Cohorts & LTV
A first sale is only half the story. Cohorts show you what happens after — how customers from each channel stick around, expand, or churn — so you can back the channels that bring customers who last.
What a cohort is
A cohort is a group of customers who started in the same period (say, "everyone who subscribed in March"). By following that group month over month, you can see how much of their revenue is retained over time — read straight from Stripe, not guessed.
Retention by channel
Because every customer is tied to the channel that brought them, you can compare retention by acquisition source. This often reveals surprises: a channel with a cheap upfront cost might churn quickly, while a pricier one brings customers who stay for years.
LTV and LTV:CAC
- LTV (Lifetime Value) — the total revenue you can expect from a customer over their lifetime.
- LTV:CAC ratio — lifetime value compared with what it cost to acquire them.
LTV:CAC = Lifetime value ÷ Acquisition cost
A common healthy benchmark is 3:1 — every dollar spent acquiring a customer returns about three over their lifetime. Signal Sparrow shows this per channel so you can fund the sources with the best long-term return.
CAC payback tells you how fast you recover your cost; LTV:CAC tells you how much you ultimately make. Great channels win on both.