Returning vs New Visitors
Returning vs New Visitors splits your visits into each visitor’s first session in the date range and the sessions after it. It shows how much traffic and revenue comes from repeat visits.
How It’s Calculated
das Pixel puts each session in order for each visitor, from the first inside the date range to the last. A visitor’s first session is new. Every later session by the same visitor is returning.
Each row of the table is one period. A period is an hour for a date range of up to 3 days, a day for up to 93 days, and a month beyond that. A session counts in the period where it started.
The columns are:
- New Visitors: the number of visitors whose first session in the date range started in the period.
- Returning Visitors: the number of later sessions started in the period by visitors already seen earlier in the date range.
- Returning Share: Returning Visitors divided by New Visitors plus Returning Visitors.
- New Conversions and Returning Conversions: the number of those sessions that ended in a purchase.
- New Revenue and Returning Revenue: the value of those purchases. It is the total of the Shopify order each purchase links to: items minus discounts, plus shipping, plus tax that isn’t already in the prices, minus refunds. Where das Pixel couldn’t match an order, it uses the value it saw at checkout.
- New AOV and Returning AOV: the revenue divided by the conversions.
Returning Visitors counts sessions, not people. A visitor who returns 3 times adds 3.
A visitor is new only in relation to the date range. Someone who bought from you last year counts as new on their first session in the range. A longer date range makes the split closer to real life.
Visitors are tracked with a browser cookie. The same person on 2 devices, or in a private window, counts as 2 visitors. Safari’s tracking limits can also reset the cookie, so New Visitors can run high.
Summary Cards and Chart
The cards above the table are New Visitors, Returning Visitors, Returning Share, Returning Revenue and Order Match Rate. They add up every period. With Compare on, each card except Order Match Rate shows its change.
The chart stacks New and Returning for each period.
What Counts
- Visitors who declined analytics cookies, or who opted out of the sale or sharing of their data while Require Sale-of-Data Consent is on, aren’t recorded. Known bots are left out.
- Only events inside the date range count, in your store’s time zone.
- Turn on Live to refresh the report every 30 seconds. Without it, a figure can be up to 10 minutes old.
A warning shows above the report when das Pixel saw less than 70% of your online-store orders in the last 30 days. This report has no Segment, Sales Channel or Filters control.
What Good Looks Like
There’s no target. A store where a small share of sessions brings in a large share of revenue depends on repeat visitors. Compare New AOV and Returning AOV to see whether that comes from more orders or bigger ones.
A short date range makes Returning Share look low, because fewer visitors have a second session in it.
What to Do About It
- A low Returning Share with a strong Returning AOV: invite customers back with email, and look at your Customer Loyalty groups.
- A high Returning Share and low Returning Revenue: returning visitors browse and don’t buy. Look at what brings them back.
- A rising New Visitors count: check which channels bring them in Sessions by Source & Channel.
Visitor Retention shows how many visitors from each period come back later.
Get AI Insight at the top of the report asks Copilot for a short read of it.
Where to Find It
- Returning vs New Visitors: open Reports and look under Web Analytics.