Value Grids

You probably create value grid tables for your new customers. Here's an example, comparing twelve-month future value of newly acquired customers based on the number of items purchased and the average price of a item purchased.

This example suggests that discounting is not ideal ... giving the customer 30% off or 50% off to place a first order might result in 2 items at $7.99 instead of 1 item at $14.99 ... but the twelve-month value of the customer with 2/$7.99 is lower than 1/$14.99.

For many of you, the differences are far more extreme than what is presented here.

Score every single new customer ... the day you acquire the customer ... keep track of the differences in customer value over time. Are you slowly throttling down the future value of your business because you are acquiring easy/fickle customers instead of customers you'd prefer to acquire? Are your marketing tactics harming future value?