that wins the most loyal customers. Often it’s a niche product, which at first glance seems to have less volume, but addresses a specific use case—and thereby attracts customers with a significantly higher customer lifetime value.
We call these products anchor products. If you know them and are aware of their customer retention effect, you can invest much more in marketing there. Because you don’t just generate a purchase, but win a long-term, valuable customer.
The Customer Journey Analysis: How do customers move through your assortment?
The final analysis visualizes your customers’ purchase journeys. Similar to a click path analysis in Google Analytics, but for purchase actions instead of page views.
You’ll see: With which product did customers get started? What did they buy next? What was their last purchase—or after which purchase might the customer relationship end?
This is especially valuable for assortment development as well as for targeted marketing of certain products (keyword: AMC Audiences). If you can see what customers are searching for after a particular first purchase, and it isn’t available from you yet, then you know which product makes sense to offer next.
Amazon data is worth more than most people think
No email for direct contact. This remains a real limitation on Amazon. But the data that Amazon provides to you as a seller contains more information about your customers’ purchasing behavior than most assume. You just have to read it correctly.
The Valuezon Loyalty Tool translates raw order data into concrete insights—on repeat buyers, product performance, cross-selling potential, and the customer journey through your assortment.
And a nice side effect: What you learn about purchasing behavior on Amazon can often be transferred directly to other channels—even those where the data situation is thinner than on Amazon.
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