Which Channels Bring Your Best Customers
Analyse customer acquisition channels by LTV, AOV, return rate, and repeat purchase rate — not just by volume — to invest in the channels that matter.
Why volume is the wrong metric for channel evaluation
Most eCommerce businesses evaluate acquisition channels by volume (orders or revenue in the first period). This is misleading.
A channel that drives 500 orders at £30 average order value with a 10% repeat rate generates less value than a channel that drives 200 orders at £60 AOV with a 35% repeat rate. The second channel delivers 3–4× more lifetime value per customer acquired.
The correct evaluation framework is LTV by acquisition channel: how much total revenue does a customer acquired from each channel generate over 12 months? AskBiz calculates this in Customers → Acquisition Channel Analysis.
Channel LTV analysis
Go to Customers → Acquisition Channel Analysis to see the following for each channel:
- Number of new customers acquired (last 12 months)
- Average first-order value
- 30/60/90/180-day repeat purchase rate
- 12-month LTV (estimated)
- Return rate
- Refund rate
Connecting Google Analytics provides the traffic source (paid search, paid social, organic, email, referral, direct). Without Google Analytics, AskBiz uses UTM parameters from order data to attribute customers to channels.
Sort by 12-month LTV to identify which channels deliver the most valuable customers — then cross-reference with your CAC by channel to find the best LTV:CAC ratio.
Paid social vs paid search: the LTV difference
A common finding across eCommerce businesses is that paid search customers have significantly higher LTV than paid social customers, despite paid social often driving higher order volume.
Why: Paid search captures intent (customers searching for your product or category). Paid social interrupts browsing (impulse buys driven by discounts). Intent-driven customers are more likely to return; impulse buyers are less loyal.
If your data shows this pattern, it suggests:
- Increase paid search investment (including Google Shopping and branded terms)
- Improve email capture and nurturing for paid social customers to improve their repeat rate
- Reduce reliance on discount-driven paid social campaigns that attract low-LTV buyers
Organic and referral: your most valuable channels
Organic (SEO) and referral customers typically have the highest LTV and lowest CAC of all acquisition channels:
- Organic: customers who found you through search were actively looking — high intent, high conversion, good repeat rates
- Referral: customers sent by a friend or review site came pre-sold — high trust, lower return rates, often higher AOV
If your channel analysis shows organic and referral customers have 50%+ higher LTV than paid channels, the implication is clear: invest in content marketing and referral programs. They are expensive to build but deliver compounding returns over time.
AskBiz quantifies this trade-off: go to Customers → Channel LTV → ROI Comparison to see the projected return on incremental investment in each channel.