Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
Lifetime gross profit by customer segment, and the most you can afford to pay to acquire each one.
Example scenario—not a forecast or verified benchmark. Enable JavaScript to edit inputs, view charts, save locally and export your analysis.
Example inputs
- Customer segments
- [{"name":"Maintenance plan members","customers":800,"avgOrder":450,"ordersPerYear":3,"grossMargin":55,"annualChurn":15,"currentCac":600},{"name":"One-time residential","customers":2500,"avgOrder":650,"ordersPerYear":1.2,"grossMargin":45,"annualChurn":55,"currentCac":350},{"name":"Commercial accounts","customers":120,"avgOrder":2500,"ordersPerYear":4,"grossMargin":40,"annualChurn":20,"currentCac":3000}]
- Target LTV:CAC ratio
- 3
- Discount rate
- 10
- Cap lifetime at (years)
- 10
Example results
Your 3,420 customers hold $5.6M of lifetime gross profit; your top segment (Commercial accounts) is worth $14,060 per customer and justifies up to $4,687 CAC.
- Lifetime gross profit of current customers
- $5,587,164
- Weighted average LTV (gross profit)
- $1,634
- Highest-value segment LTV (Commercial accounts)
- $14,060
- Max affordable CAC, top segment
- $4,687
- Segments below target LTV:CAC
- 1
- Value of 5-pt churn cut, largest segment
- $412,597
What stands out
Commercial accounts are worth 23.7x One-time residential
$14,060 vs $594 in lifetime gross profit per customer. Marketing and service effort should follow that gap.
One-time residential: LTV:CAC is 1.7:1
You pay $350 to acquire a customer worth $594. At a 3:1 target, CAC should be at most $198.
Maintenance plan members are under-invested (5:1)
You could pay up to $1,006 per customer, $406 more than today, and still hit your target ratio.
Cutting Maintenance plan members churn by 5 points adds $413K of lifetime value
Churn moves from 15% to 10% across 800 customers.
Next actions
- Point acquisition budget at Commercial accounts: raise bids or referral bonuses up to $4,687 per customer.
- Cut One-time residential CAC to $198 or raise its order value/frequency; today it does not earn back your 3:1 target.
- Launch a retention program for Maintenance plan members (follow-up cadence, membership, renewal reminders) aimed at a 5-point churn reduction.
Model assumptions & limitations
- LTV = discounted annual gross profit × retention ^ year, summed up to the lifetime cap; revenue per customer is held flat.
- Target LTV:CAC of 3:1 is your input; 3:1 is a common rule of thumb, not a universal standard.
- Churn is the share of customers who do not return within a year and is assumed constant over time.
- Lifetime is capped at 10 years and discounted at 10% a year.