> ## 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, BigCommerce > Customers with Zero Spend for BigCommerce 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 > The count of customers in the database who have **never placed a paying order**, despite having a customer record (account created, signed up to newsletter, captured at popup, registered for a wishlist). On BigCommerce, customer records can be created through multiple paths: account registration, guest-checkout, newsletter signup, abandoned-cart capture, B2B Edition account creation. Many of these paths create a customer record without ever generating an order. **Zero-spend customers are not necessarily a problem**; they're an opportunity inventory. The question is conversion: how many of them will eventually buy, and what's the right re-engagement strategy? | | | | ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(customers WHERE order_count = 0)`. Customers in the BC database with zero confirmed orders (not counting Incomplete or Cancelled). Aggregated as raw count and as a percentage of total customer base. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a, this is a customer-quality count metric. | | **Shipping** | n/a. | | **Discounts** | n/a. | | **Refunds** | n/a. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | n/a; cancelled orders don't contribute to order count. | | **Currency** | n/a. | | **Channels / sources** | All channels aggregate. POS-acquired customers are sometimes "zero spend in BC" because the POS sale was processed but didn't create the customer record correctly; investigate POS data integrity if zero-spend rate is high. | | **Acquisition path matters** | A customer record from popup signup is structurally different from one from abandoned-cart capture, which is different from account registration. Each has different conversion potential. **Default is to aggregate; toggle to per-source for conversion-rate analysis.** | | **Time-since-creation lens** | A customer who joined yesterday and hasn't bought is normal; one who joined 6 months ago and hasn't bought is unlikely to ever convert. **Filter by customer-record age** to separate "warm prospects" from "cold prospects". | | **B2B Edition behaviour** | B2B customers often create accounts during quote-request flow but don't immediately convert (B2B sales cycles are 7-90+ days). **High zero-spend rate on B2B Edition is structural and not a problem**; the conversion path is longer. | | **Time window** | `90D` (default; settings allow filtering by customer-creation age). | | **Alert trigger** | `>30% of customer base`. Above 30% suggests poor signup-to-purchase conversion or a stale list. | | **Sentiment key** | `zero_spend` | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce 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 US apparel brand on BigCommerce, snapshot 13 May 26. Customer base of 28,400 records. | Acquisition source | Total | With orders | Zero-spend | Zero-spend % | | -------------------------------- | ------- | ----------- | ---------- | ----------------- | | Account registration (web) | 9,200 | 7,400 | 1,800 | 19.6% | | Guest checkout (one-time buyers) | 18,500 | 18,500 | 0 | 0.0% | | Popup newsletter signup | 4,800 | 720 | 4,080 | 85.0% | | Abandoned cart capture | 1,200 | 380 | 820 | 68.3% | | B2B Edition signups | 320 | 95 | 225 | 70.3% | | **Total (incl overlap)** | 28,400+ | | 6,925 | **24.4% of base** | What's interesting: 1. **Popup signup zero-spend at 85% is normal.** Newsletter capture customers convert at 12-20% within 90 days; the 85% who haven't converted are still warm prospects. **Don't write them off**; nurture with email content. 2. **Abandoned cart capture at 68% zero-spend** means recovery campaigns are recovering \~32% of carts. This is healthy (industry benchmark is 25-40%). The 68% who didn't convert are difficult; they bounced for a reason (price, shipping cost, indecision). 3. **B2B Edition at 70% zero-spend is structural.** B2B sales cycles are long; quote-request to first-order can take 30-90 days. Most zero-spend B2B accounts will eventually convert if nurtured. 4. **Account registration at 19.6% zero-spend** suggests a healthy account-create-to-purchase flow. The 1,800 zero-spend registered are typically: registered during checkout abandonment, or registered for wishlist / saved cart. 5. **Total zero-spend at 24.4% of base** is below the 30% alert threshold. Healthy. **The composition tells the story**: nurture popup-capture and B2B; the rest is normal noise. Action playbook this card surfaces: 1. **Trigger nurture flows by acquisition source.** Popup-signup customers need different content than abandoned-cart customers; use Klaviyo or Mailchimp segmentation. 2. **Set up a 90-day-no-purchase re-engagement campaign.** Customers approaching 90 days without ordering get a one-time discount or content offer. 3. **Audit B2B Edition pipeline regularly.** Long zero-spend tails on B2B are normal but warrant CRM attention; assign account managers, schedule outreach, qualify intent. 4. **Don't aggressively cull zero-spend records.** A customer who hasn't bought in 12 months but opens emails has value; segment, don't delete. 5. **Pair with [BC New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/new-customers)** to understand acquisition pace; high zero-spend rate combined with high acquisition pace = healthy pipeline; low pace = stale list. 6. **Cross-reference [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/email-health)** to confirm zero-spend customers are reachable; unverified or bounced addresses contribute to zero-spend without being recoverable. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Zero Spend | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unique-customers) | Denominator. Zero-spend % only meaningful as ratio. | | [BC New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/new-customers) | Acquisition pipeline. New customers contribute to zero-spend until they convert. | | [Repeat Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/repeat-customer-rate) | Inverse view: customers who *did* purchase, and *did* return. | | [Customer Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-acquisition-trend) | Time series. Track zero-spend % over time as a retention-quality KPI. | | [Churn Risk](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-churn-risk) | Forward-looking complement: predicts which paying customers will become zero-spend. | | [Unverified Emails](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unverified-email-customers) | Zero-spend customers with unverified emails are essentially un-recoverable; reachable subset matters. | | [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/email-health) | Email-marketing reachability for zero-spend nurture. | | [BC Customer Segments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-spend-segments) | Segmentation framework for nurture. | | [BC Top Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-customers) | Opposite end of the spectrum. | | [Klaviyo Active Profiles](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_active_profiles) | Cross-connector. Klaviyo's marketable list overlaps with reachable zero-spend customers. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce's own dashboard:** BC doesn't expose a zero-spend rollup natively. The closest tools: * **Customer list filter:** BC Control Panel → Customers → View Customers, filter by "Number of orders = 0". This is the directly-comparable view. * **Customer export:** Settings → Data Solutions → Export → Customers, with order-count column. Pivot in spreadsheet. * **Klaviyo / Mailchimp segments:** The email marketing tool typically has a "Never purchased" segment that overlaps closely with this card. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the vendor's:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ---------------------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Order definition** | Either | We count confirmed orders only (excluding Incomplete and Cancelled); BC's customer-list filter may include cancelled in order count. | | **Customer-record creation paths** | Either | Different BC integrations create customer records differently; our index includes all records, BC reports may filter to active. | | **Sync lag** | Trivial | Customer-record sync every 15-30 minutes. | | **POS customers** | Either | If POS data integrity is poor, POS-only customers may show as zero-spend in BC even though they bought in-store. | | **Anonymous guest checkouts** | Either | Anonymous guests with no email captured don't create a customer record; they're zero records, not zero-spend. | **Cross-connector reconciliation (when both connectors are connected for this merchant):** | Card | Expected relationship | Notes | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.klaviyo_never_purchased`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_never_purchased) | Should match within ±5% on stores where Klaviyo is the email backbone | Klaviyo's "Never purchased" segment overlaps with this card's verified-reachable subset. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) Zero-spend customer counts exist on Shopify and Adobe Commerce with similar definitions but different customer-creation paths. * [`shopify.zero_spend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/customers-with-zero-spend) * [`adobe_commerce.zero_spend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/customers-with-zero-spend)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Should I delete zero-spend customers?** Generally no. Zero-spend customers may convert later (popup-signup customers convert at 12-20% within 90 days; abandoned-cart customers at 25-40%). Segment, don't delete. The exception: customers with bounced emails AND zero spend AND >12 months inactive can be safely removed. **Why is my zero-spend rate so high?** Three usual causes: (1) heavy popup-signup capture (which structurally inflates zero-spend), (2) abandoned cart capture (most of these don't convert), (3) B2B Edition signups (long sales cycle). All are normal in the right proportions. Above 50% blended is unusual; investigate the customer-creation flows. **Can I trigger a re-engagement campaign automatically?** Yes via Klaviyo or BC's email automation. Common pattern: "If customer is registered for 30+ days with zero orders, send Welcome Series Part 2 with a 10% discount". Conversion rates are typically 8-15% on this flow. **My popup-signup zero-spend rate is 90%, is the popup not working?** 85-95% is industry-normal for popup signups. Email capture is high-volume / low-conversion; the 5-15% who eventually buy are the ROI of the popup. Don't optimise for zero-spend rate; optimise for popup-signup-to-purchase conversion within a window. **Should B2B Edition customers be excluded from this card?** Often yes for analytical purposes (B2B sales cycles distort the data), but include them for total-customer-pipeline view. Use channel filter: "show zero-spend for DTC channels only". **Why is my POS customer count showing zero-spend?** POS data integrity issue. The POS sale was processed but the customer record's order\_count didn't increment (a known BC POS bug in some configurations). Audit Settings → POS → Customer Linking; ensure POS sales are linked to BC customer records. **My zero-spend % dropped 8pp this month, what changed?** Possible reasons: (1) customer cleanup (you removed inactive customers from the database), (2) successful nurture campaign converting popup-signup customers, (3) Black-Friday-like event where zero-spend customers all bought at once. Check [BC New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/new-customers) and [Customer Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-acquisition-trend) for correlation. **Are abandoned-cart customers in this card?** Yes if they have a customer record (email captured) but no purchase. Abandoned cart capture creates the customer record; if they don't recover the cart, they show as zero-spend. **Why does this card not show recent newsletter subscribers from yesterday?** Sync lag of 15-30 minutes on customer record updates. Yesterday's subscribers should be in by today; if not, check Settings → Integrations for sync errors. **Does this respect customer-group filters?** Yes via Ask Viq: "zero-spend customers in customer\_group\_id 5 over last 90 days". Useful for B2B-specific analysis. **Should I treat zero-spend as a marketing-budget priority?** Depends on quantity and quality. If you have 10,000 zero-spend warm prospects, a $0.05/email nurture campaign costs $500 and converts 1,000 customers at the long-term LTV. **The right denominator for ROI is acquisition cost saved, not direct conversion.** **My Klaviyo "never purchased" count is much higher than this card, why?** Klaviyo aggregates from many sources beyond BC (popup, signup forms, integrations, custom imports); BC only counts customer records in the BC database. Klaviyo's count > BC's by definition; the difference is non-BC-sourced subscribers. **Can I see customer-record age for zero-spend?** Yes via Ask Viq: "show zero-spend customers grouped by record age". Useful for separating "warm" (created in last 30 days) from "cold" (created >12 months ago). **Should I run a "we miss you" campaign at 90 days?** Yes. The 90-day no-purchase mark is the standard tipping point; conversion rate from re-engagement is highest at 60-90 days, drops sharply after 180 days. **Set this up as a Klaviyo / Mailchimp automation triggered by BC customer record age.** *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Customers with Zero Spend* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce 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.