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Do you have a system for keeping track of customers and repeat buyers?


johandahlberg

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I wanted to share how I keep track of buyers, repeat buyers, issues I’ve had, agreed special prices, etc. and am wondering if other sellers have similar systems, and if so how they work 🙂

When I started getting orders I set up an Excel file early on and I’m very glad that I did 😃 It lists every person who has ordered from me at least once, in alphabetical order - one customer per line. I then have 20 empty columns and each time someone orders I color the next column on their line green, providing a great visual representation of who has placed a lot of orders and who has placed just one.

I can easily see who my best buyers are, check if a buyer has ordered with me before (to give them a friendly “welcome back”), etc.

Once a buyer reaches column 20, I start over in their first column but with a new color, so that I know that it’s order #21, 22, etc.

I also have other columns with additional information. Last delivery date (how long ago since we last made business together), order type and individual notes such as any special rates agreed on, and so on.

Every now and then I go over the list and change all orders from green to a light yellow if the buyer has not returned for several months, making it easier to see who my current active repeat buyers are and who used to be repeat buyers but are not anymore.

If I had issues with a buyer I leave a note about that too, so if they return I can either be extra nice to them or know that I should pass on their project to avoid similar difficulties again, depending on what happened.

I wish that I had also included an order total in $ to see what buyers are placing larger orders/paying me more money even if they haven’t placed a lot of orders, but it feels a bit daunting to go back and fix that now. Number of orders is a great indicator, especially as I suck at remembering names so it’s good to easily see the order count and last delivery date 🙂

Finally, being the geek that I am I also added a gold-silver-bronze system. The buyer who has placed the most orders all-time gets the Gold mark. Anyone who is an active repeat buyer but not the one with the most orders at the moment gets a Silver mark. And anyone who used to be a good repeat buyer but who is no longer active falls into the Bronze category. One-time orders don’t get a mark. This doesn’t really serve a purpose other than being fun for me 🙂

I know a lot of this can be exported from Fiverr, but I feel like this system gives me a better visual overview. Adding a new line for a new customer takes seconds, as does marking a new completed delivery for repeat buyers. And since I do it manually rather than exporting anything I feel more involved.

Does anyone else have similar systems? How do you keep track of repeat buyers, issues, special agreements, etc? Or do you feel that it’s pointless?

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I guess it depends the type of service being provided.

If you are selling hundreds of $5 or low priced orders, this method would work.
In other types of business settings, projects are usually a one-time occurrence with recurring options also available. However, these one time sales are probably much higher anywhere between $100 and $1000+

But regardless of how many orders you do receive, your system is definitely an eye-opener and can work with revised ideas!

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I guess it depends the type of service being provided.

If you are selling hundreds of $5 or low priced orders, this method would work.

In other types of business settings, projects are usually a one-time occurrence with recurring options also available. However, these one time sales are probably much higher anywhere between $100 and $1000+

But regardless of how many orders you do receive, your system is definitely an eye-opener and can work with revised ideas!

Yeah, I guess it’s not for all fields or types of work. But I think a similar system is good if you have any kind of repeat business at all, which I guess most freelancers do 🙂

The great thing is that anyone can make a system that works for their needs, and personally I am very glad that I did it early on as it is an awesome tool to have once you’ve been going for a while 😃

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I love your system because I have the same :rofl:

I can’t work without tracking everything and making dashboards, stats, graphs… I think that it’s nearly a disease for me!

I have an excel file with a list of all my orders + 20 columns with different details (name of the buyer, country, gig, price in $, price in €, date of the order, delivery date, subject of the order, new or reapeat buyer…) in order to make analysis and stats.
1 line = 1 order. I use it as a database in order to create pivot tables easily.

I have a major sheet with all the datas + about 10 or 15 sheets with pivot tables.

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