If you’re a brand owner/marketer obsessed with acquiring new customers, but improving CAC:LTV ratio is quietly on your radar, then this newsletter is for you.
Below are 9 ways to boost your LTV fast without selling your soul to discounts.
Some of these apply exclusively to certain types of brands (CPG or subscription). That said, even if you take 1-2 tactics from here, you can significantly boost your 12-month LTV.
Here we go…
1. Prioritize subscriptions
Either get rid of the one-time purchase (OTP) option altogether, or heavily prioritize subscriptions on your product page (PDP).
Churn rates tend to flatten out from month 4 onwards. And unless you have terrible churn from month 1-3, going subscription-first is almost always the right move.
2. Increase perceived value on acquisition offer
Retention starts with your acquisition offer.
Smart brands are prioritizing bulk purchases on their PDPs.
1-3-6 offers. Or 60-90-day subscriptions.
Take a look at this PDP from IM8, for instance:
90-day supply (which costs a whopping €273, btw), is positioned as the best value choice.
The 30-day option and the OTP are buried underneath.
Converting customers immediately to a 3-month plan does two things:
- It asks the customer to renew 4 times a year vs 12
- It drives high quality customers
These “buy more, save more” deals are effective because customers feel like they’re getting more bang for their buck.
3. Create FOMO With free gifts
Take the same IM8 example.
A customer who converted to the 90-day plan might unsubscribe after month 3.
But then, just as they’re about to cancel, you send them an email saying they have free gifts coming with their next batch.
Now, there’s extra FOMO when you cancel.
Physical gifts are a great way to increase perceived value.
4. Post-purchase product education
Transformation promises are great for one-time conversions. Risky for LTV.
If you want the customer to actually experience the benefits you promised in Meta ads, they must consume the product correctly, AND consistently.
That takes product education and habit formation.
According to James Clear, it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit, so you need to constantly hold the customer’s hand as they commit to this new thing.
Read more: I analyzed 8851 post purchase emails. Here are the best 36.
5. Plain text at-risk series
Create a one-time buyers segment in Klaviyo.
Figure out your re-purchase cliff. For most brands, it’s anywhere from 30-60 days.
Then, write an email sequence with text-based emails only. Use direct response copy to introduce an offer, create urgency, and remind them of your unique selling point.
Chances are about 70% of these people will never buy from you again.
Even if you can prevent 2-5% of that churn, you’ve unlocked extra ad budget.
6. At-checkout offers
This is probably the fastest and easiest way to improve your CAC:LTV ratio.
You can increase AOV by 10-30% just by implementing relevant post-purchase upsells in your strategy.
The great thing about this is you don’t need any extra traffic. You’re just presenting existing leads with relevant cross-sells.
7. A welcome series answering “Why us?”
If you’re collecting emails via a pop-up, you should do anything you can to convert these users ASAP, ideally within 7 days.
Your welcome sequence should consist of at least 5 emails.
I recommend taking a direct response approach. Dig into your Meta ads comment sections, Reddit threads, and see what objections customers have. Tackle those in the welcome flow.
Finally, add a plain text “last chance” email at the end of the sequence.
8. Direct mail to high LTV customers
You can target high LTV customers with a personalized letter anywhere from 60–90 days post-purchase.
For this tactic to work, make sure the letter is genuinely handwritten and feels personal, not mass-produced or templated.
This can be an effective strategy especially after Black Friday. Ministry of Supply founder Aman Advani talks about it here.
9. Get rid of email flow discounts
Automated flow discounts condition customers to wait you out.
To start, I recommend testing a discount vs no-discount version in your cart abandonment flow.
Most often, what you’ll find is that customer who abandoned their cart didn’t need 10% off, nor did they want to hear about your brand’s founding story for the 10th time.
If you can reduce your discount rate even a little, that’s extra profit for you.
What’s Next
If you’re looking to boost LTV in the next few months, you can’t go wrong with these tactics.
That’s it for today.
Gonna hop on some projects, and later enjoy the Spanish sun (it’s scorching 🥵).
Siim Pettai
