Cohort Retention %: Customer Retention Rate by Cohort

The percentage of customers in a cohort who made an additional purchase in a subsequent period.

Formula

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
Returning Cohort Customers	Customers who made another purchase after their initial order
Initial Cohort Customers	Total customers who made their first purchase in the cohort period

Metadata
Type	Percentage
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Ratio

Period After First Purchase	Returning Customers	Retention %
Month 2	180	18.0%
Month 3	245	24.5%
Month 6	320	32.0%
Month 12	385	38.5%

Period After First Purchase

Returning Customers

Retention %

Month 2

180

18.0%

Month 3

245

24.5%

Month 6

320

32.0%

Month 12

385

38.5%

How It Works

Cohort Retention % measures what fraction of customers acquired in a given period come back to make additional purchases. Higher retention directly drives LTV since returning customers generate incremental revenue without additional acquisition cost. This is calculated from your Shopify transactions.

Scenario	Action
Evaluating product-market fit	Strong retention signals customer satisfaction
Comparing acquisition channels	Some sources attract more loyal customers
Measuring retention programs	Track impact of loyalty or email campaigns
Forecasting LTV	Higher retention correlates with higher lifetime value

Scenario

Action

Evaluating product-market fit

Strong retention signals customer satisfaction

Comparing acquisition channels

Some sources attract more loyal customers

Measuring retention programs

Track impact of loyalty or email campaigns

Forecasting LTV

Higher retention correlates with higher lifetime value

Metric	Relationship
Cohort Customers	The denominator (initial cohort size)
Repeat Rate	Overall (non-cohort) repeat purchase rate
Purchase Frequency	How often retained customers buy
LTV	Retention is the primary driver of LTV

Metric

Relationship

Cohort Customers

The denominator (initial cohort size)

Repeat Rate

Overall (non-cohort) repeat purchase rate

Purchase Frequency

How often retained customers buy

LTV

Retention is the primary driver of LTV

METRICS

Cohort Retention %: Customer Retention Rate by Cohort

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics