Any business can create a surge:
- a promo
- a seasonal rush
- an event weekend
- a grand opening
- a mention that sends people your way
If you don’t have a day-after plan, you enjoyed a busy day. That’s all.
Do this after any spike (15 minutes)
1) Pull a list of everyone who bought during the spike.
2) Split them into three buckets:
- New: first purchase (or first in a long time)
- Steady: your regulars
- Uncaptured: they bought, but you can’t follow up (no email/phone on file. This will give you an idea of how effective your opt in ask is)
3) Answer one question for each bucket:
- New & Steady: “What’s the next visit we’re trying to earn?”
- Uncaptured: “How are we going to catch the next one?” (in-store capture, receipt, packaging insert, Wi‑Fi, whatever’s realistic)
That’s it. Don’t overbuild it.
Why the follow-up usually flops
- New buyers go quiet because there’s no obvious reason to come back
- Regulars get generic messaging and tune out
- Anything that isn’t “required to complete the transaction” is what gets skipped first (and capture often lives in that bucket unless it’s built into the flow).
“Great promo, bigger slump” is usually this.
One small decision that fixes a lot
Move non‑urgent messages to email.
Keep your highest-attention channel for actual urgency.
Most “urgent” sends are just anxiety.
If you want the “before the rush” checklist, I covered that in last month’s newsletter.
Bookmark that and this one, and you’ll have both ends covered:
- what to do before the rush
- what to do after