● E-commerce
Retention Rate
Percentage of customers who make a repeat purchase in a given period. A cornerstone of sustainable e-commerce growth.
Full definition
The retention rate measures the proportion of customers who make at least one additional purchase over a given period. It is the complementary metric to churn rate: Retention Rate + Churn Rate = 100%. A high retention rate signals a satisfying customer experience and a strong brand-customer relationship — the necessary conditions for profitable, sustainable growth.
Formula: Retention Rate (%) = ((Customers at End of Period - New Customers Acquired) / Customers at Start of Period) × 100. This formula isolates existing customer retention by excluding new acquisitions. In e-commerce, a simplified variant measures the percentage of customers who made more than one purchase in the past 12 months.
Industry benchmarks place average e-commerce retention between 60% and 80% annually. Beauty and nutrition platforms often reach 80-85% due to the recurring nature of purchases. Research shows that acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 7 times more than retaining an existing one, making retention one of the highest-ROI investments available in e-commerce.
Concrete example
A fashion site has 12,000 active customers on January 1st. By December 31st, 8,400 have made at least one repeat purchase (excluding customers newly acquired during the year). The retention rate is 70%. Targeting 75% retains 600 additional customers: at an AOV of €75 and 2.5 orders per year, this generates €112,500 in additional revenue with no advertising spend.
For a cosmetics retailer with 5,000 customers, improving the retention rate from 65% to 72% means 350 additional customers retained. At an LTV of €180 each, that is €63,000 in preserved economic value — without spending a single euro on acquisition.
With Review Collect
Review Collect improves retention by creating positive touchpoints after each purchase. Post-purchase review solicitation — at a 40% response rate — reminds customers of the brand at the right moment and creates engagement that encourages repeat purchase. A customer who has left a review has a significantly higher repeat purchase rate than the average.
Handling negative reviews in under 60 seconds prevents the loss of dissatisfied customers, a significant portion of whom would otherwise churn silently. By turning mediocre experiences into proof of service quality, RC improves brand reputation and creates the conditions for lasting loyalty.
