A Repeat Customer Insights customer was asking about how the time period works and why shorter periods had lower repeat purchases.
In order for a customer to be considered a repeat customer, they need to have made at least two purchases within the selected period.
- All-time means they'll just need to have made two purchases at any time.
- 2020 will be two purchases within the year.
- 2020 Q3 would be two purchases within those three months.
The shorter periods have less time for a customer to become a repeat customer in that timeframe, which is why the Repeat Purchase Rate and Repeat Sales Percentages are lower.
Depending on your products, I usually recommend looking at only the all-time and annual values for those two metrics as the quarterly ones are too short. Some stores use them though, especially subscription-based ones.
If you haven't installed Repeat Customer Insights yet, it's an easy way to get a detailed look at your customer behavior.
Eric Davis
Customer behavior analysis for better Shopify store performance
The Shopify App that increases repeat customer purchases through customer behavior analysis.