Why it matters
Judged on first purchase alone, most serious marketing looks unaffordable; judged on lifetime value, the maths often flips. LTV also redirects attention to the levers that quietly dwarf acquisition: retention, repeat purchase, and referrals from customers who stay.
How it works
At its simplest: average value per period × how long customers stay (churn sets that), by segment. Averages across very different customer types mislead. The segment view is where strategy lives: some customer types are worth multiples of others, and deserve marketing that reflects it.
What to do about it
Even a rough LTV per segment changes decisions. Compute it, put it beside your acquisition cost, and let the ratio, not gut feel, set the marketing budget per customer type.
