When a store reaches product–market fit, the fastest way to grow isn’t always new traffic—it’s repeat purchases. Buy Again for WooCommerce removes friction by letting customers reorder previous items in one click, from anywhere that makes sense: Account → Orders, the mini-cart, emails, and even product pages. Below I’ll evaluate its impact on conversion and show you a clean deployment path, complete with eligibility logic, UX patterns, analytics, and a troubleshooting playbook. (I originally noticed this workflow in the gplpal community and have since rolled it out across multiple catalogs.)

TL;DR (Decision Snapshot)

Who needs this: Any WooCommerce shop with re-orderable goods—consumables, office supplies, cosmetics, pet food, parts, apparel basics.
What it does: Adds Buy Again triggers across your store, rehydrates the prior cart or selected lines, and sends shoppers straight to checkout.
Why it works: Cuts the 6–10 clicks it normally takes to rebuild a past cart; fewer steps → more repeat orders and higher customer lifetime value (CLV).

The Problem It Actually Solves

Rebuilding friction: Customers forget exact SKUs/sizes or can’t find the same configuration again.
Navigation dead-ends: Account pages show history, not actions. Buy Again transforms history into one-click intent.
Email passivity: Order confirmations and follow-ups don’t push a clear repurchase path.
Mobile fatigue: Small screens magnify every extra step; this removes most of them.

UX Patterns That Convert (Copy These)

Where to place “Buy Again” calls-to-action:

Account → Orders: A Buy Again button next to each past order; click → cart refilled → checkout.
Order detail page: Line-item level Buy Again for partial reorders.
Mini-cart / Cart page: “Reorder last purchase” smart chip when cart is empty.
Product page: If the user bought this SKU before, show a subtle Buy Again inline link near “Add to cart.”
Transactional emails: Add a Buy Again deep link after delivery (timed to average consumption).

Microcopy that helps:

“Reorder your last setup in one click.”
“Same size, same color, same bundle.”
“Need changes? Edit in cart before checkout.”

Setup (Clean & Reproducible)

Install & activate Buy Again for WooCommerce.
Global settings:
- Enable order-level and item-level “Buy Again” controls.
- Choose rehydration behavior: full order vs. selected items only.
- Respect stock and current prices automatically.
Eligibility rules (see next section): set a base order status list (e.g., completed, processing).
Templates/Blocks:
- Account → Orders: insert the Buy Again button via block/widget or template hook.
- Single product template: enable the “Previously purchased” nudges.
Email insertion:
- Post-delivery follow-up (e.g., Day 25 for a 30-day supply).
- Order “Thank you”/invoice emails with a delayed Buy Again CTA.
Test flows:
- Guest → first order → account creation → Buy Again visibility.
- Logged-in repeat flow on desktop + mobile.

Eligibility Logic (Keep It Predictable)

Recommended base rules:

Order statuses allowed: completed, processing (exclude refunded, cancelled).
Product-level filters: Exclude discontinued/variable legacy SKUs; allow substitutes via mapping (see “Substitutions”).
Stock respect: If out-of-stock, either hide or show with “Notify me” option.
Price freshness: Always use current price/tax; never resurrect stale totals.
Coupon policy: Exclude expired coupons; apply auto-applied loyalty if available.

Substitutions (optional, powerful):

Map old_sku → new_sku so Buy Again seamlessly upgrades customers to the replacement product.
Preserve size/color when attribute slugs match.

Data Model & Hooks (Developer-Friendly)

Typical entities involved:

Order: past line items, quantities, chosen variations, meta (size/color).
Cart rehydration: rebuilds cart lines with current catalog data.
Constraints: stock, min/max qty, purchase rules.

Useful behaviors to check or enable:

Carry variation attributes: color/size/material from last order.
Respect min order qty: if policy changed since last purchase.
Fail soft: if a line can’t be added (OOS), continue with the rest and show a clear notice.

Performance & Scale Notes

Database reads: The plugin reads the last N orders for the user; add proper indices on wp_postmeta for _customer_user and on wp_woocommerce_order_items.
Cache: Page cache is fine; Buy Again actions happen server-side on click.
Concurrency: Cart rebuild is cheap; heaviest cost is variation resolution—keep attribute taxonomies clean.
Mobile first: Ensure the Buy Again button is visible above the fold on Account pages.

Analytics: What to Track (and How to Prove Lift)

Key metrics (weekly dashboard):

% Sessions with Buy Again impression (Account/Email/Product page).
Buy Again CTR (impressions → clicks).
Buy Again Add-to-Cart rate (clicks → cart contains ≥1 prior line).
Buy Again Checkout rate (clicks → order placed).
Time since last purchase (recency buckets).
Incremental revenue from Buy Again vs. matched cohort without exposure.

Event taxonomy (suggested):

buy_again_impression {placement: "account|email|pdp|cart"}
buy_again_click {order_id, item_mode: "full|line"}
buy_again_cart_rehydrated {lines_added, lines_skipped}
buy_again_purchase {order_value, lines_count}

Email Timing & Cadence (Where Re-Order Magic Happens)

Consumables cadence example: Average usage 30 days → send reminder at Day 25, grace at Day 35.
Subject lines that work:
- “Ready to restock? Reorder your last purchase in 1 click.”
- “Same items, faster checkout—Buy Again now.”
Dynamic blocks: If the last order had multiple items, render the top 3 with a Buy Again deep link; otherwise show a single clear CTA.

Personalization Without Overkill

Repeat winners first: Favor SKUs the customer purchased ≥2 times.
Seasonal bias: When a category is in season (e.g., sunscreen), bump it in the email/account module.
Bundle suggest: If last order had A+B, and 28% of repeat buyers add C, surface A+B+C as a one-tap bundle.

A/B Tests You Can Run in a Week

Placement: Account top vs. per-order row.
Wording: “Buy Again” vs. “Reorder” vs. “Repeat last order”.
Default mode: Full order vs. line-item pick list.
Email delay: Day 20 vs. Day 25 vs. Day 30 for 30-day goods.
PDP prompt: Inline buy-again link vs. small badge under the button.

Real-World Playbooks

1) Grocery/Consumables

Setup: Emphasize Buy Again in Account and order-delivered emails.
Rule: If items are perishable, exclude those now blocked by shipping windows.
Result: Higher 60-day repurchase, fewer support tickets.

2) B2B Office Supplies

Setup: Default to full order rehydration; allow checkbox deselection.
Rule: Cap max qty if procurement policy changed.
Result: Month-end reorders drop from 30 minutes to 3.

3) Fashion Basics

Setup: PDP micro-prompt “You bought M last time—want to Buy Again?”
Rule: Respect new collections; if color retired, suggest nearest match.
Result: Loyal users reorder sizes/colors they trust without browsing.

Compatibility & Edge Cases

Coupons/Points: Don’t auto-apply expired codes; do apply live loyalty rules.
Subscriptions: Keep separate from subscription renewals; Buy Again is for ad-hoc repeat orders.
Backorders: If allowed store-wide, show a warning “ships in X days.”
Taxes/Shipping: Always recompute using current rates and the shopper’s default address.
Multisite/Multicurrency: Use site-aware links; ensure currency switches before cart rebuild.

Troubleshooting (Fast Fixes)

Button shows but nothing added: Check allowed statuses and user permissions; confirm items aren’t draft/hidden.
Variation mismatch: Attribute slugs changed; add a temporary mapping for legacy slugs.
Out-of-stock cascade: Enable partial success; show a notice listing skipped SKUs.
Cache confusion: If a CDN caches account pages, bypass cache for logged-in users.
Email link 404s: Ensure deep links route through Woo session initializer before rehydration.

Governance, Privacy & Security

Audit: Log who triggered Buy Again and which order/lines were rehydrated.
Privacy: Don’t expose other users’ order IDs in links; use tokens scoped to the session.
Rate limiting: If bots hammer deep links, add nonce checks and throttle by IP/user.
Access: Only logged-in users with purchase history should see per-order CTAs.

Implementation Checklist (Copy-Paste)

Buttons enabled in Account → Orders and Order detail
PDP micro-prompt for previously purchased SKUs
Email deep links with correct timing per category
Eligibility rules: statuses, stock, substitutions
Analytics events wired (impression → purchase)
A/B test plan for wording/placement
Cache & CDN rules for logged-in users
Accessibility checks (keyboard focus, ARIA labels)

FAQ (Straight Answers)

Does Buy Again for WooCommerce work with variable products?
Yes—when the original order had a variation, the same attributes are reapplied. If a variant is gone, the flow fails soft with a clear notice.

Can I Buy Again only part of an order?
Yes—item-level triggers let shoppers pick just what they need.

Will it apply old prices or coupons?
No—totals are recalculated using current catalog prices, taxes, and shipping rules.

What if stock changed?
Out-of-stock lines are skipped or backordered depending on your store policy.

Final Thoughts

Buy Again for WooCommerce is one of those quiet compounding levers: it doesn’t chase new traffic, it rescues intent you already earned. Ship the basics—account buttons, email deep links, PDP nudges—then tune eligibility and analytics. You’ll see fewer abandoned “I’ll reorder later” sessions, a faster path from intent to checkout, and a reliable lift in repeat revenue.

Buy Again for WooCommerce: How to Lift Repeat Orders with One Click