Customer Lifetime Value Estimator

Lifetime value answers one question: how much is a single customer worth over the whole relationship? There are two ways to get there, and you pick one with the lifespan toggle.

mrr            = (basis = annual) ? planPrice / 12 : planPrice
annualRevenue  = mrr × 12

retention path:  LTV = mrr × 12 × years          (Monthly Value × Retention)
                 lifespan = years (× 12 = months)
churn path:      LTV = mrr / monthlyChurn         (ARPU ÷ churn)
                 lifespan = 1 / monthlyChurn  (months)

gross-profit LTV = LTV × grossMargin              (shown when margin < 100%)
LTV:CAC ratio    = ltvForRatio / CAC              (gross-profit when margin < 100%)
max affordable CAC = ltvForRatio / 3              (the 3:1 floor)

annual retention → monthly churn (geometric):
  monthlyChurn = 1 − (1 − annualChurn)^(1/12)     annualChurn = 1 − annualRetention

The retention path is the pest-vernacular default (Blue Grid Media's $45/mo × 3 yr = $1,620). The churn path is the subscription-math alternative (SubJolt / miniwebtool: $85 ÷ 0.015 ≈ $5,667). When you reason in annual retention, the conversion to monthly churn is geometric — 80% annual retention is about 1.84%/mo, not the naive 0.20 ÷ 12 = 1.67%, which would understate churn and overstate the lifetime value.

With a customer acquisition cost entered, the LTV:CAC ratio is graded against the 3:1 benchmark cited across the CLV literature: at or above 3:1 is Healthy, 1:1 to 3:1 is Marginal, below 1:1 is Underwater (a customer is worth less than it costs to acquire). Practitioners aspire to ten-to-one; three-to-one is the floor this tool flags against. The max-affordable-CAC is that floor expressed in dollars — the most you can spend to land a customer and still clear 3:1. When you enter a gross margin below 100%, the ratio compares the gross-profit LTV to CAC, because acquisition cost is spent out of margin, not revenue; the headline stays the revenue LTV so it matches the figures pest references publish.