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.
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.
Related metrics
Read it with these, or you will optimize the wrong surface.