How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)? Best Guide

In the ever-changing world of business, relationships with customers are always changing. Getting new customers and losing old ones is normal, but great products or services can create lasting bonds.

This ongoing desire for improvement is what keeps making the relationship between a company and its customers more valuable over time.

Check out my guide to figuring out customer lifetime value (CLV) and understanding why it’s important. I’ve also included some top tips to help you increase CLV.

Content Outline

What is Customer Lifetime Value?

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), also known as Lifetime Value (LTV), is the total expected profit a company predicts to earn from an average customer over the entire time they remain a customer.

It’s not just about immediate sales but considers costs like how much it takes to get a customer, ongoing marketing expenses, and other operational costs.

While some businesses focus only on making quick sales, it’s important to think long-term about how valuable each customer can be over time. Optimizing CLV is key for sustainable growth.

Getting new customers is necessary, but nurturing relationships with existing customers and increasing their lifetime value is even more important for keeping a business strong.

Studies show that even a small increase in how long customers stay with a business can lead to big profit increases, from 25% to almost 100%.

This means it’s crucial for businesses to focus on making sure customers stay longer and spend more, to keep growing and making money over time.

Customer Lifetime Value Calculation

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a way for businesses to estimate how much profit they expect to earn from an average customer over the entire time they are a customer. To calculate CLV, you use a few key pieces of information:

Customer Value: This is how much money, on average, a customer spends in one transaction multiplied by how often they make transactions.
Average Customer Lifespan: This is how long, on average, a customer stays with your business before they stop buying from you.

The formula for calculating CLV is: Customer Lifetime Value=Customer Value×Average Customer Lifespan\text{Customer Lifetime Value} = \text{Customer Value} \times \text{Average Customer Lifespan}Customer Lifetime Value=Customer Value×Average Customer Lifespan

For example, if an average customer spends $50 per transaction and makes 10 transactions over 5 years, the CLV would be $50 x 10 = $500 over 5 years.

Calculating CLV helps businesses understand how valuable their customers are over time. It’s especially useful for businesses that have been around for a while and have data on how long customers usually stay and how much they spend.

This information helps businesses make decisions about how much to invest in acquiring new customers versus keeping current ones happy and spending more.

Customer Lifetime Value Example

Let’s explore another example to understand Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) using a different hypothetical scenario:

Imagine a local coffee shop, Brewster’s Brews. The average sale at Brewster’s Brews is $5, and customers typically visit twice a week. The average customer stays loyal for three years.

First, calculate the Customer Value: Customer Value=Average Sale×Average Transactions\text{Customer Value} = \text{Average Sale} \times \text{Average Transactions}Customer Value=Average Sale×Average Transactions

For Brewster’s Brews: \text{Customer Value} = $5 \times 2 \text{ visits per week} \times 52 \text{ weeks per year} \times 3 \text{ years} \text{Customer Value} = $5 \times 104 \times 3 \text{Customer Value} = $1,560

Next, calculate the Customer Lifetime Value: Customer Lifetime Value=Customer Value×Average Customer Lifespan\text{Customer Lifetime Value} = \text{Customer Value} \times \text{Average Customer Lifespan}Customer Lifetime Value=Customer Value×Average Customer Lifespan

For Brewster’s Brews: \text{Customer Lifetime Value} = $1,560 \times 3 \text{ years} \text{Customer Lifetime Value} = $4,680

In this example, the Customer Lifetime Value for Brewster’s Brews is $4,680. This means that, on average, a customer is expected to spend $4,680 over their entire relationship with the coffee shop.

Understanding CLV helps Brewster’s Brews make decisions about marketing, customer retention strategies, and overall business growth.

Customer Lifetime Value Contributing Factors

When thinking about customer lifetime value, it’s important to consider how customers view the brand. If customers don’t feel loyal to the brand or don’t face any costs when switching to a competitor, it can lower the CLV.

Additionally, we need to think about how scalable our sales and marketing efforts are in growing revenue and increasing CLV.

This means considering if our strategies can efficiently attract and retain customers over time, which is crucial for maximizing their lifetime value to the business.

Churn Rate

How often do customers stop shopping with a business they used to buy from? This rate of customer loss is called the churn rate, and it varies depending on how competitive a business is in its industry.

For instance, new startups usually lose customers at a higher rate compared to well-established companies.

Churn rate can be calculated as follows:

Take the number of customers at the end of a period and subtract it from the number at the beginning.
Take the difference and divide it by the number of customers at the beginning of the period.

For example, if a business started the year with 1,000 customers and ended with 750, the churn rate would be calculated as follows: Churn Rate=(1000−7501000)×100%=25%\text{Churn Rate} = \left( \frac{1000 – 750}{1000} \right) \times 100\% = 25\%Churn Rate=(10001000−750)×100%=25%

This means the business lost 25% of its customers over the year. Understanding churn rate helps businesses gauge customer retention and loyalty.

Lower churn rates indicate better customer satisfaction and loyalty, while higher rates may signal issues that need to be addressed, such as competition, service quality, or pricing.

Customer Loyalty

How loyal are customers? When customers don’t feel attached to any particular brand, they’re considered brand-agnostic. For businesses, fostering brand loyalty is crucial because it leads to higher customer retention rates and lower churn rates.

Brand loyal customers go beyond simply buying products—they become advocates for the brand. They recommend it to others through word-of-mouth, which is a powerful form of marketing.

Companies with loyal customers tend to have higher customer lifetime values, meaning those customers are likely to spend more over their relationship with the brand.

In detail, brand loyalty is about creating a strong bond between customers and the brand.

This bond can be built through consistently providing excellent products or services, personalized customer experiences, effective communication, and fulfilling emotional or practical needs.

When customers feel connected and valued by a brand, they are more likely to continue purchasing from it, even when there are other options available.

This loyalty not only boosts revenue through repeat purchases but also enhances the brand’s reputation and credibility in the marketplace.

It’s an essential aspect of long-term business success, as loyal customers contribute significantly to sustainable growth and profitability.

Scalable Sales and Marketing

How effective are your methods for selling and advertising? If a company’s revenue growth depends directly on how much money they spend on selling and advertising, it’s crucial to make those efforts as efficient as possible.

If sales and advertising costs keep rising while revenue goes down, it can squeeze profits and even lead to losses.

That’s why having a scalable strategy for selling and advertising is so important. By keeping track of important numbers and seeing how well things are going, you can change direction quickly if things aren’t working.

Trying new ways of reaching out to customers, testing different ways of selling things, and making sure more people actually buy something will all help you make more money with your sales and advertising.

Tips to Increase Customer Lifetime Value

1. Optimize Onboarding:

When a customer first interacts with a company, it’s crucial to create a positive impression. Many customers decide whether to continue using a product or service based on this initial experience.

Companies should focus on educating customers about the benefits and features of their offerings. This helps customers understand how the product or service can improve their lives.

For service-oriented businesses, demonstrating excellent customer service and availability to solve problems is key. Addressing the needs and concerns of new customers promptly can reassure them and build trust from the start.

2. Effective Communication:

Maintaining open communication with customers strengthens the relationship and makes the company seem more personable. In today’s digital age, responding to feedback, especially negative comments or poor ratings, is crucial.

Customers appreciate knowing that their opinions matter and that the company is responsive to their needs.

This responsiveness can lead to repeat business and customer loyalty. Effective communication also extends to sales and marketing efforts.

Monitoring metrics like churn rate (how many customers leave) and conversion rates from ads helps companies understand how well their messages are resonating with customers.

3. Loyalty Program:

Implementing a loyalty program can enhance the customer experience by personalizing it and encouraging repeat purchases.

Loyalty programs often reward customers with points or discounts based on their purchases. For example, a coffee shop might offer a free drink after a certain number of purchases.

Customers value these rewards and are more likely to remain loyal to a company that acknowledges their repeat business. Airlines, for instance, reward customers who use their credit cards with free miles that can be used for flights.

This not only incentivizes repeat purchases but also increases customer lifetime value by fostering loyalty.

4. Retargeting:

Retargeting involves reconnecting with customers who have interacted with the brand previously. It serves as a reminder of the company and reinforces brand recognition.

This tactic is particularly effective for products with a limited shelf life or for services that require periodic use.

By reminding customers about their previous experience with the brand, companies can encourage them to make another purchase or engage with the brand again.

Retargeting campaigns are strategic in maximizing customer lifetime value by maintaining ongoing engagement with customers over time.

Customer Lifetime Value Statistics

A good way to define customer lifetime value (CLV) is this: the longer a customer stays with your company, the more valuable they become.

Here are some important statistics that show why it’s crucial to focus on CLV throughout the entire customer journey:

Profit Increase with Retention: A 5% increase in retaining customers leads to a significant 25% increase in profits.
Cost of Acquiring vs. Retaining Customers: Acquiring a new customer can cost between 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing one.
Conversion Probability: The likelihood of selling to an existing customer is between 60% and 70%, which shows that they are more likely to buy from you again.
Spending Habits: Existing customers spend an average of 67% more than new customers, demonstrating their higher value over time.
Organizational Importance: A majority of companies, 76%, consider CLV an important concept for their business strategy.

These statistics underscore the importance of retaining customers over the long term. By focusing on building strong relationships and meeting the ongoing needs of existing customers, businesses can increase profitability and overall success.

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Conclusion: How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)?

Understanding Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is essential for businesses. It shows how valuable customers are over time.

By focusing on keeping customers happy and coming back, companies can grow and succeed in the long run.

Strategies like making a good first impression, communicating well, using loyalty programs, and reminding customers about products can all help increase CLV.

Overall, CLV helps businesses build strong relationships with customers and stay successful.

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