Subscription LTV:
what subscribers add.
Subscription LTV is decided after the first order. We followed new subscribers in the stores we run and audit from their first order to their latest, and read in Shopify what they bought on top of their plan, what each order was worth and how long they stayed.
Subscription LTV, in short.
of new subscribers buy something on top of their plan in a later order. The other four in five renew the plan alone, or leave.
is what a later order is worth against the first, so the typical renewal is smaller than the order that started the subscription.
of add-on buyers reach a fourth order, against 46% of subscribers who never add anything.
of new subscribers come back for a second order, the start of every renewal.
One subscriber in five adds to the plan.
At the typical store 20% of new subscribers buy a one-time product on top of their plan in an order after the first. Across the middle half of stores the share runs from 9% to 25%, and counted across every subscriber together it is 20% too.
Typical store (median). New subscribers, first orders from May to October 2025, followed to October 2026.
Four in five subscribers are never offered a reason to buy more, or never take it. Every one of them is worth exactly their plan, for as long as they keep it.
Later orders are worth less than the first.
A later order is worth 86% of the first at the typical store, and at three stores in four the later orders are smaller. Across the middle half of stores a later order is worth 62% to 96% of the first.
Typical store (median): gross sales per order, later orders against the first order set at 100%, each store in its own currency.
The first order carries the bundle, the gift set or the bigger pack. The renewals that follow are the plan alone, so subscription LTV falls with every renewal unless something is sold into it.
Subscription LTV is longer for add-on buyers.
Of the subscribers who placed a second order, 66% of those who bought something on top of their plan reach a fourth order, against 46% of the rest; 40% reach a sixth, against 25%. The add-on buyers stay longer at almost every store.
Typical store (median). Subscribers who placed a second order, 72% of new subscribers at the typical store; the whole cohort is in the next section.
Staying longer and adding something feed each other: a subscriber who stays has more orders to add to, and one who adds has more reason to stay. This is a pattern, not proof that the add-on caused the stay. It does say where subscription LTV is made: in the renewals, not the first order.
Seven in ten come back for a second order.
At the typical store 72% of new subscribers place a second order, and across the middle half of stores 65% to 80% do, the same figure as our subscription churn benchmarks. Where they leave after that, order by order, is on that page.
Those second orders are where the value is won or lost: the subscriber is still there, the renewal is smaller than the first order, and most are never sold anything else. How to sell into the renewal, from the add-on in the next box to the upgrade before the first charge, is our subscription upsell strategies.
How we measured.
This study uses the stores YOCTO runs and audits. Every figure is anonymous and pooled; no store can be told apart from another.
One source
Each store’s own Shopify reports, read in November 2026. Nothing was installed and the same measures were read in every store.
Who is a subscriber
A customer whose first order contained a subscription. We follow those with first orders from May to October 2025, followed to October 2026, so everyone had at least a year to come back.
Adding something
A one-time line in an order after the first. Order value is gross sales divided by orders, the first order against the later ones, compared only within a store and in its own currency.
Staying
Orders placed to date, compared from the second order on, so add-on buyers and the rest start from the same place.
The typical store
Each store counts once: we report the median across stores and the middle half around it, which shows how far stores spread.
Limits
Shopify sees orders, not plans, so a move to a bigger pack inside the subscription app is not counted. A free gift added as a line counts as a one-time line, which is why the first order’s add-ons are left out: they depend on how a store adds its welcome gifts.
Cite this research.
Free to cite with attribution to YOCTO, under a CC BY 4.0 license. More benchmarks are on our subscription ecommerce statistics. Next refresh: February 2027.
Kapernaros, G. (2026). Subscription LTV Benchmarks 2026: What Subscribers Add After the First Order. YOCTO. https://yocto.agency/subscription-ltv-benchmarks/
See what your
renewals are worth.
We read your orders against these benchmarks and show how much of your subscription LTV is left in the renewals. Then we sell into the first one.
