New Customer Contribution Margin %: Acquisition Efficiency

Percentage of new customer net revenue remaining as contribution margin, filtered by customer_type = new_customer.

Formula

New Customer Contribution Margin % = ( New Customer Contribution Margin ÷ New Customer Net Revenue ) × 100

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
New Customer Contribution Margin	Total profit from new customers after COGS, fulfillment, transaction, and marketing costs
New Customer Net Revenue	Net revenue from new customers after discounts and refunds
customer_type = new_customer	Filters to orders from first-time buyers only

Metadata
Type	Percentage
Data Source	Shopify, Cost Settings
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your store generated $45,200 in new customer contribution margin from $125,000 in net revenue, yielding a 36.2% margin rate:

Customer Type	Net Revenue	Contribution Margin	Margin %
New Customers	$125,000	$45,200	36.2%
Returning Customers	$200,000	$142,000	71.0%

The two rows don’t add up to store-wide CM3, because each one subtracts all of your ad spend.

How It Works

This metric divides new customer contribution margin by new customer net revenue to show what portion of acquisition revenue converts to profit. Lower percentages indicate higher relative costs (COGS, fulfillment, marketing) against first-order revenue—common for brands investing heavily in customer acquisition. Upstack calculates the rate from order data and ad spend. Recurring expenses and variable costs in the Marketing category aren’t included, so with those configured it won’t equal dollar NC CM3 ÷ NC net revenue.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Evaluating acquisition efficiency	Compare margin % between new and returning customers
Setting CAC targets	Ensure acquisition costs don’t exceed acceptable margin thresholds
Channel optimization	Identify which channels acquire customers with better margins
Pricing analysis	Determine if new customer promotions erode profitability

Metric	Relationship
New Customer Contribution Margin	The numerator (dollar amount before percentage)
New Customer Net Revenue	The denominator (revenue base for the percentage)
Returning Customer Contribution Margin %	Same calculation for repeat buyers
Contribution Margin %	Blended margin across all customer types

See all Contribution Margin metrics →

​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics