Customer lifecycle stages
What New, Active, Due Reorder, Lapsed, and Lost mean — and how to tune the day-thresholds that define each stage for your brand.
Written by The Ordinary Team · Updated Customer lifecycle stages
Every purchased customer is automatically placed in a lifecycle stage based on how long it’s been since their last order. Visible on the Customers page as a row of tiles.
The four stages
The defaults are tuned for typical consumable DTC brands; adjust them to match your replenishment cadence.
| Stage | Default threshold | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| New | ≤30 days since last order | Recently acquired / recently active |
| Due Reorder | 31-60 days since last order | Overdue for replenishment |
| Lapsed | 61-90 days since last order | Disengaging; retention win possible |
| Lost | 90+ days since last order | Cold; reactivation rather than retention |
Customers with zero orders don’t appear in these buckets — they’re “Prospects” (see Customer lists and segments).
Why it matters
Each stage implies a different marketing action:
- New — welcome series, cross-sell, plant the seeds for reorder.
- Due Reorder — replenishment reminder email or SMS. Highest ROI segment. These are customers who intended to come back and just forgot.
- Lapsed — win-back campaign. Offer a small discount.
- Lost — reactivation campaign. Bigger offer or no-strings-attached gift. Low expected return per customer but large pool.
Tuning thresholds
The defaults don’t fit every brand. If you sell:
- Consumables that last 30 days (supplements, coffee) — defaults are right.
- Longer-cycle goods (apparel, home) — bump thresholds: New ≤60, Due Reorder 60-120, Lapsed 120-180, Lost 180+.
- Subscription-primary (Recharge) — thresholds matter less because renewals auto-generate orders. Use subscription status instead.
Adjust on Settings → Preferences → Lifecycle thresholds:
Three sliders:
- Max days for New
- Max days for Due Reorder (must be > New)
- Max days for Lapsed (must be > Due Reorder)
Anything past the Lapsed cap is Lost.
Changes apply immediately to the Customers page tiles and any segmentation that uses these stages.
Filtering by stage
On the Customers page, sort by Days Since Order (descending for Lost first, ascending for most-recent first). Or search by email if you want a specific person.
A dedicated “filter by lifecycle” control is tracked as a post-launch enhancement.
Related features
- Customer lists and segments — the full Customers page tour.
- Cohort retention analysis — retention as a curve rather than a bucket (Advanced).
- Offer calculator — model a win-back discount’s ROI.