Pants. A Lawnmower. And the Secret to Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value

Man. This weekend was action packed.

It was Memorial Day here in the US, which basically kicks off summer.

We spent it over at our in-laws’ house. All seven cousins went nuts on this giant inflatable water slide with a built-in water cannon. The adults hung out on the deck, grilling, chilling, and occasionally breaking up fights between soaked, screaming children.

But one of the highlights from this past week had nothing to do with burgers or family time.

I bought a new pair of pants. Actually, two.

They’re water-resistant, super lightweight, and just ridiculously comfortable. I’ve been raving about them to anyone who will listen and I’m even planning to buy a pair as a birthday gift for a friend.

That one little purchase got me thinking about brand stories.

Not the stories brands spend time writing and refining for ads. 

The stories customers share with each other ABOUT the brands. 

The ones that actually move the metrics we care about like customer lifetime value and repeat purchase rate.

This issue isn’t about a specific tactic.

It’s about the bigger picture strategy that often gets ignored.

Making a great product and genuinely caring about your customers.

So instead of breaking down a framework or a flow this week, I want to share a few stories. Real moments that stuck with me as a customer and reminded me what true loyalty is actually built on.

Story #1: One Pair of Shoes, a Lifetime of Loyalty

Some stories stick around long after the details fade. They get told over dinner, passed from one generation to the next, until they become a kind of family legend.

This one’s about a pair of shoes from LL Bean.

My grandparents were living in Pueblo, Colorado, sometime in the 60s. My grandma ordered a simple pair of leather shoes for my grandpa from the LL Bean catalog.

One afternoon, my grandpa was out in the yard mowing the lawn with one of those old-school push mowers. My grandma was inside when she suddenly heard my grandfather yelling and swearing.

She ran out thinking something terrible had happened, only to find my grandpa standing there with his shoes completely torn to shreds.

Miraculously, his toes were totally fine.

My grandma was so amazed she wrote a letter to LL Bean to thank them for making a pair of shoes tough enough to take a hit from a lawnmower.

A few weeks later, a box showed up at their house. Inside was a brand new pair of the same shoes, along with a note from the founder.

That one gesture has probably led to tens of thousands of dollars in purchases from my family.

The story’s been told for decades.

My grandma told my parents. My dad told me.

And my parents still shop at LL Bean regularly. In fact, it’s the first place they go when they need new clothes.

They even buy it for my kids. At this point, the brand just lives in our family.

Story #2: A Little Cheese Bread and a Lot of Goodwill

More recently, my wife and I got burned on a bad batch of Brazilian cheese bread, or pão de queijo, as they call it.

We’d been buying Brazi Bites from Costco for almost a year. And they’re absolutely delicious. But a few months ago we baked up a bag that came out terrible. 

There was no flavor. It was like someone forgot to add half the ingredients.

My wife sent them a friendly email letting them know. 

They replied the next day, asked for the batch number, asked for our address, and said they’d make it right.

A few days later, an envelope showed up with four coupons: two “100% off” coupons and two buy-one-get-one free.

That little gesture turned a forgettable annoyance into a story we’ve told again and again.

Would we have kept buying their cheese bread if they’d done nothing? Probably.

But now, the story we share isn’t about the bad batch. 

It’s about how they made it right.

And that’s the kind of moment people remember.

Bringing It Home

The lesson here isn’t about a specific channel or tactic.

It’s not about where to place your CTA or how to optimize your welcome flow. This is deeper.

The brands people stay loyal to and rave about all have one thing in common. Well, I guess it’s actually two.

They make fantastic products people genuinely love, and they stand behind it when it counts.

That’s it. Great product. Great service. A real desire to do right by the customer.

If you get those things right, people will write your brand story for you. And it’ll be way more powerful than anything you could’ve scripted yourself.

Well I hope you folks enjoyed yourselves. I’ll catch you later on down the trail.

Got a topic you want me to cook up a recipe for? Drop me an email or a DM.

- Ben

P.S.

Want help with your eCom email and retention marketing?

Click here to see if we’re a good fit.