Pet services
Pet Care Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
Works a client's value, where recurring pet care accumulates for years.
Result
Gross profit, not revenue, because revenue you spend delivering the work is not available to spend winning customers. Referrals are the least reliable input here; measure yours rather than assuming.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Average service value times frequency times years retained, with margin applied, plus referrals. Pet care is unusually high in both frequency and retention, because an animal needs the service for its whole life and owners who trust a provider do not change, which makes lifetime value large relative to the individual service.
What moves the number
- Service frequency, which is high in walking and daycare.
- Years retained, often the animal's lifetime.
- Cross-service uptake: grooming, boarding, daycare.
- Referrals, which are strong in this trade.
Where this one goes wrong
A client using several services is worth a multiple of one using a single service, and the cross-sell is unusually easy because the trust is already established and the need is genuine, which makes it the highest-return activity available. Offer the other services. The counterpart is that losing a client loses years of recurring revenue across several services, which is why the handling of a single bad incident matters out of proportion to the service it concerned.
Before you quote
- Cross-sell other services to existing clients.
- Treat a lost client as years of lost recurring revenue.
- Count referrals, which are substantial here.
Questions
About this calculator
Why is pet care lifetime value so high?
Because frequency and retention are both unusually high: an animal needs the service for its whole life and owners who trust a provider do not change. That makes the value large relative to any individual service.
What is the easiest way to raise it?
Cross-selling other services, since the trust is established and the need is genuine. A daycare client needs grooming and boarding too, and a client using several services is worth a multiple of one using a single service.
What does losing a client cost?
Years of recurring revenue across several services plus the referrals they would have made. That is why handling a single incident well matters out of proportion to the service it concerned, and why reputation carries this trade.
The formula
lifetime value = average appointment x appointments per year x years x gross margin
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How to use this calculator
- Average price per appointment ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $78.
- Visits per client per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.4.
- Years they stay. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Gross margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 55%.
- Clients they refer. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 0.4.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to lifetime gross profit, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Average price per appointment | $78 |
| Visits per client per year | 1.4 |
| Years they stay | 6 |
| Gross margin | 55% |
| Clients they refer | 0.4 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit main result | $360.36 |
| Lifetime revenue | $655.20 |
| Including referred clients | $504.50 |
| Gross profit per year | $60.06 |
One customer is worth $360.36 of gross profit over 6 years, or $504.50 once the people they refer are counted. That is what you can afford to spend winning one.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only average price per appointment, this is what happens to lifetime gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Average price per appointment ($) | Lifetime gross profit |
|---|---|
| $39 | $180.18 |
| $59 | $272.58 |
| $78 example above | $360.36 |
| $117 | $540.54 |
| $156 | $720.72 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Average price per appointment ($)
- A money amount, starting at $78.
- Visits per client per year
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 1.4.
- Years they stay
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 6.
- Gross margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 55%.
- Clients they refer
- A number, between 0 and 20, starting at 0.4.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Lifetime revenue | A money figure. |
| Including referred clients | A money figure. |
| Gross profit per year | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.