Metrics & KPIs
LTV
Lifetime Value — total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your store. Usually measured over 12 months for dropshipping.
LTV is the total revenue one customer generates over their entire relationship with your store. For dropshipping, a 12-month window is the standard; anything longer is too noisy because product lines and offers change.
The LTV trap: most stores calculate LTV from first-order revenue only, which is just AOV with extra steps. Real LTV includes second, third, and fourth orders — the orders that turn a marginal business into a profitable one.
Benchmarks by store type:
- Generic dropship (one-time impulse): LTV ≈ 1.05-1.15× AOV.
- Consumables / skincare / supplements: LTV ≈ 1.6-2.5× AOV.
- Subscription-enabled: LTV ≈ 3-6× AOV.
Every dollar you add to LTV expands the CAC you can afford — which expands the audiences and creative angles you can profitably run.
Articles mentioning LTV
- Best Dropshipping Niches 2026: Top 5 for $100K+ MonthsThe top 5 dropshipping niches for 2026 — ranked by subscription potential, margin, and demand. Health & wellness leads, followed by beauty, pets, and more.
- Your First Winner: The 30-Day Double-DownYou finally have a profitable ad. Don't celebrate — move. Here's the 30-day execution plan to turn your first $10K month into your first $100K month before the window closes.
- The 7 Metrics That Separate $10K Stores from $100K StoresRevenue is a vanity number. Seven other KPIs predict whether you scale or stall — and most dropshippers never track a single one of them.
- From $10K to $100K/Month in 30 DaysThe slow-scaling advice is for people who don't have a winner yet. Once you do, the real move is to pump ad spend, flood creatives, add subscriptions, and scale weekly — not…
- The Subscription Lever: Why $70K MRR Beats $100K in One-OffsIf your winning product doesn't have a subscription, it's a time bomb. Here's the exact model operators are using to turn one-time dropshipping wins into compounding monthly…