New Customer Refund Per Order: Average First-Buyer Refund

The average refund amount issued per new customer order.

Formula

NC Refund Per Order = New Customer Refunds ÷ New Customers

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
New Customer Refunds	Total refund dollars from first-time buyers
New Customers	Count of orders from first-time buyers

Metadata
Type	Currency
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your store processed 847 new customer orders in February with $2,965 in refunds:

Metric	Value
New Customer Refunds	$2,965
New Customer Orders	847
NC Refund Per Order	$3.50

Compare this to your Returning Customer Refund Per Order of $2.18—new customers cost 60% more in refunds per order.

How It Works

This metric divides total new customer refunds by total new customer orders—not just refunded orders. This gives you the average refund liability per first-time buyer transaction, helping you understand acquisition quality and the true cost of acquiring new customers after accounting for returns.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Evaluating acquisition channels	Identify campaigns driving higher new customer refund rates
Comparing NC vs RC behavior	New customers typically have higher refund rates than repeat buyers
Assessing product-market fit	High values may indicate targeting issues or unmet expectations
Budgeting for returns	Factor into CAC and payback period calculations

Metric	Relationship
New Customer Refunds	Numerator: total NC refund dollars
New Customers	Denominator: NC transaction count
New Customer Refund %	Percentage of NC orders refunded
Returning Customer Refund Per Order	Compare new vs returning customer refund behavior
Refund Per Order	Overall refund per order across all customers

See all Adjustments metrics →

NC Refund %RC Refunds

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​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics