Customers reports

With the following reports, you can gain helpful insights about your customers, including their average order count, average order totals, and expected purchase value:

  • Customers over time
  • First-time vs returning customer sales
  • Customers by location
  • Returning customers
  • One-time customers
  • Customer cohort analysis
  • Predicted spend tier

Because of the way that the customer reports are generated, they might not display all the activity on your store from the past 12 hours. However, when you open the First-time vs returning customer sales report report, the data is up to date, give or take a few seconds. You can reopen or refresh the report to display newer data.

The data in customer reports is based on the entire order history of the new customers in the report, not only the orders that were placed during the selected timeframe. For example, if you access a report for November only, then a new customer from that month still displays as a repeat customer, even if they made their second purchase in December.

Access your customer reports

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
  2. Click Categories.
  3. Click Customers to filter the reports to show only customers reports.

Customers over time

The Customers over time report displays how many customers placed orders with your store.

You can select a unit of time in the Group by drop-down menu to control how the data is grouped.

The report table displays two rows for each time unit when there are both types of customer: one for first-time customers, and one for returning customers. A first-time customer is a customer who placed their first order with your store. A returning customer is a customer who placed an order, and whose order history already includes at least one order.

For each time unit, you can find the following data:

  • The number of new (first-time) customers who placed an order during that time. Such a group of customers is often called a new cohort of customers.
  • The number of returning customers who placed an order during that time.

First-time vs returning customer sales

The First-time vs returning customer sales report displays the value of orders placed by first-time and returning customers.

You can click Group by to select the time unit that you want to display the total sales by in the graph: hour, day, week, month, quarter, year, hour of day, day of week, or month of year. The time unit specifies how the total sales are grouped.

The report table display two rows for each time unit when there are both types of customer: one for first-time customers, and one for returning customers. A first-time customer is a customer who placed their first order with your store. A returning customer is a customer who placed an order, and whose order history already includes at least one order.

For each time unit, you can find the following data:

  • the number of orders placed by each group of customers
  • the value of orders (total sales) placed by each group of customers

Customers by location

The Customers by location report displays data for new customers organized by geographical location. New customers are organized according to the geographical location in their default address in your Shopify admin.

For each geographical region, you can find:

  • the number of new customers who placed their first order during the selected timeframe
  • the total number of orders that those customers have placed since their first order
  • the total amount that they have spent, including taxes, discounts, shipping, and any refunds

The Orders and Amount spent to date totals are based on the entire order history of the new customers in the report, not only the orders that were placed during the selected timeframe.

Returning customers

The Returning customers report displays data about all your customers whose order history includes two or more orders.

You can find the following details for each customer:

  • their name
  • their email address
  • whether they agreed to accept marketing when they placed their most recent order
  • the date of their first order
  • the date of their most recent order
  • the number of orders that they have placed
  • the total amount that they have spent, including taxes, discounts, shipping, and any refunds

One-time customers

The One-time customers report displays data about all your customers whose order history includes only one order.

You can find the following details for each customer:

  • their name
  • their email address
  • whether they agreed to accept marketing when they placed their most recent order
  • the date of their first order.
  • the number of orders that they have placed, which is 1
  • the value of their order, including taxes, discounts, shipping, and any refunds

Customer cohort analysis

The Customer cohort analysis report displays data about your customer acquisition and retention. A cohort is defined as a group of customers that have similar characteristics. For the Customer cohort analysis report, customers are grouped into cohorts based on the date that they placed their first order.

You can use this report to find out which customers have made repeat purchases to identify your most valuable customers. You can use this information to help you make decisions about when to retarget customers, which customers to retarget, and which customers are lower value.

The Customer cohort analysis contains the following elements:

Cohort analysis table

The cohort analysis table displays data about repeat purchases by customers based on when they made their first purchase. Each row represents a cohort of your customers that made their first purchase in the same time period. The first column displays the name of the cohort, based on the week, month, or quarter of their first purchase. The second column displays the sum of the selected metric for each cohort row. The third column displays the selected metric for the cohort's first orders. The rest of the columns display the selected metric over the weeks, months, or quarters since their first order. The period 0 column captures returning orders by the cohort's customers in the same period as their first order.

For example, your customer John made their first purchase in February 2022. John then made another purchase in February 2022, June 2022 and in September 2022. In a monthly cohort analysis for 2022, John would be in the February cohort and would be counted as a repeat customer for Month 0, Month 4, and Month 7.

You can customize the report in the following ways:

  • change the time period that cohorts are grouped by
  • change the time period that the report displays
  • change which metric is displayed, including number of customers, customer retention rate, gross sales, net sales, or average order value
  • include predicted values for the Amount spent per customer metric
  • apply filters to determine which customers are included in the cohort analysis (the cohort inclusion criteria). There are two types of filters: first order filters and customer filters (about the customers in the cohort)
  • view cumulative and non-cumulative sales metrics

Retention rate chart

The Retention rate chart displays the retention rate of all first-time customers during the time period that the report displays. You can also display the following comparisons:

  • Comparison to previous period
  • Comparison to previous year
  • Comparison between cohorts

You can also display the retention rate for customers in all cohorts for the selected time period, or select a single cohort to display the retention rate for.

Cohort analysis details

You can access the cohort analysis details by clicking All, or a specific time period in the Cohort column. You can find the following details for each cohort:

  • gross, net, and total sales for the selected cohort
  • average order value and average number of orders per customer in the cohort
  • amount spent per customer
  • total new or returning customers and their total number of orders
  • the top products baskets sold to the customers in the selected cohort
  • the top marketing channels responsible for directing the cohort’s customers to your business
  • the top sales channels that processed the cohort’s orders
  • the predicted spend tier overview for the cohort
  • a ratio of orders containing one-time vs subscription purchases
  • the top geographic locations of customers in this cohort

Predicted values

The Predicted values option displays predictions about the future amount spent per customer cohort. To activate the feature in the Customer cohort analysis report, select Amount spent per customer as the displayed metric and then activate the Predicted values toggle. The prediction data displays with a purple highlight in the future months in the table, and as a purple line in the line chart.

These predictions are based on the data from your store, compiled over the previous 24 months for each cohort, in order to give an estimate for the anticipated average amount spent per customer in each cohort. If 24 months of data aren't available, then the Predicted values toggle won't display and you won't have the ability to view prediction data. The data isn't based on information from any other stores or averages for your industry, and data isn't shared with any other stores.

Cohort inclusion filters

There are two types of filters you can apply that determine which customers are included in the cohort analysis:

  • First order filters (characteristics about the customers’ first order): sales channel, marketing channel, marketing type, product name, subscription
  • Customer filters (characteristics about the customers within a cohort): country, region, city, email subscription status

Using the cohort analysis report for customer segmentation

You can use the data from the Customer cohort analysis report to create customer segments out of high-value customer cohorts.

For example, if the customer cohort for June of 2022 indicates high retention, then you can create a customer segment by using the First_order_date BETWEEN 2022-06-01 AND 2022-06-30 .

Learn more about customer segmentation.

Predicted spend tier

The Predicted spend tier report displays the predicted value of each customer in the selected cohort. This report can help you target customers that are part of the highest value cohorts. You can find the following details for each customer in the cohort:

  • customer name
  • the predicted spend tier
  • email subscription status
  • the date the customer placed their last order
  • the number of orders that they have placed
  • the total amount that they have spent, including taxes, discounts, shipping, and any refunds

Learn more about how the predicted spend tier is determined.

At-risk customers

Loyal customers

Customize the Customers reports

You can use the filtering and editing features to customize the reports about your customers.

The following is a sample of some of the filters and columns that are available, where applicable.

Filters for the Customers reports

List of filters for the Customers reports, including the filter category, name, and definition.
Filter categoryFilter name - Definition
Customer
  • Customer email - The email address associated with a customer.
  • Customer name - The first and last names of a customer.
Customer attributes
  • Accepts marketing - Whether customers agreed to accept marketing when they placed their most recent order.
  • Is one-time - Customers whose order history includes only 1 order.
  • Is returning - Customers whose order history includes more than 1 order.
Customer segment
  • Is dormant - Customers who have a low probability of returning to make another purchase. As of August 16, 2023, this report is no longer available.
  • Is promising - Customers who are estimated to have a high probability of returning and becoming a loyal customer.
Location
  • City/Country/Region - The city, country, and region of customers, based on their default address in your Shopify admin.

Columns for the Customers reports

List of columns for the Customers reports, including the column category, name, and definition.
Column categoryColumn name - Definition
Customer
  • Customer email - The email address associated with a customer.
  • Customer name - The first and last names of a customer.
  • Customers - The total number of first-time and repeat customers who placed their an order during the selected timeframe.
Customer attributes
  • Accepts marketing - Whether customers agreed to accept marketing when they placed their most recent order.
  • Is one-time - Customers whose order history includes only 1 order.
  • Is returning - Customers whose order history includes more than 1 order.
Customer segment
  • Is dormant - Customers who have a low probability of returning to make another purchase. As of August 16, 2023, this report is no longer available.
  • Is promising - Customers who are estimated to have a high probability of returning and becoming a loyal customer.
First order
  • First order (day/month/week/year) - The date of a customer's first order.
Last order
  • Last order (day/month/week/year) - The date of a customer's last order.
Location
  • City/Country/Region - The city, country, and region of customers, based on their default address in your Shopify admin.
Orders
  • Amount spent - The total amount that customers has spent, including taxes, discounts, shipping, and any refunds. For example, let's suppose a customer ordered two $50 items from your store, paid no tax, received 10% on one of the items, spent $10 in shipping, and received a $7 refund for a shipping delay. In this example, the Total spent to date would calculate 50 + 45 + 10 - 7 and display a total of $98.
  • Orders - The number of orders that a customer has placed.
  • Amount spent per order - The average amount that customers have spent across all their orders. It's calculated by dividing the customers' total amount spent by their total number of orders.
Time
  • Day/Month/Week - The day, month, and week of the order.

Example customization: Target an email campaign towards returning customers

If you want to use an email campaign to encourage returning customers to make another purchase, then you could customize your Returning customers report so that it displays only the returning customers who agreed to accept marketing.

To create the report for this example:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
  2. Click Categories.
  3. Click Customers to filter the reports to show only customers reports.
  4. Click Returning customers.
  5. From the Returning customers report, click Manage filters.
  6. Click Add filter.
  7. Select Accepts marketing, and then in Search, select Yes.
  8. Click Apply filters.

The report is now limited to returning customers who accept marketing.

You can then export the report to a CSV file, and you can use all the email addresses in the file for your email campaign.

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