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Money, pricing & unit economics

What's the difference between repurchase rate and retention rate, and which should I report to investors?

Repurchase rate measures whether a customer bought again at all in a period; retention rate tracks whether they're still active in a cohort-defined sense over time - they answer different questions and conflating them makes your deck look worse or better than reality depending on which one you picked. Report both, but lead with cohort retention curves for investors, because that's what actually predicts LTV and payback, not a single-period repurchase snapshot. 'LTV is the new CAC' isn't a slogan - retention-led brands are the ones clearing 4:1+ LTV:CAC.

Go deeper

2 resources, 2 link-checked.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Directly resolves a confusion most founders don't realise they have - repurchase and retention sound interchangeable but measure different things and get reported inconsistently across decks.

Repurchase vs. Retention Rate: How to Measure and Why These Metrics Are Essential for DTC Brands

From peelinsights.com by Peel Insights

  • Repurchase rate is a period snapshot; retention rate is a cohort-tracked curve over time.
  • Investors and internal teams often conflate the two, producing misleading comparisons.
  • Define which one you're reporting explicitly, every time.
Open peelinsights.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Frames cohort analysis explicitly around profitable growth rather than vanity retention metrics - useful for tying the analysis back to whether growth is actually making money.

Cohort Analysis for DTC Ecommerce: The Practical Way to Measure Profitable Growth

From admetrics.io by Admetrics

  • Cohort analysis should connect to profitability, not just retention percentages.
  • Measure cohorts by acquisition channel to see which channel produces durable customers.
  • Practical setup guidance for teams without a dedicated analytics function.
Open admetrics.io →

Terms in this answer

Customer Acquisition Cost Lifetime Value Retention

People also ask

What is cohort analysis, and why does it matter more than a single repeat-rate number? 3 → How do I calculate customer LTV for my D2C brand - on revenue or on margin? 3 → What's a good repeat purchase rate for my category, and how do Indian brands compare to global benchmarks? 3 → What is RFM analysis, and how do I use it to segment customers for retention marketing? 3 → What tools should I use to actually build cohort and LTV dashboards without hiring a data team? 4 →

Also in Starting Up

The same ground, over in Money, pricing & model, our Starting Up track.

What business model should I choose for my startup? 3 → How do I decide how much to charge for my product? 3 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Close deals and price right, our GTM track.

I have a call booked with a real prospect tomorrow. What do I do on it? 4 → I have no idea what to charge. How do I pick a first price? 4 →

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