Free Customer Lifetime Value Calculator

Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) instantly. Enter your average order value, purchase frequency, customer lifespan, and margin to estimate true CLV.

Inputs

CLV = Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan × Gross Margin %.

Average Order Value ($)

Purchase Frequency / year

Customer Lifespan (years)

Gross Margin (%)

CAC ($) — optional

Add to see CLV-to-CAC ratio

Customer Lifetime Value

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Profit per customer

Lifetime Revenue

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Before margin

CLV : CAC Ratio

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Add CAC to compute

What is Customer Lifetime Value?

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or CLTV) is the total profit you expect from a customer across the entire relationship. The standard formula is: CLV = Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan × Gross Margin. CLV grounds every marketing decision: it tells you how much you can spend to acquire a customer (CAC) and still grow profitably.

Higher-CLV customers are also the ones most willing to evangelize. ShowTrust helps you turn them into your distribution channel — a hosted submission form to capture their stories and an embeddable wall of love so prospects see them where it counts.

Hosted Submission Form

Give customers a clean, branded page to leave testimonials in seconds. No login required for them, full control for you.

Embeddable Wall of Love

Drop a single snippet on your site and show off authentic reviews. Auto-updates as new testimonials come in.

Authentic Social Proof

Real testimonials from real customers — no AI-generated fakes, no stock quotes. Build trust the right way.

Free in Early Access

Collect unlimited testimonials and embed your wall of love for free while we're in early access. Sign up takes 30 seconds.

Ready to Collect Real Testimonials?

ShowTrust gives you a hosted submission page and an embeddable wall of love. Authentic social proof in minutes — free while in early access.

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Who Uses CLV?

Every team that spends to acquire customers.

E-commerce Brands

Know exactly how much you can bid in ads while staying profitable.

SaaS Founders

Compare CLV to CAC to validate unit economics before scaling.

Subscription Businesses

Project lifetime revenue from cohort retention curves.

Marketing Leaders

Allocate budget to high-CLV channels and segments, not vanity metrics.

Growth Teams

Tie growth experiments to CLV impact, not just acquisition lift.

Finance & Ops

Model contribution margin and payback periods accurately.

Investors

Evaluate companies on long-term economics, not just GMV.

Agencies

Show clients true ROI: CLV growth, not just immediate sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is CLV calculated?

The standard formula is CLV = Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan × Gross Margin %. The result is the total profit (not revenue) you expect per customer over their relationship with your business.

What is a good CLV-to-CAC ratio?

3:1 is the widely-cited healthy benchmark — for every $1 spent acquiring a customer, you earn $3 over their lifetime. Above 3:1 may signal you’re under-investing in growth. Below 1:1 means you’re losing money on each customer.

Should I use gross margin or net margin?

Use gross margin for CLV. It captures product/service cost but excludes fixed overhead, which doesn’t scale with each individual customer. This produces a CLV you can compare directly to variable acquisition costs.

How do I estimate customer lifespan?

If you know your annual churn rate, lifespan ≈ 1 ÷ annual churn rate. 20% annual churn implies a 5-year lifespan. For early-stage businesses without enough history, use a conservative estimate (2–3 years) and revise as cohorts mature.

What’s a good CLV?

CLV is meaningless in isolation — it only matters relative to CAC. A $500 CLV is great if CAC is $80, terrible if CAC is $400. Always look at CLV-to-CAC together.

How can testimonials raise CLV?

Testimonials shorten the activation curve (faster time-to-value), reduce churn (fewer regrets), and lift conversion on expansion offers. A wall of love on your dashboard and pricing page nudges customers from purchase to advocacy.

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