Why you shouldn’t use CLTV/CAC

Long-Term Business Sustainability Depends on the Right Measures

A metric commonly used to measure the performance of high-growth businesses is Customer Lifetime Value over Customer Acquisition Cost, or more simply CLTV/CAC. It is a much better metric to provide an objective to marketing teams than many others we have seen in the past, but it has also some tremendous flaws associated with it, and if not used correctly and in the right context, it can jeopardize the business using it.

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Thinking About Onboarding a Customer Data Platform? Make This Hire First

You already know that you need to break down organizational silos to change the way teams work together. Knowing this, you may be thinking about investing in the hot new technology of a Customer Data Platform (CDP).

These marketer-managed data repositories allow you to create a single customer profile that can then be used by other systems. This gives you the power to enhance your (re)engagement activities across media. CDPs can be a smart way to collect data once and make it work for you, again and again, breaking through silos to create a more cohesive process for your team. Instead of having different team members each independently working on a piece of the puzzle, you can use this technology to bring them together.

You’ve probably already started hearing vendor pitches for a CDP (and if not, just wait. They’re going to be all the rage for 2019). Before you make a decision about a purchase, though, my advice is to take a step back and make sure that you have the talent in place to take full advantage of what a CDP has to offer. Continue reading