Formula
Customer acquisition cost is the spend per new customer, rounded to the nearest cent:
CAC = sales and marketing spend / new customers
Existing customers are not included in the count.
Assumptions
- The spend and the new customers cover the same period.
- Each new customer is counted once.
Worked example
$12,000.00 of spend and 80 new customers is $150.00 per customer.
Input definitions
- Sales and marketing spend
- The cost of winning the new customers. Zero is allowed.
- New customers
- People or accounts acquired in the period. At least one is required.
Limitations
This is a planning estimate, not accounting, tax, payroll, or advertising advice. The currency control changes the symbol only.
Questions
Should I include salaries?
Include them only if they are part of the spend you typed. The page does not add a salary on its own.
How does this relate to lifetime value?
Lifetime value estimates what one customer is worth later. This page estimates what it cost to win that customer.