Profit Lifetime Value
Customer lifetime value, measured in profit
Most LTV reports count revenue. StoreHero shows what each Shopify customer is worth after COGS, shipping, fees and discounts, by acquisition cohort and by the first product they bought, so you know what you can afford to pay for the next one.
Book a demoProfit LTV by acquisition cohort, and the month each one pays back
Group customers by the month of their first order and follow what each cohort is worth in contribution margin, with CAC and repeat rate beside it. A marker shows the month each cohort's profit passes what you paid to acquire it. In the example, the July cohort pays back its €31 CAC in month 2, while the discount-led May cohort has still not covered its €44 CAC.
- Profit LTV, CAC and repeat rate by monthly cohort
- The CAC payback month for every cohort
- Built on contribution margin, after COGS, shipping, fees and discounts
Which first product brings in your most profitable customers
Group your cohorts by first product to see which products bring back the customers worth most in profit. Lead new-customer offers with them, even when the first order makes less, and stop discounting products that never bring customers back. In the example, customers who start with the Starter Bundle reach €142 profit LTV at 12 months, 2.1 times those who start with the Gift Set.
- Profit LTV by the first product bought
- First-order profit next to lifetime value
- Offers backed by repeat purchases, not guesswork
- Starter Bundle
- All customers
- Gift Set
Months since first order
Customers whose first order was the Starter Bundle reach €142 profit LTV at 12 months, 2.1× those who start with the Gift Set
Lead new-customer offers with the Starter Bundle. Gift Set buyers rarely come back, so its discount is not earned back.
12-month profit LTV by first product
- 1Starter Bundle€142
- 2Refill Pack€118
- 3Daily Cleanser€96
- 4Travel Kit€81
- 5Gift Set€68
Ask Claude or ChatGPT about your LTV cohorts
Connect the StoreHero MCP and ask about cohorts, CAC payback and lifetime value in plain English. The answers come back in contribution margin, the same profit LTV as your dashboard, so you can decide where the next acquisition budget goes.
- Cohort and LTV data in Claude or ChatGPT through the StoreHero MCP
- The same profit LTV as your dashboard
- Agents and prompts for retention in the AI Skills Library
Try asking
Which first product brings back the most profitable customers?
How is the July cohort pacing against June?
Which cohorts have not paid back their CAC yet?
Which first product brings back the most profitable customers?
JMCustomers who start with the Starter Bundle are worth the most over 12 months, even though its first order makes less than the Gift Set:
Want a new-customer offer built around the Starter Bundle?
Revenue LTV vs profit LTV
Revenue LTV and profit LTV: why the numbers differ.
Most LTV reports count revenue and leave out COGS, shipping, fees and discounts. A customer who buys three discounted orders can look valuable on revenue and still cost you money, so revenue LTV tells you to pay more for customers than they are worth.
Revenue LTV
- Lifetime value measured in sales, before COGS, shipping and fees
- One blended LTV for every customer, whatever they bought first
- Discounts on products that never bring customers back
- No way to tell when a cohort has paid back its CAC
Profit LTV with StoreHero
- Profit lifetime value in contribution margin, after COGS, shipping, fees and discounts
- Acquisition cohorts with CAC, repeat rate and the month each one pays back
- LTV by first product, so offers lead with the products that bring customers back
- First-order profit next to lifetime value for every new customer
Customers
1,000+ brands run on StoreHero profit data
StoreHero has been a massive help growing 5X over the last year - I can scale advertising spend knowing that we're still profitable on new customer orders.
Sean LeddinFounder, Fíor Jewellery Read the story: Fíor Jewellery
StoreHero has helped us multiply our business by finding the sweet spot between scale and profit. With StoreHero, I can rest assured our decisions are data-backed.
Donal BreslinNomad the Label Read the story: Nomad the Label
We were less confident when scaling as we couldn’t see the full profitability picture for Danny. Now we have a clear roadmap for profitable growth and can see exactly how each decision impacts our bottom line.
Paudie NolanDirector, Bearhouse Media Read the story: Bearhouse Media
How to get started
Set up profit LTV in three steps
Start with a 7-day free trial. Profit LTV is built from your Shopify orders and the costs you enter, so there is nothing to export.
Install StoreHero
Install StoreHero from the Shopify App Store and connect your store to start your 7-day free trial.
Add your costs
Enter your product, packing, shipping, transaction and fulfilment costs, so every order's profit counts towards each customer's lifetime value.
Open your cohorts
See profit LTV and CAC payback by acquisition cohort, then group the cohorts by the first product each customer bought.
Know what every new customer is worth.
Start a free trial of StoreHero and see profit LTV, CAC payback and LTV by first product for your store.
- 7-day free trial
- Profit LTV by cohort and first product
- Works with Claude and ChatGPT