Cohort LTV by acquisition channel
Monitor acquisition performance with line plots of selected metrics over calendar time. Use the trends to see how measures such as revenue or repeat purchases change over time.
Authored by Sid Chaudhary
Founder & CEO at Intempt
Agentic workflow
Coming soon1 step Blu runs end to end. It drafts a plan and nothing runs until you approve it.
- 1
Build the cohort LTV board
Coming soonBlu builds a step
About this recipe
When to use it
First-purchase economics hide the real story for a DTC brand - it's the LTV curve after that first order that determines whether a channel is actually profitable. This is the #1 dashboard cited for $20M+ DTC brands for exactly that reason.
What it delivers
Builds cohort LTV curves by acquisition channel, alongside repeat-purchase mechanics and second-order velocity, for the Growth Marketer or DTC Founder view.
How you prompt this
Describe the outcome in your own words and Blu Agent maps it to this recipe, or run it by name. It drafts a plan first and nothing runs until you approve it.
Tell Blu Agent what you want
“Monitor acquisition performance with line plots of selected metrics over calendar time. Use the trends to see how measures such as revenue or repeat purchases change over time.”
recipe.md preview
Built from the published catalog. Blu Agent's full step prompts load in your workspace when you run it.
Inputs & outputs
What the recipe needs before it runs, and what it leaves in your workspace.
Inputs
- Nothing declared beyond an Intempt workspace. Blu asks for anything else it needs as it goes.
Outputs
How the recipe runs
Blu follows the steps in order and shows you each one before anything goes live.
- 01Build the cohort LTV boardCreate a Dash board (12-column composition canvas) titled "Cohort Acquisition LTV". Persona: Performance Marketer running paid acquisition, or DTC Founder evaluating channel quality. Question answered: "Which acquisition cohorts produce LTV worth keeping? Where should I scale spend? Which channels acquire customers who retain vs. one-and-done?" This dashboard is universally cited as the #1 dashboard for $20M+ DTC brands across Common Thread Collective, Conjura, Lifetimely, and Peel. Distinct from Customer 360 (overall customer-base observational) and Ecommerce Revenue (top-line): Cohort LTV is acquisition-month-cohort × revenue curve, with channel decomposition that ties acquisition cost back to long-term value. Board-level configuration: - defaultDateRange: last_12_months (LTV is inherently long-term; shorter ranges miss the cohort tail) - exclusionPeriod: incomplete_periods (recent cohorts haven't had time to mature) - visibility: project - boardFilters: none by default - boardBreakdowns: UTM source: pushed down throughout (the canonical acquisition-channel dimension) Layout: 4 rows. Row 1: Cohort headline KPIs (heightPx: 200, four metric cards at widthUnits: 3): - Card 1: Insights metric to source recipe: first-purchase-cohort-ltv-curve, vizType: metric, titleOverride: "Average LTV (M6)" - Card 2: Insights metric to source recipe: first-purchase-cohort-ltv-curve, vizType: metric, titleOverride: "Average LTV (M12)" - Card 3: Retention metric to source recipe: purchase-retention, vizType: metric, titleOverride: "M3 Repeat Purchase Rate" - Card 4: Insights metric to source recipe: post-purchase-second-order-velocity, vizType: metric, titleOverride: "Median Days to 2nd Order" Row 2: Cohort LTV curves by channel (heightPx: 480, full-width single card at widthUnits: 12): - Card 1: Insights to source recipe: first-purchase-cohort-ltv-curve, displayMode: chart, vizType: line (multi-line: each line = a cohort, X-axis = months since first purchase, Y-axis = cumulative revenue per cohort member, broken down by acquisition channel via UTM source). The strategic centerpiece: answers "which channels acquire customers worth keeping." Row 3: Repeat-purchase mechanics (heightPx: 440, two cards at widthUnits: 6): - Card 1: Retention to source recipe: purchase-retention, displayMode: chart, vizType: retention_curve (cohort by first-purchase month: repeat-purchase % over time, by first-order category) - Card 2: Insights to source recipe: post-purchase-second-order-velocity, displayMode: chart (histogram of days from 1st to 2nd order: informs replenishment journey timing per category) Row 4: Channel revenue and lifecycle context (heightPx: 440, two cards at widthUnits: 6): - Card 1: Insights to source recipe: revenue-by-channel, displayMode: chart, vizType: bar (current revenue split per channel: context for the LTV view) - Card 2: Insights to source recipe: customer-lifecycle-distribution, displayMode: chart (per-channel customer-lifecycle distribution: answers "which channels acquire Champions vs. At Risk customers") Annotations: - Row 1's two LTV KPIs (M6 + M12) are the canonical DTC scaling metrics. M6 LTV ≥ 1.5× CAC = healthy unit economics; M12 LTV ≥ 3× CAC = top-quartile. Without ad-spend integration in canonical taxonomy, this dashboard surfaces LTV; CAC must be computed externally and combined. - Row 2 (Cohort LTV curves, full-width) is the strategic centerpiece. Reading it: each line is a cohort defined by first-purchase month; the line's slope tells you how fast each cohort accumulates revenue. Channels with steep curves (rapid cumulative revenue) acquire quality customers; channels with flat curves (low cumulative revenue) acquire one-and-done buyers. - Row 3 surfaces operational levers: - Card 1 (retention curve) shows replenishment patterns by category: categories with steep retention curves (>30% M3 repeat) are candidates for subscribe-and-save or autoship; flat curves (<10% M3) are one-time-purchase categories - Card 2 (second-order velocity histogram) tells you the right delay for replenishment journey triggers per category: generic 30-day or 60-day delays often miss the actual median. - Row 4 ties it together: which channels are currently producing revenue (Card 1), and what customer types are they acquiring (Card 2). A channel with high current revenue but acquiring mostly At Risk segments is a leading indicator of revenue erosion. - Recommended cadence: read this dashboard monthly. Cohort LTV is slow-moving: weekly views over-rotate on noise. Taxonomy notes: - All source recipes use canonical events: Placed order (with items, total_price, customer_id), Session start, View page. - Users.UTM source is the canonical first-touch acquisition channel. - Users.Lifecycle score is the canonical 6-stage lifecycle enum (At risk / Needs attention / New customers / Promising / Regulars / Champions). - This dashboard does NOT include CAC or ROAS metrics because ad-spend events are not in canonical taxonomy V2.1. It surfaces LTV cohort quality; CAC must be computed externally and combined for full unit economics analysis.
Install Intempt and run it
- 1
Sign up
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- 2
Connect your data
Add the sources this recipe reads from.
- 3
Ask Blu
Type /cohort-acquisition-ltv-dashboard in Blu once this recipe is live there.
- 4
Review and approve
Blu builds each step and waits for your OK before anything goes live.
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