New Customer Refund %: Track First-Time Buyer Returns

The share of new customer orders that resulted in a refund.

Formula

NC Refund % = ( New Customer Refund Count ÷ New Customers ) × 100

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
New Customer Refund Count	Number of new customer orders with refunds issued
New Customers	Total orders placed by first-time buyers

Metadata
Type	Percentage
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your store had 8.2% New Customer Refund % this quarter:

Metric	Value	Context
NC Refund Count	164	Orders refunded
NC Order Count	2,000	Total NC orders
NC Refund %	8.2%	Above 5% benchmark

How It Works

This metric divides the number of new customer refunds by total new customer orders, expressed as a percentage. A rising refund rate among first-time buyers often signals product-expectation misalignment, misleading ads, or quality issues that disproportionately affect acquisition.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Launching new products	Monitor if first-time buyers return items more often
Evaluating ad creative	High NC refund % may indicate misleading messaging
Comparing customer segments	Benchmark against Returning Customer Refund %
Optimizing acquisition channels	Identify which traffic sources drive low-quality buyers

Metric	Relationship
New Customer Refunds	Dollar amount of refunds (this metric is the rate)
New Customer Refund Count	Numerator in this formula
Returning Customer Refund %	Same metric for repeat buyers
New Customer %	Share of orders from first-time buyers

See all Adjustments metrics →

NC Refund Count NC Refund Per Order

⌘I

​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics