Repeat order rate is the share of your customers in a period who ordered more than once, or, in the other common definition, the share of orders that came from returning customers. Both versions answer the same question: do people come back after the first order? Pick one definition and track it monthly.
Why it matters
A repeat customer costs nothing to acquire. A new one costs an ad, a first-order discount or a delivery app's commission, and for a cloud kitchen or tiffin service that cost decides whether the business survives. Repeat rate also tells you what to fix: a low rate with good reviews points at follow-up, a low rate with poor reviews points at the food or the delivery. On delivery apps you often cannot see who ordered; on your own channel you have the phone number and the order history, which is what makes measuring this possible. First order to second order explains why the second order is the one to chase.
Example
In a month, 400 different customers ordered and 140 of them ordered two or more times, so the repeat customer rate is 35 percent. By orders, 700 were placed and 440 came from returning customers, so 63 percent of orders were repeat. Say winning a new customer costs ₹120 in discount and ads. Lifting the repeat customer rate from 35 to 45 percent keeps 40 more customers you would otherwise have to replace, saving ₹4,800 a month in acquisition, and those 40 customers at 2.5 orders of ₹350 add about ₹35,000 in revenue. The restaurant customer retention guide lists the tactics that move the number.
Tezzu's dashboard customer insights show who is ordering again, and WhatsApp campaigns from the same dashboard let you message the customers who have gone quiet.