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.