The biggest problem blocking stores from having better repeat customer is getting new customers to come back and place their second order.
This 1-to-2 order problem easily overshadows everything else with customer loyalty and retention.
There are quite a few metrics you can look at to see how well your store is doing but when it comes to solving the problem there's one thing that works best:
Ask your repeat customers why they came back.
Find out what separates your strong (repeat customers) from weak (one-time customers) and then you can improve that like any other optimization project. Do more of something, do less of something, add something, etc.
Depending on your order volume you can send repeat customers a post-purchase email, call, or ask them to fill out a survey. You won't get every answer you need but you should collect enough information to start working to improve things for your one-time customers.
Get more one-time customers to come back and place a second order and you'll find many things become easier.
In Repeat Customer Insights you'll want to pair this information with the Order Sequencing Analysis and Customer Segmenting to see who is ordering and track their improvements over time.
Eric Davis
Start noticing seasonal spikes in customer behavior
Cohort reports let you detect seasonal spikes as well as long-term retention cycles. Repeat Customer Insights can automatically create cohorts for your Shopify store, going back to your very first order.