How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

You might have heard of the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), which is a measure of the value a customer brings to your business. It’s a significant metric for businesses of all scales as it will help brands understand how to acquire and retain customers.

In this article, we will take a look at what CLV means and how it is calculated. With a basic understanding in place, we will also see what makes CLV so important for companies. CLV can help businesses identify priority areas and allocate budgets and resources in those directions.

What is Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)?

The Customer Lifetime Value, also called CLV, is a measure of the cumulative value a customer brings to a business from across their interactions. CLV is a direct indicator of how much profit a business can garner from a customer. 

There are several metrics that go into the calculation of the Customer Lifetime Value. These include the frequency of purchases with your brand and the overall period of interactions of customers with your brand. 

Why is Customer Lifetime Value Important?

It’s important that brands realize the immense importance of CLV, as it helps businesses make decisions about their investments and for how long customers can be retained with the brand. 

CLV helps understand customer expectations and will be a critical stepping stone for brands to work to enhance brand loyalty among customers. It also helps businesses map out areas where resources must be allocated for the right results. 

Customer Lifetime Value helps businesses create optimal strategies and see how they’re performing in the real world. Businesses can also use CLV to identify high-value customers and strive to retain them with the brand long-term.

Here’s How You can Calculate CLV

You can easily calculate the Customer Lifetime Value with the help of this simple formula:

CLV = Mean sale value x Frequency of repeat transactions x Average time of retention

To calculate the mean sale value, look at the amount of revenue generated in a single transaction. To know the frequency of repeat transactions, you need to know the number of times a customer will invest in your products. The retention time measures for how long a customer will remain associated with your brand. With these three key metrics in place, you can easily calculate the CLV using the above expression. 

Use CLV to Enhance Customer Relationship

Customer Lifetime Value is a powerful measure of the value a customer will bring to your business in the due course of time. Since it’s a measure of the total revenue the customer brings, it will help map out high-value clients. 

When you calculate CLV, it’ll help you make the right decisions to improve your products and services for higher brand loyalty and to improve customer satisfaction and retention. Overall, CLV helps improve profitability and secure customers for the long-term.