LTV
The total gross profit a customer brings over the whole relationship, not just the first order.
LTV, customer lifetime value, is the total gross profit a customer brings over their whole relationship with you, not just their first purchase. It is the number that decides how much you can afford to spend to acquire them.
LTV is why first-order ROAS can mislead. If your reorder rate is strong, the first sale undercounts the customer's real worth, so a first-order target near or even below break-even can be rational, as long as it rests on verified repeat data rather than a hopeful guess. Paired with CAC, LTV sets the ceiling on profitable acquisition.
See how repeat rate changes the target in what is a good ROAS for ecommerce, and feed real values into bidding through value-based bidding.
Put the number to work: the break-even ROAS calculator turns your margins into the ROAS you need, and a free Due Diligence Audit checks whether the figures you see are the ones you are getting. Back to the glossary.