Repurchase Rate Report Walkthrough
The Repurchase Rate Report in Lifetimely helps you understand how many new and active customers make another purchase, so you can analyze and compare repurchasing behavior across cohorts.
What the Report Shows
The report is split into two main sections:
- New Customer Repurchase Rate (%): Shows how many customers make a second purchase after their first, tracked over key timeframes: 30, 90, 180, and 365 days.
- Returning Customer Repurchase Rate (%): Captures the behavior of existing customers who make additional purchases during the selected time period, including 2nd, 3rd, or further purchases.
At the top, you'll see summary cards displaying the average repurchase rate within 30, 90, 180, and 365 days. These averages depend on your selected date range (e.g. if you’ve selected 120 days, the 180 and 365-day averages will not appear).
Chart Breakdown
- X-axis: Monthly cohorts based on customers' first order date.
Y-axis: Percentage of each cohort that repurchased within each timeframe.
Timeframe colors:
- 30 days: Purple
- 90 days: Blue
- 180 days: Green
- 365 days: Orange
đź’ˇ Tip: You can toggle timeframes on/off by clicking the labels above the chart.
Filters
Use the Filters button at the top right to narrow your results. You can filter by:
- Marketing Channel (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) see Lifetimely's Marketing filter definitions here
- Source/Medium (first or last touch)
- Products
- Sales Channels
- Countries
- States
- Customer or Order Tags
- Discount Code or %
- Surveys (available with Upsell integration)
- Saved Cohorts
đź’ˇNote: Choosing a first or last touch channel limits the report to only customers attributed to that specific marketing activity.
Changing the Time Period
Use the timeframe selector in the top left corner to define the reporting period. The data in your report will adjust accordingly.
Industry Benchmarks
For consumable products:
- Typical 90-day repurchase rate: 20–25%
- High-performing brands: 30%+
For non-consumable products:
- Typical 90-day repurchase rate: 10–15%
- High-performing brands: 20%+
Brands acquiring more than 1000 new customers per month and maintaining a 90-day repurchase rate over 25% are considered exceptional.
How to Use This Report
If your repurchase rate is declining:
- Review your win-back flows and lifecycle campaigns
- Audit changes in shipping, returns, product availability, or customer experience
If you're a new brand with limited data:
- Focus on your 90-day repurchase rate
- For consumables, this window supports your CAC payback period
- For non-consumables, it helps test the impact of upsells and cross-sells
If you’re seeing growth:
- Use filters to identify top-performing channels, products, or segments
- Double down on what’s working and refine what isn’t
Why Repurchase Rates Matter
Repurchase rates are a key performance indicator for DTC brands. With rising customer acquisition costs, it’s rare for customers to be profitable on their first order. Monitoring these metrics helps you:
- Understand retention behavior across different cohorts
- Spot opportunities to increase LTV
- Optimize campaign timing and messaging
đź’ˇ Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my repurchase rate in this report different from the Repurchase Rate Breakdown report?
This report excludes repurchase activity from timeframes that haven't fully elapsed—these appear as dashed lines on the graph. For example, the 30-day repurchase rate won't include customers acquired in the last 30 days. The Repurchase Rate Breakdown report includes this data, which can result in different figures.
How should I read a drop in repurchase rate after a campaign?
A sudden drop in repurchase rate following a spike in customer acquisition may reflect differences in the quality or intent of newly acquired customers. This is common after large-scale campaigns. Make sure to allow enough time for those cohorts to mature before evaluating performance.