MarginWorkshopSales & Customer Economics
Customer Acquisition Cost
Calculate what it actually costs, all-in, to win one new customer, combining marketing spend and sales cost.
Customer acquisition cost$500
Total acquisition spend$75,000
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Next Decision
Based on your results, these related decisions are available.
- Customer LTV : CAC RatioCompare what a customer costs to acquire against what they're worth over their lifetime.
- Repeat Customer / Referral ValueSee how much cheaper a repeat or referred customer is against this cold-acquisition baseline.
- Sales Conversion & Required Lead VolumeUse your acquisition economics to work out the lead volume a revenue goal requires.
- Customer Cancellation / Churn CostUse your real acquisition cost to price the replacement half of a cancellation.
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Methodology
Formula: customer acquisition cost = (marketing spend + sales cost) / new customers acquired.
Assumption: this is a blended, all-channel average, not a per-channel breakdown.
Limitation: for the breakdown by acquisition source (cold, repeat, referral), see Repeat Customer / Referral Value.
Frequently Asked
- What costs are included in "all-in"?
- Marketing spend, sales time, and any lead-generation cost attributable to winning customers, divided by the number of new customers won in the same period, not just ad spend alone.
- Why does this matter on its own, not just as a marketing metric?
- It sets the floor for what a new customer needs to be worth before acquiring them is profitable; compare it directly against Customer LTV : CAC Ratio to see whether current spend is actually working.
- Does this include referral or repeat customers?
- Only if they carried a real acquisition cost, an incentive, a referral bonus; organic repeat business with no direct cost should not be counted in the same acquisition-cost figure.
- What if acquisition cost varies a lot by channel?
- Calculate it per channel when possible; a blended average can hide a channel that is actually unprofitable once its own true cost per customer is isolated.