How to improve repeat purchase rate: 8 Ways that actually work

To improve repeat purchase rate, make the second order easier to place, better timed, and more rewarding than the first.

Most new customers decide whether to return within weeks of receiving their order. The information they get from you during this time, and how easy it is to reorder, make all the difference.

Further down, you will find how to calculate your repeat purchase rate, the ideal percentage for your industry, why buyers go off course, and solutions to get them back on track.

What is repeat purchase rate?

The repeat purchase rate is the percentage of customers who buy two or more times from the business during a given period, usually 12 months.

This helps you understand how often customers return to buy again. A company with 1,000 customers last year, of which 250 ordered again, has a repeat purchase rate of 25%.

The repeat purchase rate indicates whether the product, packaging, and delivery matched the page. Ads can buy a first order. The second one mostly depends on how the first one went.

Four things can move the number without any real change in loyalty:

• Split carts count as repeats.
• Exchanges can count too.
• Reorders on other channels don’t show up.
• Gift buyers skew it low.

Why improving repeat purchase rate matters

The easiest way to increase your business’s profitability is to improve your repeat purchase rate, since it directly impacts the bottom line without raising marketing expenses.

Here is exactly why improving the repeat purchase rate:

• Lowers Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC): Acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one.
• Boosts Average Order Value (AOV): Familiarity builds trust, and trust drives higher spending. Repeat customers buy more frequently and spend more per order than first-time buyers.
• Generates Free Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Loyal, repeat buyers naturally transition into brand advocates. They are highly likely to write positive online reviews and share your products on social media.
• Acts as proof of Product-Market Fit: A low repeat purchase rate is an early warning sign that something is wrong with your product quality, shipping experience, or customer service.
• Drives Predictable Cash Flow: A solid base of returning buyers creates predictable, recurring baseline revenue, making inventory planning and financial forecasting much safer.

The acquisition math makes this sharper. Say you spend $40 on ads to win a customer whose first order brings in $35 in gross margin. That customer costs you money until they order again.

Repeat customers change that, since each later order costs little or nothing to acquire.

How to calculate repeat purchase rate

The repeat purchase rate formula divides the number of customers with two or more orders by the total number of customers in the same period, then multiplies by 100.

Repeat purchase rate = (Customers with 2 or more orders ÷ Total customers) × 100

Here’s a quick repeat purchase rate calculation example.

Your store had 4,800 customers between January and December, and 1,056 of them ordered at least twice. Divide 1,056 by 4,800 to get 0.22. Multiply by 100 to get a repeat purchase rate of 22% for the year.

The math is simple. Getting clean inputs takes more care:

• Match the window to your buying cycle: 90 days for fast consumables, 12 months for most other stores.
• Count unique customers, not orders, and merge duplicate profiles created by guest checkout.
• Report subscription renewals separately, or they’ll inflate the number.
• Leave out test orders, staff orders, and fully refunded orders.
• Keep the same reporting window every time so month-to-month changes aren’t caused by the window itself.

Most ecommerce platforms provide both metrics in their customer reports, usually by comparing new customers to returning customers over a period you choose.

See what the returning customer is defined as in your report.

What is a good repeat purchase rate?

A good RPR in an ecommerce business should fall between 20% and 30%, but whether that is good depends heavily on what products you sell and how often they’re used.

Benchmarks by Industry and Product Type

Category	Typical repeat purchase rate	What drives it
Consumables (supplements, food and drink, disposables)	30% to 40%	Products run out, so reorders happen on their own schedule
Fashion (apparel, beauty and luxury, jewelry)	12% to 17%	Second orders come from new styles and seasons, not refills
Durables (home decor, general retail)	10% to 15%	Long replacement cycles, so a second order is usually a different product

Benchmarking is not the same because customer definitions vary. Some include loyal customers in the database, while others count customers over a short period.

How to evaluate your tier

• Below 20%: Your company is too dependent on continually acquiring new visitors through marketing efforts or paid ads.
• 20% to 30%: Average. Your company is doing well, but there is definitely room to improve the post-purchase flow and second-order timing.
• 30% to 40%: Retention is good. Your company has good product-market fit and good customer engagement processes.
• Above 40%: Exceptional. This is likely supported by a consumable product line, subscription-based products, or an aggressive loyalty program.

Why customers don’t buy again

Clients tend to order only once because their initial experience was bad, you went silent after delivery, or it took too long to place an order with your store.

• The delivery went wrong: From the client’s perspective, the courier represents your store. A late, damaged, or lost package can ruin the whole order, even if the product is fine.
• The product didn’t match the page: The wrong size, color, or quality leads to returns, and very few will order from a store that returns goods.
• Poor Product Quality or Experience: If the product doesn’t live up to the claims marketers make or breaks down quickly, there is no chance of repeat orders.
• You went silent after the receipt: Most customers will learn about you through the ads you placed and remember your shop name for only a month unless you give them a reason to.
• The first order was a one-off: A present or replacement part has no intrinsic reason to be returned. They should see the next useful thing that you are offering.
• The discount was the reason they bought: Shoppers who came in on a deep first-order code tend to wait for the next code, or for another store’s.
• Reordering is a chore: Searching for the product again, logging in, and retyping card details pushes people toward a marketplace where the same item is one tap away.

8 Ways to improve repeat purchase rate

Fixes one and two cover the weeks after delivery, when most second orders happen, so they usually increase repeat purchase rate fastest. The others widen the reasons to come back.

1. Optimize post-purchase flows & timing

The “post-purchase” window is the highest-engagement period in the customer journey. Customers open transactional emails (tracking, receipts) at much higher rates than standard marketing emails.

Build the flow around delivery events, not the order date, since shipping times vary. A sequence that works for most stores looks like this:

1. An order confirmation that sets expectations: delivery date, what’s in the box, and who to contact.
2. Shipping updates, including a proactive note if the parcel is running late.
3. A how-to-use or care email a day or two after delivery.
4. A review request once the buyer has had time to use the product.
5. A next-product or reorder email timed to your typical gap between first and second orders.

Keep discounts out of the early emails. A useful tip or delivery heads-up earns more goodwill than an unsolicited code.

2. Send replenishment reminders based on product usage

Most second orders are a refill of the first. Shoppers usually come back for the exact product they already bought, not something new.

This works best for goods that get run out, such as supplements, coffee, skincare, and pet food. If your store sells any of these items, your first flow should remind them to replenish.

Example: If a customer bought a 30-day supply of vitamins, a reminder on day 25 hits them exactly when they realize they are running low.

Keep each reminder to the one product they bought, in the same size, with a link that drops it straight into the cart.

3. Implement behavior-based personalization

Generic, blast marketing actively causes unsubscribe spikes. Personalization treats customers like individuals.

A first name in the subject line doesn’t count. Shoppers notice the difference. An email about the product they own reads like service, while a generic promo reads like every other brand in their inbox.

Start with a few behavioral segmentation groups that map to repeat buying:

• One-time buyers, grouped by first product, since that product predicts the next one.
• Customers who browsed after buying, and which products they looked at.
• Full-price buyers versus discount-only buyers, so codes go only where they’re needed.
• Customers past their usual reorder date, who are drifting toward lapsed.

4. Build an action-driven loyalty & rewards program

An action-driven program rewards the steps that lead to the next order, not only spending. Reviews, referrals, account sign-ups, and birthdays can all earn points.

That matters most for one-time buyers. They haven’t spent enough to earn much, but they can still build a balance worth coming back for.

Program design decides whether a loyalty program changes behavior or just hands out discounts to people who’d have bought anyway:

• Put the first reward within reach of one or two orders.
• Give extra points for photo and video reviews.
• Show the points balance in post-purchase emails.
• Add VIP tiers for top buyers, with perks like free shipping or early access.
• If points expire, send a reminder first.

WiserReview’s loyalty program runs from your review dashboard. Consumers earn points from orders, reviews, referrals, and birthdays, and advance through different VIP levels. The referral extension offers each consumer a personal URL.

5. Ask for reviews and act on feedback

Requesting a review lets you talk to customers after delivery without pushing sales. You’ll get an opportunity to resolve issues that could come up.

How you ask matters too. Customers who write about how a product made them feel are more likely to buy again than those asked to grade it point by point.

77% of customers feel more loyal to brands that ask for and act on their feedback.

WiserReview sends review requests by email, SMS, WhatsApp, or QR code after delivery, follows up with automatic reminders, and can send a coupon once a review is in.

For timing and template tips, see our guide on how to get more product reviews.

6. Build a win-back campaign for lapsed buyers

Every store has a “churn threshold”, the point at which a customer is likely gone for good if they haven’t reordered.

A win-back sequence of three or four emails covers it:

1. A plain reminder with no discount: their last product, what’s new, and your current bestsellers.
2. Proof and reasons: reviews of products that fit what they bought, plus anything you’ve improved since.
3. An offer scaled to the customer’s past value. A high spender earns more than a one-time discount buyer.
4. A last note that asks, in one click, why they stopped buying.

Then suppress anyone who didn’t open any of them. Mailing people who never engage raises spam complaints and pushes your other emails toward the spam folder.

Win-back won’t recover most lapsed buyers. It backs up the earlier fixes rather than replacing them.

7. Make reordering fast and easy

Reordering should take no more than a few seconds. Any extra step between “out of stock” and “confirm your order” gives the customer a chance to use the marketplace.

Forcing the shopper to create an account can be a major reason they stop, and it hits even harder on a reorder.

So keep guest checkout, then offer an account on the thank-you page with the details already filled in. Sign-in by email link removes the forgotten-password wall next time.

Execution: Save customer accounts, implement high-performance checkouts like Shop Pay, and integrate “Buy It Again” buttons directly into account dashboards and post-purchase emails.

8. Cross-sell products that fit the customer’s first purchase

Refills don’t apply to everything. Furniture and electronics buyers rarely need the same item twice, so their second order is almost always something different.

For durable goods, that’s the main path to a second order.

Good cross-sells follow from the first purchase, not from your bestseller list:

• Accessories that make the first product work better, like a phone case or a monitor stand.
• Consumables the first product needs, such as filters, refills, or cleaning kits.
• Pieces that complete a set, like matching pillowcases or the next pan in a cookware range.
• An upgrade the buyer buys after using the entry version for a while.

Find your pairs in order data. For each top-selling first product, check which items show up most often in second orders, then build a flow for each pair.

Metrics to track alongside repeat purchase rate

To understand customer retention properly, you can’t rely on the RPR number in isolation.

Measuring it alongside related metrics helps you understand the reasons behind changes and whether retention is making you money.

1. Financial value metrics

These metrics tell you how much returning customers are worth to your business.

• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV / CLV): The total revenue a customer generates for your business over their entire relationship.
• Average Order Value (AOV): The average dollar amount a customer spends each time they place an order.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to LTV Ratio: The relationship between the cost to get a new customer and the value they bring.

2. Time and frequency metrics

These metrics show when and how often customers buy.

• Time Between Purchases (TBP): The average number of days between a customer’s first and second order.
• Purchase Frequency (PF): How many times the average customer buys from your store over a set period (usually a year).

3. Health and Stability Metrics

These metrics measure your risk of losing customers.

• Customer Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who fail to make a repeat purchase within your typical buying cycle.
• Cohort Retention Rate: Retention broken down by the month or week the customer first bought.

Wrap up

Most shops lose customers on their second order, a decision made in the first few weeks after they receive the order. That is where you need to focus.

Use one period for your repeat order rate, then craft a flow that fits your product offering. This will include replenishment triggers for when they run out and cross-sell triggers for when they don’t.

Integrate reviews, loyalty programs, easy reorder processes, and monitor your cohort metrics monthly. For the bigger picture on ecommerce customer retention, our practical guide covers the full lifecycle.