LTV, or customer lifetime value, tells you what a customer is really worth to your Shopify store, and it decides how much you can afford to spend acquiring the next one. Leighton and Patrick break down how to measure LTV using cohorts and time windows, why contribution margin matters more than gross revenue, and the levers that actually move it: post-purchase email and SMS flows, subscriptions, loyalty points, retargeting, and AOV.

Links Mentioned

• Lifetimely (LTV and profit analytics for Shopify): https://apps.shopify.com/lifetimely-lifetime-value-and-profit-analytics
• Peel (retention and cohort analytics): https://www.peelinsights.com/
• Triple Whale (ecommerce attribution and analytics): https://www.triplewhale.com/
• Klaviyo (email and SMS marketing): https://www.klaviyo.com/
• Smile.io (loyalty and rewards for Shopify): https://smile.io/

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:06 What LTV Actually Means
• 3:06 Why Repeat Buyers Cost Less
• 5:26 The LTV to CAC Ratio
• 6:37 Nobody Knows Their Contribution Margin
• 8:09 Slicing Customers Into Cohorts
• 10:24 Shopify Analytics and Sidekick
• 11:07 Apps for Cohort Analysis
• 12:17 Cash Flow and Time-Based LTV
• 13:38 Why "Lifetime" Is Misleading
• 18:23 Retention Marketing: Email and SMS
• 19:26 The Post-Purchase Flow
• 20:11 Consumables and Subscriptions
• 20:45 Helping Customers Reach Their Goal
• 21:47 Building a Customer Persona
• 22:45 The Creatine Example
• 24:59 Retargeting Past Customers
• 26:59 When to Pitch a Subscription
• 29:09 The \$1 Olive Oil Club
• 32:12 Loyalty and Rewards Programs
• 34:29 How AOV Feeds LTV
• 35:26 Where LTV, AOV, and CR Meet
• 38:41 Wrapping Up

Book a Call

• Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call
• Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast

Work with Us

• Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/
• Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io

You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Agentic commerce is generating a lot of hype, but very few people are actually buying inside AI tools yet. Leighton and Patrick break down where AI really fits in ecommerce today, and the practical Shopify setup work every store owner should be doing right now.

Links Mentioned

• Shopify Knowledge Base app: https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-knowledge-base
• Shopify Inbox: https://apps.shopify.com/inbox
• Gorgias: https://www.gorgias.com/
• Profound: https://www.tryprofound.com/
• Peec AI: https://peec.ai/
• Local Dominator: https://localdominator.co/
• Common Crawl: https://commoncrawl.org/
• Patrick's Free AI Visibility Audit: https://patrickriceco.com/ai

Watch This Episode on YouTube

• https://youtu.be/7uZR93yiX3Y

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:56 Hype vs. reality right now
• 3:54 Why niche brands are winning
• 6:39 The AI attribution problem
• 8:10 Tracking your AI visibility
• 11:47 Where to actually start
• 12:36 The Shopify agentic channel
• 13:20 Shopify Knowledge Base app
• 15:21 Where your product data goes
• 19:01 Writing product data for AI
• 21:52 Declarative copy vs. brand voice
• 26:16 Storefront agents and Gorgias
• 30:00 What Common Crawl is
• 32:38 What to do before BFCM
• 33:36 Free AI visibility audit
• 34:30 Wrapping Up

Book a Call

• Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call
• Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast

Work with Us

• Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/
• Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io

You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Everyone wants to increase their AOV (Average Order Value), but it's not always clear how. Leighton and Patrick break down what actually moves AOV in the right direction: free shipping thresholds with dynamic progress bars, relevant cart cross-sells, frequently bought together widgets, build-your-own bundles, and post-purchase upsells, plus the two cross-sell mistakes that cost stores trust and revenue.

Links Mentioned

• Rebuy (Smart Cart, cross-sells, and A/B testing): https://www.rebuyengine.com/
• Baymard Institute (cart and checkout UX research): https://baymard.com/
• Monster Cart Upsell (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/monster-upsells
• Checkout Blocks (Shopify's checkout customization app): https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/checkout-blocks

Watch This Episode on YouTube

• https://youtu.be/oJQgzmeDnSg

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:33 Is AOV Advice Overhyped?
• 1:44 What AOV Actually Means
• 2:14 How AOV Compounds With Conversion Rate
• 3:48 Margins and Knowing Your Numbers
• 4:39 Free Shipping Threshold Messaging
• 6:02 Static Message vs Dynamic Progress Bar
• 7:09 Cart Cross-Sells and Two Big Mistakes
• 10:30 Lessons From Retail Checkout Aisles
• 11:33 Limits of Shopify's Recommendations
• 12:17 Frequently Bought Together Widgets
• 13:43 Recommending Items to Hit Free Shipping
• 16:07 Testing With Rebuy's Smart Cart
• 19:46 Build-Your-Own Bundles
• 21:07 Tailoring Tactics to Your Industry
• 22:29 Checkout and Post-Purchase Upsells
• 26:13 How Much You Can Realistically Upsell
• 27:12 Recap: The Quickest AOV Wins
• 28:02 A/B Testing and Collection Design
• 30:15 Starter Kits and Gift Bundles
• 30:51 Gift Wrap and Personalization
• 32:16 Content That Drives Bundle Sales
• 33:01 Subscriptions as an AOV Play
• 34:01 AOV, LTV, and What's Next
• 35:04 Wrapping Up

Book a Call

• Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call
• Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast

Work with Us

• Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/
• Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io

You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.