Community / Sales Glossary
Metrics

LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)

LTV is the total revenue a business expects to collect from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship. It is the anchor metric for justifying CAC — if the lifetime value is high enough, a business can afford to spend more to acquire customers. LTV increases with higher ACV, lower churn, and greater expansion. Improving customer success quality is often the highest-leverage way to increase LTV without changing sales motion.

Formula
ACV × Average Customer Lifespan in Years (or ACV ÷ Annual Churn Rate)
Industry Benchmark
LTV:CAC of 3:1 or higher is the standard benchmark. Elite SaaS businesses achieve 5:1+. Below 1:1 means the business is destroying value with each new customer.
Related Terms
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)Churn RatePayback PeriodNRR (Net Revenue Retention)CSM (Customer Success Manager)
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