What this guide helps you evaluate
Shopify merchants building a repeat-purchase and contribution-margin view of customer value.
This page is designed to help you compare the moving parts, organize due diligence and ask better questions before you commit money, sign a contract or change an operating process.
What to compare first
- Customer-level revenue and order history
- Refunds, discounts, COGS and fulfillment cost
- Cohort start date and observation window
- Acquisition source and first-order cost
- Repeat rate, purchase frequency and retention
Step-by-step process
- 01
Export or query customer and order data with stable customer identifiers.
- 02
Choose a consistent cohort definition such as first purchase month.
- 03
Calculate net revenue after refunds and discounts.
- 04
Subtract variable costs to produce contribution value, not only sales.
- 05
Compare cohorts by acquisition source and enough elapsed time.
Common mistakes and risk checks
- Calling gross revenue LTV.
- Comparing new cohorts with mature cohorts over unequal time windows.
- Ignoring refunds, shipping subsidies and payment fees.