- Sep 24, 2025
🥲 Nothing Old, Nothing New - Why your clients aren't coming back.
In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 230 - Nothing Old, Nothing New, Corrie wanted to cover returning customers - clients that have ordered from you in the past and then reorder.
They're massively valuable to your bottom line because returning leads cost less to acquire. That means you have to spend less time and marketing dollars getting someone to order from you a second time than getting someone to order from you the first time.
And this makes sense, right?
✅ A returning client already knows you exist.
✅ A returning client already knows your ordering process.
✅ A returning client has built trust with you when they placed their first order.
✅ A returning client is 15 - 20% more likely to reconvert when reengaged.
To drive the point home: 🤯 It can cost 5 - 25 times more to acquire a new customer than to re-engage an existing or returning lead. So for every dollar you spend to reacquire an old lead, you'd be spending $25 to replace them with a new lead.
Higher marketing costs = lower profits. If you're a good baker-turned-marketer, you should be asking this question: 🤔 "How can I increase my returning customer base?" 🧠 Smart question - and there may be a few culprits at fault as to why you don't have people re-knocking on your proverbial front door.
🙅♂️ 1. If you take big breaks or take the summer off, you're going to lose clients.
If you're taking big, inconsistent breaks (like the summer off or January off), you're going to frustrate your current base of clients. They can't return if your doors are never open. If a customer who ordered from you in June returns to place an order in January only to find you've closed up shop until March, they'll need to source another baker - a more reliable one. Hey - put down that pitchfork, if you need to take a break, do so. But remember the cost of taking breaks like this - it will impact your returning customers.
Hybrid approach - either throttle down your orders to prevent burnout or take more consistent breaks (we'd rather you take every July off than take random months off when you feel like it).
🙅♀️ 2. If you're constantly changing your offerings, you're losing clients.
If you listened to this week's podcast, I lean into the "hybrid model" - a give and take. No one solution fits everyone, but finding a mix of solutions can still be an effective approach. That applies to a busy menu. Yes, trimming your menu down to the fan favorites (that you also like baking) can prevent analysis paralysis (or choice paralysis), but changing up your menu too often can drive away past customers who lost their favorites during a menu purge.
Create a list of your best sellers and stick to it. Sprinkle in some "seasonal drops" and "limited editions," but be consistent in your long-term offerings.
🙅♂️ 3. If you're not easily searchable, you're losing returning clients.
🔍 If I can't easily find you on search, socials, and email, you're not easily findable. Imagine a client who only ordered from you a year ago. How likely are they to be able to remember where to find you? Oftentimes, clients go to search engines with a slew of keywords they hope can connect them with past vendors.
🕵️♂️ If your website doesn't show up or your maps listing is nonexistent, you're losing any clients looking for you.
🙅♀️ 4. If you're not relevant on socials, you're losing returning clients.
I get it - ya get busy and posting to social media falls to the back burner. "But I'm busy, so my marketing is good, right?" Yes - however, marketing results are delayed - meaning what you do today you won't see until a month or two from now. If you're not staying relevant in one of the most competitive areas of social reach, you're going to get forgotten by your past book of business.
😕 And nothing says, "I'm not in business anymore" than a page last posted to in 2023. A good hybrid approach? Schedule out 1 post a week. Then come back when you have more time and add more customized content.
🙅♂️ 5. Rebranding causes audience confusion and loses returning clients.
Rebrands are tough - because oftentimes, they are necessary when your old branding no longer supports your business model. But going about a rebrand should be more strategic than just waking up one day and changing the names and logos across all your digital literature.
😵💫 Put your past client's shoes on - if they needed to find your rebranded bakery, how do you think they'd go searching? 👟👠👢👡 What do you think would help them bridge the gap between the old name and the new name? We recommend spending about 6 months acclimating your current clients to a name change or logo update.
And maybe a full rebrand isn't the answer - consider a brand refresh as a hybrid approach.
🙅♀️ 6. If you're not staying top of mind with your current book of business, you're losing clients.
Called "touchpoints" in the marketing buzzword world, 🌍 how often you re-engage your past clients can have a massive impact on whether they come back. Think of touchpoints as times when your past client sees your brand - social media posts, a newsletter, a flyer, at a vendor event, featured by another local business, posting in a local group - you get the point. 💵 The more touchpoints you have with past clients = the more likely they are to give you their money again.
🙅♂️ 7. If you're going to involve your business in drama, you're losing returning clients.
Drama sells... more drama. If you choose to engage with high-drama content on your Facebook business page, you may have lost 50% of your current fan base (politics, I'm lookin' at you). "But when I post drama, I get more reach!" Unless you're configured to sell reach, clicks, and views, your cottage home bakery won't thrive in a drama-filled environment. Influencers make money on drama and clickbait. ⚠️ Bakers who rely on returning customers should heed the warning here = drama isn't a long-term strategy.
🙅♀️ 8. When you're selling to two target audiences, you're losing returning clients.
Ah yes - the "I want to make affiliate money from other baker's clicks, but I also want to sell cookies to the locals" conundrum. 🤑💰💵 By mixing your messaging, you're confusing your current audience of past clients. Hey - I get it, getting a few bucks from your TikTok affiliate link can be fun money, but would you rather make that sale on a custom dozen or a few dollars on an affiliate link for other bakers?
A good hybrid approach is sending only affiliate links to baking supplies for folks who took your classes (but heads up - you must tell people when your links are affiliate).
👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 230- Nothing Old, Nothing New.
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