Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a metric that helps companies determine the profitability of their customers throughout their relationship with the company. In other words, it’s how much money a customer will spend with your business over time. As such, CLV can be an incredibly valuable tool for determining how much you’re able to invest in acquiring new customers, as well as what kind of marketing strategies make sense for your business.
Understanding customer lifetime value (CLV)
Customer lifetime value is the present value of all future profits that a customer will generate for your business. It’s calculated by multiplying their average spending over time by their retention rate and then discounting that product to its net present value.
Lifetime customer value is used as a key metric in marketing because it measures how much profit your business can expect to make from each customer throughout their lifetime with you. CLV can be used to help determine which segmented marketing efforts are most important for gaining new customers at various stages in the buying cycle, and what kind of resources should be allocated to them.
How to calculate CLV
The first step in calculating CLV is determining the average amount of money a customer spends on your product or service. To do this, you need to add up all of their purchases throughout their lifetime and divide them by the number of years they were with you.
The second part of calculating CLV involves finding out how many products or services a customer buys from you over one year. This can be done by dividing an individual’s total purchases by 12 (or however long they have been with you). Finally, calculate the average number of years a customer stays with you by multiplying their total lifetime value by 12 (or however long they have been in business together).
Why CLV is such an important metric
Customer lifetime value is a key metric that companies use to track the profitability of customers, so several departments need to be aware of CLV.
Sales and marketing teams: To effectively sell products and services, salespeople need to know how much money they’ll make from each customer. This will help them determine if the sale is worth their time or if they should pass on it altogether.
Product teams: Product managers want their products and services to be valuable enough for customers to be willing to pay for them over time, so knowing which customers are most likely going to stick around can help them see which features are most important for keeping these people happy over time.
Finance teams: Finance needs as much data as possible for them (and everyone else) within an organization to understand whether or not a company is making money—because that’s what keeps everything running smoothly!
How to use CLV to your advantage
As a business owner, you’re probably familiar with the term customer lifetime value and how it can help you make better business decisions.
Knowing how much your customers are worth can help you make better decisions about new products or services to offer them. This will save money by avoiding bad ideas that won’t be profitable in the long run. You’ll also have increased confidence in making strategic changes because they will be founded on data rather than gut instinct and speculation. Finally, knowing CLV helps guide customer engagement efforts so that every dollar spent is not only effective but also maximized for maximum results.
Conclusion
In the end, it’s all about finding ways to increase your CLV. You can do this by offering better customer service or creating more value for them with each purchase. It can also be improved by raising prices, but be careful not to go too high, or else customers might feel like their loyalty is being taken advantage of! Whatever route you decide to take when it comes time to increase CLV, make sure you have a clear plan in mind before moving forward so that your efforts are not wasted on guesswork alone.
