way, as you acquire new customers, you create the right scenarios to invite them back.

You have to prioritize the goal of creating value for others, and not just making money. If you provide enough value, the money will chase you instead of you chasing it—like a shadow that finds you on a sunny day.

the equation “profits = revenue minus costs” is merely the start, not the end.

Your spend needs to be about much more than blindly throwing money at acquisition ads. It has to be wrapped up in a learning equation that involves elements such as the following: • Studying your customers • Understanding buying habits • Doing research • Analyzing post-purchase touchpoints • Customer journey optimization.

One reason why an acquisition-only approach will fail is because it doesn’t have your customers’ unique journeys in mind, or how the way they define “value” changes over time. The acquisition-only approach is too busy bombarding people with a stream of “buy-now” messages, offering specials and discounts they might not care about.

CLV shows you the predicted profit, over time, that a customer will bring you.

you must understand another vital metric: the CAC Payback Period. In a nutshell, the CAC Payback Period is the time it takes for your company to earn back your customer acquisition costs.

The fact is CLV is not a fixed reality. Impacting it is well within your reach if you know where and how to look inside the numbers.

The most critical aspect of this step is expanding your view of the dominant numbers. Until you start to monitor and measure key metrics related to CLV, and build a game plan towards improving them, you will continue to over-optimize the two or three dominant numbers you’re used to.