Do you know what a customer is worth to your business?

Many marketers actively measure how much they spend and how many customers they generate. With those two pieces of information, it’s easy to measure the marketing cost per customer.

But can we really afford to stop there?

What if your cost per customer is $100. Is that good or bad?

Well, if each customer were worth $1000 to your business, the answer would be different than if they were worth $50.

Knowing what a customer is worth, often referred to as Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), will guide your marketing spend. Obviously a lower acquisition cost is always better, but knowing the CLV lets you know exactly what you can afford to spend and still be profitable.

For some companies, this will be easier than others. Some companies only sell to customers once, and their product or service always costs the same. But most companies sell different products to different customers, at a variety of price points over time.

This information should be available, if you know where to look. Consult your IT team and create a report that shows the total money spent by all customers. Then you can sort and create an average for different products or categories. This average lifetime value for your customers will help you set a target cost per acquisition that you can use to optimize your marketing spend going forward.