This step-by-step guide will help you measure how long it takes subscribers to make their first purchase after signing up for your email list.
Go to Lists & Segments and create a new segment with the following condition:
Name the segment something like: Subscribed in Last 365 Days
Click into your new segment and export it to CSV. Make sure the export includes:
Email
First Active
First Purchase Date
Note: I've added this custom property to all my client accounts since 2017. It's included in the Reliable Revenue Klaviyo tutorials as well. If you don’t have this field in your account, you’ll need to retrieve the first purchase date from your ecommerce platform instead.
Open the CSV in Google Sheets. Remove:
First Purchase Date
is blankAdd a new column titled Days to Purchase. In the first row of that column, enter:
=IF(OR(ISBLANK(B2), ISBLANK(C2)), "", INT(C2) - INT(B2))
This calculates the number of full days between subscribing and purchasing.
Format the column as a Number (not Date).
Add another column titled Conversion Window and enter this formula:
=IF(D2="", "No Purchase", IF(D2<=7, "0–7 days", IF(D2<=30, "8–30 days", IF(D2<=90, "31–90 days", "90+ days"))))
This creates readable categories for your data.
Conversion Window
Email
and summarize by COUNTA
This gives you a count of how many people fall into each conversion window.
Click anywhere in the pivot table, then click the chart icon in the top toolbar. Choose a Pie chart or Bar chart.
From 3352 subscribers who made a purchase in the last year:
This shows that most conversions happen in the first week, and the welcome flow plays a key role.
By measuring this for your own store, you can:
Track it quarterly to measure improvements over time.
If you want reliable revenue, this is where to start.
Natalie, founder of Sew Hungry Hippie, is a member of Reliable Revenue and the Mastermind Accelerator where I coach Shopify store owners how to get predictable and reliable revenue with step-by-step, proven email marketing strategies.