Every D2C brand has them: customers who bought, had a good experience, and then simply didn't come back. Most brands treat them as churned — they add them to a re-engagement drip, maybe send a generic "we miss you" email, and move on.

But Shopflo's network data tells a different story. Many of these customers are still actively buying D2C — they're shopping on other brands right now. They haven't stopped spending. They haven't lost trust in D2C brands. They just haven't had a reason to come back to yours.

That distinction matters enormously. If a customer went quiet because of a product issue or a bad experience, no discount is going to fix it. But if they went quiet for no particular reason — as most do — then it's a timing and incentive problem. And that's the easiest kind to fix.

→ Open Segments

This segment is most immediately useful for brands in Health & Wellness, Beauty & Cosmetics, Pet, Baby, and Sports & Fitness — categories where customers naturally repurchase on a monthly cycle. A protein tub runs out in 30 days. A moisturiser lasts about a month. A baby formula tin doesn't last much longer. For these brands, a customer who ordered last month and hasn't reordered this month is a concrete, urgent problem — and a 30-day window captures it precisely.

But every D2C brand has a repurchase window. It's just longer for some. An apparel customer might naturally return every 60 days — a new season, a new wardrobe refresh. A home & kitchen customer might be on a 90-day cycle. The segment logic is identical; the only thing that changes is the window you set for "when did they last order."

Before you build this segment, decide what the natural repurchase window looks like for your category. 30 days is the starting point. Your brand's number might be different — but the problem is the same.

Most analytics tools can tell you that a customer hasn't ordered in 45 days. What they can't tell you is whether that customer is still actively buying D2C or has genuinely gone dark.

Shopflo can. Because Shopflo powers checkout across hundreds of D2C brands, purchase activity across the network is visible as an aggregate signal — called Network Purchase Recency. When you filter for customers whose Network Purchase Recency is Recent (30 days), you're identifying people who have placed at least one order on some D2C brand in the last month. Their wallet is open. Their intent is proven. They're just not buying from you right now.

This cross-brand signal is what makes the segment actionable rather than just informational. You're not guessing who might be worth reaching out to — you know who is actively spending, and you're reaching them at exactly the right moment.

Winning back a lapsed customer who is still actively buying D2C is fundamentally different from trying to re-acquire a cold lead — and vastly cheaper. Three things are already in place:

— Trust is established. They've completed checkout with you. They've received the product. They didn't return it or raise a dispute. The single biggest barrier in D2C — getting someone to buy from a brand they've never ordered from before — is already cleared.

— Intent is proven. Network Purchase Recency confirms they're in an active buying mode. You're not trying to create demand — you're competing for a purchase decision that is already happening.

— Personalisation is possible. You know what they ordered, when they ordered, and approximately how much they spent. That data is a conversion advantage that no cold-acquisition channel can replicate.

For most brands, win-back campaigns targeting this specific segment convert at 2–4x the rate of generic re-engagement campaigns, at a fraction of the CAC of acquiring a new customer.

Step 1: Go to Segments in your Shopflo dashboard and click Create Segment.

Step 2: Add the first condition — Where → Network Purchase Recency → equals → Recent (30 days). This is the filter that separates actively spending lapsed customers from truly dormant ones.

Step 3: Add a second condition — Who → did → Order completed → at least 1 time → is between → [start of your lookback window] – [end of window]. Use 30 days for replenishment categories. For apparel, try 60 days. For home & kitchen or higher-consideration categories, 90 days is a reasonable starting point. Adjust based on what you know about your own repurchase cycle.

Step 4: Add a third condition — and → did → Order completed → exactly 0 times → in the last 30 days. This excludes customers who have already returned, leaving only those who haven't.

Step 5: Click Count Data to see how many customers match, and Preview Data to review the list before acting.

Step 6: Name the segment — e.g., Active but not bought this month — and click Save Segment.

The segment stays live. Customers drop out as they return, and new ones enter as they lapse while remaining active on the network.

The earlier you act, the higher the conversion. A customer who last ordered 35 days ago and is still active on the network is dramatically easier to win back than one who lapsed 90 days ago. Once you've built the segment, move within the week.

— Re-marketing campaign. Export the segment to your email or WhatsApp tool and run a targeted win-back flow. Lead with what they ordered last time — "Running low on [product]?" or "Time to restock?" outperforms generic "we miss you" subject lines because it's specific, and specific feels personal.

— Personalised discount. A time-boxed offer — 10% off for the next 48 hours — creates urgency without permanently discounting your brand. Customers who are already in a buying mindset (which this segment confirms) respond to urgency far better than open-ended offers they can save for later and never use.

— Loyalty reward. If you have a rewards programme, give this segment a nudge with a points bonus or tier upgrade for returning within a time window. For customers who were satisfied with their first purchase, a loyalty incentive can convert without requiring a discount at all.

— Free shipping as the low-cost hook. For customers where a discount feels premature, free shipping on their next order is a high-perceived-value, low-cost nudge — especially effective if they were close to the free shipping threshold on their last order and may have noticed the delivery charge.

→ How to Create a Discount based on Cart Value — set up the win-back offer to pair with this segment

→ How to Set Up Automatic Free Shipping Discounts — free shipping as a win-back hook

Need help? Reach out to us at support@shopflo.com