In short
- CLV = average order value × orders per customer. Multiply it by your margin for the profit a customer brings.
- The most you can pay to win a customer is their lifetime profit, not the profit of the first order - repeat buyers let you spend more on ads.
- An average Shopify customer orders about 1.8 times; about 25% of customers come back.
How to use the customer lifetime value calculator
- Find lifetime value: enter your average order, your margin before ads and the orders a customer places with you.
- Don't know a number? "Find average order" works it out from revenue and orders; "Find orders per customer" from orders and customers - your store's customer report shows both.
- Read the bars: what the first order pays for, next to what the whole customer pays for. Copy the link to keep the result.
How to calculate customer lifetime value
$55 × 1.8 = $99 in sales from one customer.
$99 × 50% = $49.50. The first order alone brings $55 × 50% = $27.50.
Count orders per customer over a long period, a year or more. Over one month almost nobody has ordered twice yet, and the value looks lower than it is.
How to calculate average order value
$24,000 ÷ 300 = $80.
In a sample of 297 Shopify stores using Adeagle, the median order is about $80, and it differs by vertical:
| Vertical | Median order |
|---|---|
| Apparel & accessories | $55 |
| Home & garden | $49 |
| Health & beauty | $74 |
| Electronics | $125 |
| All stores in the sample | $80 |
What you can pay to win a customer
Up to their lifetime profit. The CPA calculator gives the break-even line for one order. A customer who comes back is worth more, so the cost of winning them - often called CAC - can be higher than the first order's profit:
| First order only | Whole customer | |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel store: $55 order, 50% margin, 1.8 orders | $27.50 | $49.50 |
| Beauty, refills: $74 order, 60% margin, 3.2 orders | $44.40 | $142.08 |
| Electronics: $125 order, 30% margin, 1.3 orders | $37.50 | $48.75 |
A common rule: keep the cost of winning a customer at a third of their lifetime value or less. Then returns, discounts and fixed costs are paid too.
Typical repeat purchase rates
On an average Shopify store about 25% of customers order again, and a customer places about 1.8 orders. Products that run out come back more often:
| Kind of store | Customers who order again |
|---|---|
| Health & beauty, food (things that run out) | about 34–35% |
| Fashion & apparel | about 30% |
| Home goods | about 20% |
| Electronics, furniture (bought every few years) | about 11–18% |
How to raise customer lifetime value
- Email after the first order - care tips, a reorder reminder, what is new.
- Use retargeting: show shoppers the products they already viewed. On Adeagle, retargeting ads are clicked 6 to 12 times more often than other ads.
- Give a reason to reorder: refills, subscriptions, a discount on the second order.
- Raise the order value: bundles, and free shipping above a threshold.
A store that knows a customer brings $142 in profit can pay far more than the $44 the first order covers - and outbid stores that judge every ad by its first sale.
Check your ads with the ROAS calculator →What this calculator does not tell you
- When the money comes. Lifetime profit arrives over months; the ads are paid now.
- Which customers come back. An average hides the few who order often and the many who order once.
- Returns and discounts. Use your margin after both, or the value looks higher than it is.
By Bart Ziem, Adeagle · Formulas: standard definitions · Median order value: Adeagle, a sample of 297 stores, 2025–2026 orders · Repeat rates: published studies (Little Stream Software, 1,500+ Shopify stores, 2024; vertical ranges from Rivo, Core PPC and others) - they differ by how long a period they count · Examples, not promises