Repeat purchase rate tells you what share of your customers came back and bought again. It is one number, but it says a lot about product quality, customer experience and how dependent you are on paid ads for every sale.
The formula
Repeat purchase rate = customers with 2 or more orders ÷ all customers who ordered
If 1,000 people ordered from you and 280 of them ordered at least twice, your repeat purchase rate is 28%.
Four mistakes that make the number wrong
1. Counting orders instead of customers
“30% of our orders come from returning customers” is a different metric. One loyal customer with ten orders can push that number up while most customers never come back. Count people, not orders.
2. Including cancelled and refunded orders
A customer whose second order was cancelled did not really come back. Use paid orders only, and leave out fully refunded ones.
3. Mixing old and new customers
If you started running big acquisition campaigns last month, your rate will drop simply because new customers have not had time to come back yet. Two fixes:
- Measure over a fixed window, for example customers whose first order was 6 to 18 months ago.
- Or compare cohorts: of customers who first bought in January, how many had bought again within 90 days?
4. Counting guests as different people
Guest checkouts can make one person look like several customers. Group orders by email address rather than by customer account.
How to calculate it from a Shopify export
- Export your orders as CSV (see how to export Shopify orders).
- Keep one row per order (the CSV has one row per line item, so remove duplicate order numbers).
- Remove cancelled and refunded orders using the Financial Status column.
- Count orders per email address.
- Divide the number of emails with 2 or more orders by the total number of emails.
Or upload the export to our free repeat purchase rate calculator, which does these steps in your browser.
What is a good repeat purchase rate?
It depends heavily on what you sell. Consumables like coffee, skincare and pet food naturally get repeat orders; mattresses and furniture do not. Instead of chasing a benchmark from another industry, track your own number every month and compare cohorts over time. A rising rate means your product and post-purchase experience are working.
Seven ways to raise it
- Nail the first delivery. Fast shipping, careful packing and clear instructions do more than any email.
- Send a useful post-purchase series. How to use the product, what results to expect, and when to reorder.
- Time a reminder to your reorder cycle. If most customers reorder after 45 days, a nudge at day 40 lands at the right moment.
- Recommend the natural next product. Look at what second orders usually contain.
- Make reordering effortless. Saved carts, subscriptions or a one-click reorder link.
- Thank your best customers. Recognition keeps loyal customers loyal; see customer segments.
- Win back people who drift. A good win-back email brings back customers you would otherwise lose.
Track it without spreadsheets
WinBack shows your returning customer share (“Came Back”) on the overview for any date range, next to the groups of customers who did and did not come back. Try WinBack free from the Shopify App Store.