> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Customers with Zero Spend, Adobe Commerce > Customers with Zero Spend for Adobe Commerce stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Registered customers (i.e. accounts in `customer_entity`) who have zero captured order revenue across their lifetime. They created an account but never bought, or only had `canceled` orders that never converted. Useful for understanding registration-to-purchase conversion and identifying the "ghost segment" cluttering the customer base. | | | | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(customers WHERE lifetime_grand_total = 0 OR no_orders_ever)` ÷ `COUNT(customers)` × 100. Lifetime spend is the sum of `grand_total` across all the customer's captured orders (excluding `canceled`). A customer with only canceled orders shows here as zero spend. | | **API field** | `customer.entity_id`, joined with `sales_order.customer_id` and `sales_order.grand_total` filtered to `state != 'canceled'`. Lifetime, not windowed. | | **Why this matters** | Registered customers who never spent are either (a) account-created-during-checkout-but-checkout-failed cohort (recoverable), (b) bot/fake registrations (purgeable), (c) genuine browse-but-don't-buy users (re-engageable via marketing flows), or (d) abandoned-checkout-converted-to-account-but-never-finished (high recovery potential). Cross-link with [Unverified Emails](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers) to overlap the segments. | | **Guests** | Excluded by definition. Guests have no `customer_entity` row; this card is registered-customer only. | | **Cancelled orders** | Customers with only-cancelled orders count as zero-spend (the cancelled order didn't capture). | | **Refunded orders** | A customer with one captured-then-refunded order is NOT zero-spend; they spent at order capture. The refund is a downstream event. | | **VAT / tax / shipping / discounts / currency** | n/a, the card is a customer count ratio. | | **Multi-store scope** | All Store Views by default. A customer who has zero spend on UK but bought on US (same email) is NOT zero-spend (the system aggregates across views). | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time snapshot). Lifetime, not windowed. | | **Alert trigger** | `>25% of registered customer base`. Above 25% suggests registration friction, weak welcome flow, or bot pollution. | | **Sentiment key** | `zero_spend` | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Adobe Commerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A B2B+DTC apparel merchant on Adobe Commerce 2.4.7. Snapshot 13 May 26. 28,400 registered customers in the base. **Zero-spend breakdown:** | Slice | Count | % of base | Notes | | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | --------- | ------------------------------------------- | | Total registered customers | 28,400 | 100% | | | Lifetime grand\_total = \$0 (zero captured orders) | 8,520 | **30.0%** | this card; **alert breached (>25%)** | | Of which: never placed any order | 6,820 | 24.0% | account-created without subsequent purchase | | Of which: only-cancelled orders | 1,700 | 6.0% | tried to buy, payment failed | | Suspected bot signups (zero spend + sequential email pattern) | 920 | 3.2% | candidates for purge | | Overlap with Unverified Emails | 3,840 | 13.5% | the "ghost segment" | | Registered \<30 days, zero spend (high recovery potential) | 480 | 1.7% | recent abandonment-recovery cohort | | Registered >12 months, zero spend (low recovery) | 5,200 | 18.3% | dormant ghost segment | **Sub-slice by signup channel:** | Signup source | Zero-spend rate within source | | ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------- | | Storefront sign-up form | 35% | | Checkout "create account" toggle | 18% | | B2B Companies portal (admin-created) | 4% | | Imported migration list | 64% | | Newsletter signup → account | 52% | **Insight pattern:** 1. **30% of registered customers never spent.** Above the 25% alert threshold; investigate. 2. **Imported migration list at 64% zero-spend** is the worst cohort. Many imported customers never re-activated on the new platform. Either (a) ran out of legacy product line, (b) lost interest, (c) email-deliverability prevented re-engagement. Cross-link with [Unverified Emails](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers), the imported cohort is heavily unverified too. 3. **Newsletter signup → account at 52%** is also high. Newsletter signups are top-of-funnel awareness; not all become buyers. This is healthy if the signup-to-buyer conversion rate is on benchmark; investigate via the email-flow funnel. 4. **Checkout "create account" toggle at 18%** is the cleanest cohort. Customers who create accounts during checkout buy 82% of the time (the other 18% had checkout failures). Recover via abandoned-cart email flows. 5. **Storefront sign-up form at 35%** is mid-tier. Recover via welcome-flow drip, exclusive-content, or first-time-purchase incentive. 6. **Bot signups (920 candidates)** should be bulk-purged after manual review of patterns. Cross-link with [Unverified Emails](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers), the overlap of zero-spend + unverified + sequential-email-pattern is the highest-confidence bot indicator. 7. **Action queue:** (a) abandoned-cart recovery flow for the recent zero-spend cohort; (b) re-engagement / sunset flow for >12-month zero-spend; (c) bot purge with manual review; (d) migration-cohort re-confirmation campaign. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Zero-Spend Customers | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unique-customers) | The denominator. | | [Unverified Emails](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers) | Overlap; ghost-segment customers. | | [New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/new-customers) | New customers shouldn't be zero-spend yet (their first order date IS when they spent). The two cards' definitions complement. | | [Customer Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/customer-acquisition-trend) | Over-time growth of the customer base. | | [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/email-health) | Broader email-list quality. | | [Repeat Customer Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/repeat-customer-rate) | Active retention; zero-spend is the dormant counterpart. | | [`klaviyo.dormant_segment`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/dormant_segment) | Klaviyo's dormant-customer segment; pair to drive re-engagement. | | [`shopify.zero_spend_customers`](/nerve-centre/shopify/zero_spend_customers) | Cross-platform peer. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Adobe Commerce Admin:** > **Customers > All Customers** with custom filter "Lifetime Sales = 0". The lifetime-sales column may need to be added via the column customisation menu. For a manual cross-check: > **Reports > Customers > Customers by Orders Total** filter to "0 orders" or "Total = 0". For B2B Companies: > **Customers > Companies** has a per-Company total revenue column; Companies with \$0 lifetime revenue are the equivalent for B2B. **Why our number may legitimately differ from a manual Admin computation:** | Reason | Direction of divergence | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | **Cancelled-only customers**. The card includes them as zero-spend; Admin's "Lifetime Sales = 0" depends on whether Admin counts cancelled orders as "sales" (it shouldn't). Should match. | Usually none | | **Refund handling**. A customer with one captured-then-fully-refunded order may show as "\$0" in some Admin reports (net of refund) but is captured-spend = original `grand_total` in this card (gross). | Card under-flags refunded-only customers | | **Multi-store scope**. Admin scope-filtering can show fewer customers as zero-spend per Store View; the card aggregates across views. | Card potentially lower per-Store-View | | **Time-zone, sync lag**. Standard. | Minor | **Cross-connector reconciliation (when these connectors are connected for this merchant):** | Card | Expected relationship | What divergence tells you | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.dormant_segment`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/dormant_segment) | Klaviyo's "no purchase ever" segment should match this card's count (within profile-sync delta) | Material divergence means profile-sync is incomplete; some Adobe customers aren't reaching Klaviyo. | | [`mailchimp.unengaged_segment`](/nerve-centre/mailchimp/unengaged_segment) | Similar logic | Same diagnostic. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`shopify.zero_spend_customers`](/nerve-centre/shopify/zero_spend_customers) * [`bigcommerce.zero_spend_customers`](/nerve-centre/bigcommerce/zero_spend_customers)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is the threshold set at 25%?** Industry-typical "healthy" sits at 10-20% (B2B-leaning) or 20-30% (heavy-newsletter DTC). Above 25% suggests either bot pollution, weak account-creation funnel, or an aggressive newsletter-to-account flow that isn't converting. Adjust per merchant context. **Should I delete zero-spend customers to clean my database?** Cautious yes for clearly-bot accounts (>12 months old, unverified, sequential email pattern). Cautious no for recent registrations (could still convert). Adobe Commerce supports bulk customer deletion via Admin grid; always export a backup before bulk delete. **A customer registered 2 years ago, never bought, are they "lost"?** Statistically yes. Re-engagement campaigns convert 0.5-3% of >12-month dormant customers; not zero, but the cost-of-send rarely justifies the return. Most merchants run an annual "sunset flow", a final re-engagement attempt; non-responders are unsubscribed. **Why aren't guest customers in this card?** Guests have no `customer_entity` row; they are order-only. By definition, a guest who didn't buy doesn't exist as a record. The card answers "of registered customers, who never bought?". Guests are a different funnel. **Customer with only-cancelled orders, zero-spend or not?** Zero-spend per the card. Cancellation reverses authorisation; no money moved. The customer attempted a purchase but didn't complete. They are in the recoverable cohort if recent (cross-link with abandoned-cart recovery flow). **What about a customer whose only order was fully refunded?** NOT zero-spend per this card; they spent at order capture, the refund is downstream. Use [Refund Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/refund-rate) per-customer to isolate "captured-then-refunded" cohort. **Why does my Reports > Customers > Customers by Orders Total show different?** Three causes: (1) the report aggregates by Customer Group; if a customer is in a group filter, may not appear; (2) cancelled handling differs; (3) report uses base currency, card uses underlying record. Reconcile with same filters. **Bot purge, what's safe?** Conservative: customers >90 days old AND zero-spend AND unverified AND no email-engagement history. That intersection is high-confidence bot. Always export before delete. Spread the delete over time to avoid index churn. **My multi-store, can I see zero-spend per Store View?** Tricky. Customer accounts are typically global (one customer = one account across Store Views in Adobe's default config). To see per-Store-View, look at where the customer registered (`store_id` on the customer record). The card supports this slice. **B2B Company with zero spend, what does that mean?** A Company entity created without any orders yet. Common for B2B where Sales reps onboard the Company before the first PO. Allow 30-90 days; if still zero-spend after 90 days, the onboarding flow has friction. Sales follow-up. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Customers with Zero Spend* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Adobe Commerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.