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Year-to-date data from 100 e-commerce brands shows some channels consistently bring in higher-value customers than others. While most teams focus on ROAS, LTV also tells a story about which channels attract customers who come back, buy more, and ultimately drive long-term growth.
Let’s dive into which channels delivered the highest customer lifetime value this year:
1. SMS Leads in Long-Term Value
SMS drove the highest LTV across the brands we analyzed.
This reflects a larger trend: customers who opt into SMS usually have stronger purchase intent and higher loyalty.
2. Email
Email followed closely behind SMS in terms of LTV contribution.
Email has always been a retention channel, but this year’s data reinforces just how powerful it is for generating repeat orders.
3. Referrals
Referral traffic ranked within the top three LTV-generating channels.
Referred customers arrive pre-primed with trust, which leads to higher conversion rates and stronger lifetime value.
4. Direct Traffic
This channel often reflects the power of your brand, your repeat buyer base, and strong word of mouth.
5. Meta Ads
Meta Ads generated solid LTV, landing in the middle of the ranking.
Even as targeting becomes more complex, Meta continues to introduce brands to customers who later convert again.
6. Organic Social and Organic Search Deliver Strong LTV
These channels often contribute to early-stage discovery and build trust before the first purchase.
7. Google Ads Brings Solid Value but Not at the Top
According to our data, Google is powerful for capturing demand, but customers acquired here may not be as loyal as those acquired through owned channels.
8. ChatGPT Emerges as a Small but High-Quality Channel
AI search is still new, but ChatGPT-sourced customers showed promising LTV. The volume is still low, but the customers who do convert tend to be intentional buyers.
Measure Your Own LTV by Channel in ThoughtMetric
See which channels drive your highest-value customers, book a demo with ThoughtMetric to get started.
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