Customer Lifetime

The Customer Lifetime report shows the average number of months a customer stays subscribed before churning. It provides a time-based perspective on customer retention, complementing the revenue-focused LTV report.

Customer Lifetime is calculated by taking the inverse of the Logo Churn Rate averaged over the past six periods, normalized to a monthly rate.

$$\text{Customer Lifetime (months)} = \frac{1}{\text{Average Monthly Logo Churn Rate}}$$

For example, if your average monthly churn rate is 5%, your customer lifetime is 20 months (1 ÷ 0.05 = 20).

Relationship to LTV: Customer Lifetime and LTV are closely related. LTV = ARPA × Customer Lifetime. This report focuses on the duration component, making it easier to understand retention in terms of time rather than revenue.

Overview

The Customer Lifetime report is the second tab under the LTV section. It includes a timeline chart showing customer lifetime in months and a breakdown table displaying the underlying churn rate.

Timeline chart

The timeline chart shows your calculated Customer Lifetime over the selected period. The Y-axis displays months, making it easy to understand how long customers typically stay.

A rising trend indicates improving retention (lower churn), while a falling trend suggests customers are leaving sooner.

Breakdown table

The table underneath the chart displays two key metrics for each period:

Filters

The report supports a wide range of filters to help you analyze Customer Lifetime within specific segments of your business. These include:

• Date range

  Select a custom range or preset periods (last 30 days, last quarter, etc.)

• Interval

  Choose how Customer Lifetime is aggregated: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

• Group by

  Break down Customer Lifetime by plan, region, acquisition channel, or other dimensions to see which segments retain customers longest.

• Additional filters – plan, region/country, acquisition channel, etc. (see all filters)

Filters are applied to both the chart and the table simultaneously.

Exporting the data

You can export the table as a CSV file for offline analysis or reporting by clicking the "Export" icon next to the date picker.

Practical tips

• Benchmark by Segment: Use the Group by feature to compare Customer Lifetime across different plans or acquisition channels. This reveals which customer segments have the best retention.
• Set Retention Goals: Customer Lifetime provides a tangible target. For example, "increase average customer lifetime from 18 to 24 months" is a concrete goal that the team can work toward.
• Monitor Trends: A declining Customer Lifetime is an early warning sign of retention issues. Investigate the underlying causes before they impact LTV and revenue.
• Compare to Payback Period: If your CAC payback period is 12 months but your Customer Lifetime is only 15 months, you have limited time to generate profit from each customer. Aim for a Customer Lifetime that is at least 3× your payback period.

FAQ

Why does Customer Lifetime differ between intervals?

Customer Lifetime is calculated from a 6-period rolling average of churn rates, normalized to a monthly rate. Several factors cause differences between intervals:

1. Different averaging windows

Each interval averages 6 periods, covering different time spans:

If your churn has improved over time, monthly intervals reflect recent performance, while yearly intervals include older data when churn was higher.

2. Early periods with small customer counts

When your business was new, churn rates can be extreme. For example, starting with 5 customers and losing 2 produces a 40% churn rate. These early periods heavily influence longer-interval averages.

3. How churn rate is calculated

Churn rate = churned customers ÷ customers at the start of the period.

New customers who join and churn within the same period count as churns, but aren't in the starting denominator. This can produce churn rates exceeding 100% in high-growth periods with short customer lifespans.

Can churn rate exceed 100%?

Yes. If you start a year with 10 customers, acquire 50 new customers, and 15 churn (including some new ones), your annual churn rate is 15 ÷ 10 = 150%. This is most common in early-stage companies with rapid growth and high early churn.