How do you track Customer Lifetime Value?

Shopify Discussion
1

Hello,

I work with an apparel company and we are about to start looking at improving our retention and increase our CLTV.

The problem is that we will also be acquiring new customers at the same time, so how would you recommend tracking CLTV? My initial thought is to only track CLTV against customers who have bought more than once.

1 Like
2

Dear @JamesDarwin0192

Use Google analytics

3

Hey there,

You can easily track CLTV and Retention Rate using Polar Analytics. You can look at this metrics on the time period of your choice and compare them to Blended CAC and ROAS of the cohorts.

Let me know if you have any questions - there is a 14 days free trial of the tool if you want to see it.

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4

Hi James,

There are various ways, I used in the past a template for a fashion company, and this worked in getting investors on board.

I developed a simple excel template especially for shopify, you can find it on gumroad if you search for growhort.

5

Hi! Decile is built to help improve retention and increase LTV.

You can slice your newly acquired customers by virtually any dimension and have comparison features so you can see how your new customer LTV stacks up against long-time customers.

Our predicted LTV feature also helps you understand the future LTV of your newly acquired customers, so you can understand whether you’re acquiring the “right” kinds of customers, and easily pivot campaigns if needed.

6

Hi @JamesDarwin0192
That’s a great question. I’d suggest tracking CLTV only for customers who’ve purchased more than once that gives a more accurate view of retention and true customer value. Later on, we can compare cohorts by acquisition month or channel to see how each group’s value grows over time.

7

Track CLTV using cohort analysis - group customers by their first purchase month and track their spending over 3, 6, 12 months. This separates new vs. returning customer value naturally.

Don’t limit to repeat-only customers - this inflates your numbers and ignores whether your acquisition cost is justified.

Key metrics:

  • Customer acquisition cohorts

  • Repeat purchase rate

  • Average order value

  • Purchase frequency

Cohort analysis lets you see both new and returning customer value without the data interfering.