> ## 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. # New Customers, BigCommerce > New Customers 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 > Distinct customer count whose first BC order falls in the last 30 days, vs the prior 30 days. The single-period summary that pairs with [Customer Acquisition Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-acquisition-trend) (the daily shape). New customers are the leading indicator for top-of-funnel health, where the trend tells you "what's happening", this number tells you "by how much". | | | | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `CARDINALITY(customerId WHERE first_order_date in last 30 days)`. We identify each customer's first-order date; if it falls in the last 30 days, the customer counts as new. Returning customers don't contribute. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a, customer count. | | **Shipping** | n/a. | | **Discounts** | n/a. | | **Refunds** | Not deducted. A customer whose first order was later refunded still counts (commerce reality is messier than booking accounting). | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Included. We count the customer at the moment they placed an order, not after payment outcome. | | **Currency** | n/a. | | **Channels / sources** | All BC channels contribute. POS first-time customers (often walk-ins providing email at the till), Amazon Channel Manager first-purchasers, B2B portal first-buyers, all count. **The channel mix of new customers is more meaningful than the headline count.** Pair with [BC Channel Revenue Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/revenue-mix-by-channel). | | **Guest checkout treatment** | A guest checkout has `customerId = 0`. We do NOT roll all guests into a single customer; each guest order's `customerId = 0` row is treated as its own first-time event. **For stores with heavy guest traffic this may overcount.** A registered-customer-only view filters `customerId != 0`. | | **B2B Edition note** | B2B procurement teams typically register once and order repeatedly. The first-time count reflects new accounts, not new orders; a B2B store with a flat new-customer count and growing revenue is healthy. | | **Vs prior 30 days comparison** | The card shows two numbers: current 30 days and prior 30 days. Delta % = (current - prior) / prior. Useful for spotting acquisition acceleration or decay. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP` (rolling 30 days vs prior 30 days) | | **Alert trigger** | None at this card directly, but the delta is monitored as part of [BC Channel Revenue Drop Alert](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/channel-revenue-drop-alert). | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation ``` CARDINALITY(customerId WHERE first_order in window) WHERE date BETWEEN [period_start, period_end] ``` ## Worked example A US homewares brand on BigCommerce Pro, comparing 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26 vs 12 Feb 26 to 13 Mar 26. | Metric | Prior 30 days | Last 30 days | Delta | | ------------------------------ | ------------- | ------------ | ------ | | New customers (total) | 1,140 | 980 | -14.0% | | New via web (Stencil) | 880 | 720 | -18.2% | | New via POS | 95 | 110 | +15.8% | | New via Amazon Channel Manager | 165 | 150 | -9.1% | What's interesting: 1. **Headline 14% drop in new customers is concerning.** That's roughly $24-32k of foregone first-order revenue (at $80 AOV × 1.5 orders avg first 30 days). Compounded over 12 months this is the kind of dip that defines an acquisition decay arc. 2. **The web channel is the cause.** -18.2% drop on web outweighs the small POS gain. Acquisition decay in this store is web-channel-specific, almost always paid-channel-driven (CPM rises, fatigued creative, ad-account issues). Pair with [Google Ads](/nerve-centre/google_adwords/google_adwords) cost-per-acquisition data. 3. **POS rose 15.8%, masking part of the headline drop.** A new physical store opened mid-period, generating walk-in acquisition. POS is structurally a different acquisition mechanism than web; treat the two channels separately for diagnostic purposes. 4. **Amazon Channel Manager dropped 9%** which is normal seasonal noise. Below ±15% on a single channel month-over-month is rarely worth investigating in isolation. 5. **The 980 new customers are a stockpile, not a flow.** Each becomes a candidate for the welcome flow, the cross-sell flow, and the first-repeat-purchase trigger. **The retention-marketing team should be working harder during acquisition droughts**, repeat orders from the existing base offset acquisition decay. The diagnostic playbook when this number drops materially (10%+): 1. **Decompose by channel.** Use [BC Channel Revenue Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/revenue-mix-by-channel) plus a channel-filtered view of this card. Drops almost always concentrate in 1-2 channels. 2. **Cross-reference paid acquisition cost.** Open [Google Ads](/nerve-centre/google_adwords/google_adwords) and Meta Ads dashboards; rising CPC / CPM with stable spend = fewer customers acquired. The drop is platform-side, not your campaign-side. 3. **Audit organic traffic via BC Organic Recovery Rate.** Slower-moving organic decay can compound over months; check whether ranking has slipped on key landing pages. 4. **Email / CRM activity check.** If [`klaviyo.kl_new_subscribers`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_new_subscribers) is also down, top-of-funnel reach has shrunk; if subscribers are stable but customers dropped, conversion of subscribers to first-purchase has weakened. 5. **Check for technical regressions.** A theme update, a checkout-flow change, or a payment-gateway misconfig can all suppress new-customer counts in ways the marketing team doesn't immediately see. Pair with BC Incomplete Rate. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with New Customers | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [Customer Acquisition Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-acquisition-trend) | The daily-shape version. This card is the period summary; that one shows the daily build. | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unique-customers) | The total customer base. New customers / total customers = acquisition velocity. | | [Repeat Customer Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/repeat-customer-rate) | The retention complement. New customers grow the base; repeat rate determines whether they become long-term. | | [BC Guest vs Registered](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/guest-vs-registered-orders) | Guest vs registered new customer split. Registered new customers convert to repeat at 3-5x the guest rate. | | [BC Channel Revenue Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/revenue-mix-by-channel) | Channel decomposition; new customers split by channel. | | [Customer Countries](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/orders-by-country) | Geographic decomposition. Drops often concentrate by country (currency or local-language SEO regression). | | [`google_analytics.ga_new_users`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/new-users) | GA4 new-user count, broader funnel signal. | | [`klaviyo.kl_new_subscribers`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_new_subscribers) | Email-list growth, leading indicator for new customers by 1-3 weeks. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel:** [Analytics → Customers](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/analytics/customers) on Plus / Pro / Enterprise has a "New vs Returning" tile that shows new-customer counts by period. Standard plan stores need to compute manually from the [Customers → View](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/customers) export. For B2B Edition, [B2B → Companies](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/b2b/companies) shows new B2B accounts; consumer-facing new-customer counts live under the retail analytics view. **Why our number may legitimately differ from BC Analytics:** | Reason | Direction | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------ | | **First-order date vs registration date.** BC may count new customers as "registered in the period" rather than "first ordered in the period". A non-purchasing registrant counts in BC's view but not ours. | BC HIGHER | | **Guest aggregation.** BC's analytics may collapse all guest checkouts into a single super-customer; we count each guest order. | Vortex IQ HIGHER | | **Channel coverage.** BC Analytics may default to web-only; we include POS, marketplace, B2B, etc. | Vortex IQ HIGHER | | **Time zone.** UTC vs store TZ. | Boundary effects | | **Cancelled orders.** We include them; BC may exclude. | Vortex IQ HIGHER | | **Sync lag.** Recent orders may be missing. | Vortex IQ slightly LOWER | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`google_analytics.ga_new_users`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/new-users) | GA4 new-users count traffic level; this card counts purchase-converted | The two should rise and fall together; absolute levels differ by 50-200x. | | [`klaviyo.kl_new_subscribers`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_new_subscribers) | Email subscribers should lead new customers by 1-3 weeks | Subscription-to-purchase conversion typically 5-15%. | | [`google_adwords.ga_new_customer_conversions`](/nerve-centre/google_adwords/google_adwords) | Paid-search-attributed new customers | Should be a subset (10-40%) of total new customers. | **Same-metric documentation cross-reference:** * [`shopify.new_customers`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/new-customers) (planned) * [`adobe_commerce.new_customers`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/new-customers) (planned) ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **My new-customer count dropped 14% but revenue is steady, should I act?** Yes, before the lag catches up. Steady revenue on falling acquisition means returning customers are doing the work; that pattern is sustainable for 1-2 quarters before LTV runs out. Investigate channel mix and paid-acquisition cost now; don't wait for revenue to follow. **Why does my new-customer count look low compared to GA4 new users?** GA4 new-users counts every new device-level visitor; this card counts new purchasing customers. The two should rise and fall together but the absolute levels differ by 50-200x. The ratio (purchasing customers / new users) = the new-visitor conversion rate; below 1% suggests reaching the wrong audience. **Should guest checkouts count as new customers?** Definitionally yes, each guest checkout is a first-time purchase. Pragmatically, guests aren't long-term customers because you can't reach them post-purchase (no email, often no consent). For LTV-focused stores filter to registered new customers only. **My B2B store has flat new-customer count, is that bad?** No, that's normal for B2B. B2B customer counts grow slowly (5-15% year-over-year is healthy) because each customer is a relationship. Use [BC Top Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-customers) and order frequency metrics instead. **Why does this card differ from my Klaviyo new-subscriber count?** Klaviyo's new-subscriber count is people who opted in to email; this card is people who placed a first order. Subscriber-to-customer conversion is typically 5-15%. The two cards together tell a richer top-of-funnel story. **Can I segment new customers by acquisition source?** Not from this card directly. Pair with [GA4 acquisition](/nerve-centre/google_analytics/ga_acquisition) for source-medium attribution and with [BC Channel Revenue Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/revenue-mix-by-channel) for channel decomposition. We're working on a per-channel new-customers card; track the V2 backlog. **My new-customer count spiked 200% week-over-week, what does that mean?** Almost always a campaign-driven surge. Influencer collab, viral moment, PR placement. Spikes are healthy; the watch-out is the 30-60 day cohort retention. Surge-acquired customers often convert to repeat at 5-15% vs the typical 25-40% baseline. Track the cohort via [BC Top Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-customers) cohort filter. **Why is my POS new-customer count low?** POS captures email at typically 50-80% rate (lower than web's 95-99%). Customers who don't provide email show as guest (`customerId = 0`) and inflate the guest count rather than the registered new-customer count. Use a registered-only view for the cleaner POS signal. **Does this card include subscription orders?** Yes, every order type. A new customer whose first BC order is a subscription product counts as a new customer on the date of subscription start. Subsequent recurring shipments don't create new-customer events. **My acquisition velocity dropped, what's the order of operations?** (1) Confirm the drop is real and not a seasonal artefact (compare year-over-year, not just month-over-month). (2) Decompose by channel; almost always 1-2 channels are responsible. (3) For paid channels, check CPM / CPC trends, fatigue may be the cause. (4) For organic, check ranking via Search Console; ranking decay is slow but compounding. (5) For email/CRM, check subscription growth and welcome-flow conversion. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *New Customers* 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. 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