Shopify Customer Lifetime Value Report

The Shopify Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Report is a vital analytics tool that helps you understand how valuable your customers are to your business over the entire span of their relationship with your store. Here’s an explanation and a step-by-step guide to understanding and using the report:

Why Tracking Customer Lifetime Value Is Critical for Growth

Not all customers contribute equally to your business. Some make a single purchase and disappear. Others return again and again, becoming loyal advocates who generate recurring revenue. The key to long-term eCommerce success lies in understanding and tracking Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), the main metric for sustainable growth.

That’s where the Shopify Customer Journey Report by Report Pundit steps in. It helps you measure CLV by analyzing each customer’s entire purchase journey from their first order to their most recent, and categorizing them into 1x, 2x, and 3x+ buyer segments.

Whether you're refining loyalty campaigns, retargeting dormant high-value buyers, or adjusting your acquisition strategy, this report gives you the customer-level clarity you need to take meaningful action.

What Does the Shopify Customer Journey / CLV Report Do?

The Shopify Customer Journey Report by Report Pundit goes beyond standard analytics by mapping every customer’s journey over time. Here’s how it works and why it matters:

• Tracks Purchase History: It follows every customer from their first order to their most recent, turning messy transactional data into a clear narrative of loyalty and engagement.

• Segments Customers by Activity: Customers are automatically grouped into 1x buyers (first-time), 2x buyers (repeat), and 3x+ buyers (loyal returning), giving you an instant snapshot of your customer base’s composition.

• Enables Targeted Action: Understanding which segment a customer falls into lets you:

• Refine loyalty programs by targeting repeat and loyal buyers with exclusive offers.

• Retarget high-value buyers who’ve gone dormant, re-engaging customers you already know are willing to spend.
• Adjust the acquisition strategy based on which customer segments are most responsive or profitable.

The Customer Journey Report helps you segment customers by purchase behavior, identify and target your most valuable buyers, spot retention gaps, and take data-driven actions to boost loyalty, revenue, and long-term growth.

Key Data Fields in this Report

The standard fields in this report are:

• Customer Name: Name of the customer as registered in Shopify
• Total Spent (Within Date Range): The amount spent by the customer within the specified date range.
• Total Spent (Lifetime): The total amount of money the customer has spent at the shop.
• Order Count: The number of orders placed by a customer
• 1x Buyers: Value of a new customer’s first order
• 2x Buyers: The combined value of the customer’s first and second orders‍
• 3x plus Buyers: The combined value of three or more orders placed by a customer

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Why Use the Customer Journey Report?

The Shopify LTV report isn’t just for tracking history, but it’s a tool for taking action. Here's how merchants use it:

• Identify high-value customers for loyalty campaigns
  
  
• Segment and personalize marketing based on purchase frequency
  
  
• Track reactivation opportunities for 1x or lapsed buyers
  
  
• Gauge campaign performance by comparing LTV across discount codes or acquisition sources
  
  
• Understand product impact by filtering first-order items to see what draws customers in
  
  

Whether you’re refining email flows, building lookalike audiences, or launching a loyalty program, this data drives smarter targeting.

Case Study: How a Shopify Apparel Brand Uncovered Customer Lifetime Value Using Purchase Frequency Insights

A mid-sized apparel brand running on Shopify wanted to better understand customer behavior, not just who was making purchases, but how often they returned and how much value they contributed over time. The brand aimed to go beyond one-time transactions and focus on metrics that would support long-term growth, such as repeat purchase behavior and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

The team requested a custom report that would help them:

• Measure how frequently customers were purchasing in 12 months
• Calculate average order value (AOV)
• Estimate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) across their customer base

They also wanted to ensure that the report accurately accounted for unique customers over time and differentiated between first-time and returning buyers.

How we helped our client: 

Using data from their last 12 months of sales, we built a Customer Value report that applied the following formulas:

Purchase Frequency = Total Orders ÷ Unique Customers

Average Order Value = Total Revenue ÷ Total Orders

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) = (Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency) × Expected Customer Lifespan

Here’s how the apparel brand’s data broke down:

Total Revenue: $420,000

Total Orders: 12,000

Unique Customers: 6,500

Average Order Value (AOV): $35

Purchase Frequency (Annual): 1.85 orders

Assumed Customer Lifespan: 2 years

Customer Lifetime Value = ($35 × 1.85) × 2 = $129.50

Why Is It Important to Calculate?

This custom report gave the brand a reliable way to track and benchmark CLV across its customer base. It also revealed that a significant portion of their revenue was being driven by returning customers, while a large group of buyers only made one purchase.

With a clear view of Customer Lifetime Value and purchase frequency, the brand was able to make more informed decisions around retention, loyalty programs, and long-term customer engagement.

How is CLV Calculated in Shopify?

Shopify uses a standard formula:

CLV = Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency × Average Customer Lifespan

Here’s how to find each metric:

• Average Order Value (AOV):
  
  • Formula: AOV = Total Revenue ÷ Total Number of Orders
• Purchase Frequency:
  
  • Formula: Purchase Frequency = Total Number of Orders ÷ Total Number of Unique Customers
• Average Customer Lifespan:
  
  • Estimate the number of years customers continue purchasing from you. This can be assessed from customer order histories and retention rates.

Example: If your AOV is $50, the average customer orders 3 times a year, and remains active for 2 years:

CLV = $50 × 3 × 2 = $300

Conclusion

The Customer Journey Report makes CLV measurable and actionable by showing not just what customers bought, but how they buy and grow with your brand. By segmenting users into first-timers, repeat, and loyal advocates, you unlock smarter, data-driven marketing, higher retention, and more sustainable growth in your Shopify business.

Track your customer lifetime value, identify your most loyal buyers, and grow revenue with Report Pundit’s Customer Journey Report.

FAQs

1. Can I create a report of high-value customers (over $25K CLV) who haven’t purchased in the last 6 months, along with what they bought?
Yes. You can filter by LTV threshold and inactivity period, and include purchased product data.

2. Can I track the lifetime value of customers who used specific discount codes on their first order?
Absolutely. Filter customers by first-order discount code and view their total LTV.

3. Can I find the average time between a customer’s first and last order?
Yes. This metric is available and can help you understand customer lifespan and purchasing cadence.
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