Customer LTV

The Customer LTV page in MerchantFlow ranks every customer acquired in your timeframe by lifetime gross margin (or by revenue, order count, or first-order date). Each row shows the customer's revenue LTV, margin LTV, margin percentage, acquisition CAC, and LTV:CAC ratio so you can see which customers and which channels actually pay for themselves.

What Does This Page Show?

A sortable, paginated table of customers acquired during the selected timeframe. For each customer:

• Customer - name or email (de-identified when neither is available)
• Acquisition channel - the channel the customer was attributed to, when attribution is enabled
• First order - the date of their first purchase
• Orders - total orders to date
• Revenue LTV - lifetime revenue across all their orders
• Margin LTV - lifetime gross margin (revenue minus COGS and allocated ad spend)
• Margin % - margin LTV divided by revenue LTV, colour-coded
• CAC - the acquisition cost attributed to this customer
• LTV:CAC ratio - margin LTV divided by CAC

How to Access Customer LTV

Navigate to Customers > Customer LTV from the main navigation.

The page respects the global timeframe selector. The timeframe controls when the customer was acquired, not when their orders were placed. A customer acquired inside the timeframe continues to accrue lifetime metrics from every order, including orders that fall outside the timeframe.

Headline KPIs

Four tiles summarise the cohort acquired in the selected timeframe:

• Customers Acquired - distinct customers with a first order in the timeframe
• Total Margin LTV - lifetime margin across the cohort
• Average Margin LTV - mean lifetime margin per customer
• Repeat Rate - share of acquired customers who placed more than one order

Sorting and Pagination

Click any of the sortable headers (First Order, Orders, Revenue LTV, Margin LTV) to reorder the table. The default sort is margin LTV, descending.

The table paginates at 25 rows. Use Previous and Next to walk through the rest of the cohort.

Drilling Into a Customer

Click any row to open the customer detail page, which shows the customer's full order history, channel attribution, and timeline. Use this to understand whether a high LTV is driven by frequency, by basket size, or by a specific product mix.

LTV:CAC Ratio Interpretation

The LTV:CAC ratio per customer uses the same bands as the dashboard-level Unit Economics summary:

• 3x or higher - emerald (healthy)
• 1x to 3x - amber (thin, still profitable)
• Below 1x - rose (losing money on the customer)

A customer with no attributed CAC shows a dash for both CAC and LTV:CAC.

Acquisition Channel Pill

When attribution is enabled, each row shows the channel that brought the customer in (paid social, paid search, organic, direct, referral, etc.) and the country of acquisition. This makes it easy to spot which channels are buying high-LTV customers and which are buying churn risks.

If attribution is not enabled, the channel column is hidden so the table stays scannable.

"Ask AI" Shortcut

The top-right Ask AI button opens Flow AI pre-loaded with the CMO persona. Use it to ask questions like:

• "Which channel is buying my highest LTV customers?"
• "What share of revenue this quarter came from customers acquired more than 12 months ago?"
• "Which discount codes brought in customers with above-average margin LTV?"

Flow AI is available on Pro and Plus plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is CAC shown as a dash for some customers?

CAC requires both a successful channel attribution and ad spend on that channel during the customer's acquisition period. Organic, referral, and direct customers will not have a CAC value. Customers acquired through a channel where MerchantFlow has not yet synced ad spend will also show a dash until spend is loaded.

Why is the LTV:CAC ratio so high or so low for one customer?

LTV:CAC is calculated as margin LTV divided by their attributed CAC. A few outlier customers, especially heavy repeat buyers, can show extremely high ratios. Use the cohort-level Unit Economics page for the more reliable aggregate signal.

Does margin LTV include shipping revenue and shipping cost?

Margin LTV is gross margin: revenue minus COGS and allocated ad spend. Shipping revenue is included in revenue. Estimated fulfillment cost is not included in this view; for net margin including fulfillment, see the Margin by Region page or the P&L waterfall.

Are customers identified by email or by Shopify customer ID?

MerchantFlow uses the platform customer ID where available, and otherwise hashes the email to keep records distinct without exposing PII. The display name on the row prefers customer name, falls back to email, and falls back to a hash suffix when both are missing.

Why is the repeat rate higher (or lower) than I expect?

The repeat rate counts customers from the acquisition timeframe who placed more than one order ever, including orders after the timeframe ended. Newer cohorts will show a lower repeat rate until they have had time to repurchase.

Related Guides

• Unit Economics - cohort-level CAC, LTGP, LTV:CAC, and break-even floor
• Cohort Analysis - retention and value trajectories by acquisition month
• Attribution - how channels are assigned to customers
• Discount Codes - the per-code margin view
• Orders - per-order detail behind each customer's LTV

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Last updated: May 23, 2026