VVV Cadeaukaarten
Unlocking Customer Lifetime Value
Setting the Scene
An important driver of growth is customer lifetime value. Brands that truly understand their customers, can target more intelligently, activate faster, and communicate more personally. Yet in most organisations, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) remains a theoretical concept and is rarely translated into execution.
VVV Cadeaukaarten faced exactly this challenge. As a leading brand in the Dutch gift card market, VVV aimed to outpace market growth. However, despite having access to transactional data, the organisation lacked a holistic view of its customers—buyers, redeemers, and business decision-makers—and how each group contributed to long-term value.
The question was not how to calculate CLV, but how to make it actionable.
That’s where we stepped in.
Key results
Aligned across strategy, data and marketing.
Launched to turn CLV from theory into action.
From CLV construct to scalable activation and personalisation.
- Exploration & Alignment
- Key Decisions
- Execution & Adaptation
- Outcome & Reflection
We started with a deep-dive into the organization to understand the current business model, data collection processes, and market position. Our analysis showed three key challenges:
- Limited insight into buyers and redeemers. Buyers were identifiable online, but their motives and value were unclear. Redeemers were often anonymous, leaving an untapped opportunity.
- Fragmented data activation. Transaction and redemption data existed but were not connected to lifecycle strategies.
- Market shift to digital. VVV held a strong offline position but only a 2.5% share in the growing online B2C market, limiting CLV opportunities.
Together, we defined the goal: build a CLV construct that could be immediately applied with existing data, identify the drivers of value, and uncover use cases for activation without waiting for large organizational changes.
We designed a CLV construct that went beyond the traditional calculation of order value × frequency × retention. For VVV, we integrated additional drivers:
- Redemption behavior (when and how cards are redeemed).
- Conversion of redeemers into buyers (a unique opportunity in the gift card market).
- Digital engagement (opt-ins, website interactions, saldo checks, and code swaps).
- B2B vs. B2C dynamics (frequency and seasonality in corporate clients).
This formula created a business-relevant CLV model that could highlight growth levers, not just calculate value.
Phase 1 delivered the CLV construct and mapped data availability, defining a first version of the model. With this foundation, we identified concrete activation opportunities tied directly to CLV growth, such as:
- Using saldo check and redemption interactions to identify redeemers and convert them into buyers.
- Launching a redeemer thank-you flow to increase repeat purchases from buyers.
We are now in phase 2, turning the construct into an operational CLV model: validated on historical data, implemented in dashboards, and directly connected to marketing use cases.
With the CLV construct in place, VVV Cadeaukaarten is able to:
- See the true value of buyers and redeemers across both B2C and B2B.
- Link redemption data to customer journeys and new acquisition opportunities.
- Prioritize high-impact activation cases with measurable business potential
By moving from abstract metrics to an actionable CLV model, VVV Cadeaukaarten is unlocking a new growth engine in the digital gift card market. The foundation is set for data-driven personalization, retargeting, and B2B expansion — with CLV as the central metric guiding strategy and execution.
