Customer lifetime value calculator

What is a customer worth to your business over the whole time they buy from you? Enter your own averages and see lifetime revenue and lifetime gross profit, and compare it with what it costs you to win a customer. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

Use your own sales records: total sales ÷ number of orders for the order value, orders ÷ customers for orders per year. If you know the share of customers who come back each year (retention r), years ≈ 1 ÷ (1 − r). Cost to win a customer = marketing and sales spend ÷ new customers. The prefilled numbers are a made-up worked example, not typical figures: replace them with your own.

How it works

Revenue per customer per year = order value × orders per year. Lifetime revenue = that × years. Lifetime gross profit (LTV) = lifetime revenue × gross margin. LTV : CAC = lifetime gross profit ÷ cost to win a customer. Payback = cost to win a customer ÷ gross profit per customer per month.

Worked example (the values above): $40.00 × 6 orders = $240.00 a year from each customer, and $144.00 of gross profit at a 60% margin. Over 3 years that is $720.00 of revenue and $432.00 of gross profit. If winning a customer costs $45.00, the LTV : CAC ratio is $432.00 ÷ $45.00 = 9.6 : 1, and the $45.00 is earned back in $45.00 ÷ ($144.00 ÷ 12) = 3.75, about 3.8 months.

Lifetime gross profit is the most you could spend to win a customer and still break even on them. See also the price increase calculator and all calculators.