LTV expansion

Increasing LTV has compound effects: every acquisition pays back more, referrals grow, unit economics improve.

Levers

• Reduce churn
• Increase purchase frequency
• Increase average order value
• Extend relationship duration
• Add new products/services

Cohort analysis

Measure LTV by cohort. Do newer cohorts show higher LTV? If not, retention work.

LTV per segment

Don't use blended LTV. Segment by channel, product, customer size. Some segments have 5x LTV of others.

What to do with this

• Segment LTV by customer size, industry, and acquisition channel, blended LTV hides 5-10x gaps that should change your acquisition strategy
• Re-direct paid acquisition budget toward high-LTV segments, paying the same CAC for 5x LTV is the highest-leverage reallocation
• Measure observed LTV, not modeled, projected LTV is where bad unit economics hide until the model fails
• Review LTV by segment quarterly, segments drift and yesterday's high-LTV segment may be this year's decliner
• Don't optimize for LTV alone, retention + expansion are the two levers, pure retention can cap LTV at current spend per user