How Do You Value a “Free” Customer? — HBS Working Knowledge
How Do You Value a “Free” Customer? — HBS Working KnowledgeBut new research is starting to look at customers whose value is not as readily apparent, and where CLV calculations break down. In a recent working paper, Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta calls them “free” customers—think of buyers at an auction. Traditionally auction houses make most of their profit from fees paid by sellers; buyers don’t pay fees. So although buyers are a necessary ingredient to the deal—no buyers, no sellers—their value is more difficult to quantify. To the auction house, is one buyer worth four sellers? Is one buyer worth one seller?
