Overview

Returning Customers Percent represents the percentage of orders placed by returning customers within a specific period relative to the total number of orders.

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Returning Customers Percent = Returning Customer Orders / Total Orders

The calculation is based on data from the Orders table.

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Note

Triple Whale classifies all customers as either new or returning, while the main sales platform may leave some unclassified, potentially leading to discrepancies between the two.

Detailed Breakdown

The formula above is derived from the following components:

Returning Customer Orders = sum(if(o.is_new_customer, 0, 1)) --> Orders table
Total Orders = SUM(orders_quantity) --> Orders table

Insights and Actions

The Percentage of Returning Customers is a key metric for understanding customer loyalty and the effectiveness of retention strategies. Efficiently leveraging this data can guide strategic business decisions:

• Enhance Customer Retention Programs: Use insights from the returning customer rate to refine or introduce loyalty programs, personalized offers, and engagement strategies to increase customer loyalty.
• Identify Successful Retention Channels: Analyze which marketing channels and tactics have the highest correlation with customer returns to focus your efforts on the most effective methods.
• Improve Product and Service Offerings: Gather feedback from returning customers to understand what keeps them coming back and where there's room for improvement, then use this information to enhance your offerings.
• Segment and Personalize Communications: Segment your customer base by purchase history and preferences to tailor communications and promotions, encouraging more frequent returns.

Example Use

Prompt

Show me the % of returning customers for the last quarter

Response

Query

WITH
  customers_cte AS (
    SELECT
      COUNT(
        DISTINCT CASE
          WHEN ot.is_new_customer = 0 THEN ot.customer_id
        END
      ) AS returning_customers,
      COUNT(DISTINCT ot.customer_id) AS total_customers
    FROM
      orders_table AS ot
    WHERE
      ot.event_date BETWEEN '2024-07-01' AND '2024-09-30'
  )
SELECT
  COALESCE(
    customers_cte.returning_customers / NULLIF(customers_cte.total_customers, 0),
    0
  ) AS returning_customers_percentage
FROM
  customers_cte;