Measurement methodology

Updated .

Every statistic we publish about Saara products — return rates, reductions, retained revenue, shipping savings — is calculated against the methodology below. We update this page when the methodology changes.

Data sources

Aggregated, anonymized data from 1,000+ active Saara customers across Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento / Adobe Commerce, WooCommerce, Amazon, and Instagram Shop. Customer-identifying fields are stripped before aggregation. No customer-level data is shared in published statistics.

Time windows

  • Return rate benchmarks: trailing 12 months, rolling.
  • Return reduction claims: compare the 90 days after EcoReturns go-live to the 90 days before.
  • Retained revenue: measured per quarter on a same-store basis.
  • Shipping savings: EcoShip rate vs. the brand's previous single-carrier contract on the same lane mix.

Definitions

  • Return rate = items returned ÷ items sold in the same period × 100.
  • Net return rate = return rate after refunds are issued (excludes cancelled-before-shipment).
  • Retained revenue = value of refund requests converted into exchanges, store credit, or product swaps.
  • Reduction = (pre-period rate − post-period rate) ÷ pre-period rate × 100.

Cohorts

Benchmarks by category are limited to brands with at least 90 days of post-installation data and at least 500 orders per month. Brands below that threshold are excluded from category averages to keep medians stable.

What "up to" means

When we say "reduce returns by up to 40%", we mean the top-decile customer cohort hits that number. The median Saara customer sees a 20-30% reduction within 90 days.

Corrections

Spotted a number you think is wrong? Email [email protected] and we will recheck and update both the underlying page and this methodology.