Basis
Book a demo

Platform · Metrics · LTV

LTV: Customer lifetime value

What a customer is worth over the relationship, not the first order. The only honest partner for CAC.

Coming SoonSee it in a demo

What it is

Lifetime value is the expected contribution from a customer after they are acquired. A first-order ROAS can look poor while LTV is excellent (replenishment, subscription, high repeat). The ratio that matters for scale is LTV:CAC, not last week’s CPA.

Why it is worth tracking

Without LTV, every acquisition team underinvests in good customers and overinvests in cheap one-off buyers. Operators use LTV to decide who creative should talk to, which offers are allowed, and whether a “high CPA” channel is actually the growth engine.

How to read it

A single number is not a brief. These splits are what change the work.

  • LTV:CAC above your payback rule

    You can afford to buy more of these customers. Creative and media should scale this motion, not the cheaper dead-end CPA.

  • First order weak, LTV strong

    Do not choke prospecting on first-order ROAS. Fund the welcome and replenishment journey that realises the LTV.

  • LTV falling after a promo-led cohort

    You bought discounters. Rewrite offers and targeting toward full-price or routine buyers.

What the Operator does

Diagnose, act, then draft. The stats pick the job. Brand voice stays locked.

  • Diagnose

    The Operator wants cohort LTV, not a single blended average, and it will not invent LTV from AOV alone. It pairs LTV with CAC and payback window.

  • Act

    Scale channels and audiences with healthy LTV:CAC. Cut motions that only win on first-order discount. Set creative and CRM to the payback window you actually have.

  • Draft

    Draft welcome, replenishment, and win-back sequences that harvest the LTV you already paid CAC for. Write prospecting ads for the customer who repeats, not the one who only shows up at 50% off.

Example brief

“Repeat LTV for routine buyers is 3.4× gifting buyers, but 60% of Meta spend still sells gift sets. Draft always-on routine ads and a 5-email replenishment flow for the serum. Cap gift-set promo language to festival windows. Tone: clinical-warm.”

Paste a brief like this into a Basis Operator. Connected account context and brand rules apply automatically.

Coming SoonGet a demoAll metrics

More in Return on spend