Counting new customers from Xero invoices
A customer is new when their first posted sales invoice in the connected Xero history falls within the dates you choose. Checking the full history first keeps returning customers out of the count.
By Manny Sidhu · Practical guide · Published · Updated
The definition Ask Alex uses
Ask Alex counts a customer as new when the Xero contact's earliest posted sales invoice, across all the invoice history AirCEO has imported, is dated within the period you choose. Every answer names this definition, so the number is never read as something else.
This is an invoice-based count. It does not depend on when a customer paid, or on the currency of the invoice.
Which invoices count
Only authorised or paid sales invoices count. Draft, submitted, voided, and deleted invoices are left out.
A posted invoice with a zero value, or one that was later credited, still marks the date a contact was first invoiced.
Why the full history is checked
A customer invoiced in March for the first time in two years is not new. To tell the difference, AirCEO checks every imported posted sales invoice up to the end of your period, including those dated before it starts.
If complete invoice history is not available, Ask Alex says it cannot separate new customers from returning ones instead of giving a count. Customers invoiced only before the earliest Xero history AirCEO has imported cannot be identified, and the answer says so.
An illustrative example
Illustrative example, not customer data: in June, 14 Xero contacts received posted sales invoices. Nine had been invoiced in earlier months. Five had never been invoiced before June. The count of new invoiced customers for June is 5.
Each Xero contact counts once
The count works on Xero contacts. If the same business has two separate contacts in Xero, it is counted twice, and the answer notes that separate contacts are counted separately.
This is not a count of new contacts or leads in HubSpot. If you ask for newly created CRM contacts, Ask Alex says that measure is not available yet rather than substituting invoiced customers.
What the count does not include
The answer is a count for one period. Ask Alex does not yet compare it with an earlier period, report revenue from new customers, or count customers by their first payment.
What each answer shows
Every Ask Alex answer lists its source, scope, time, assumptions, and calculation. For this count, the receipt holds the earliest posted invoice for each contact and states how many invoices and contacts were checked and the date the history runs to. The count is calculated by code from those records.