ReferenceFoundational· 4 min read

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

CACCustomer acquisition cost (CAC)The fully-loaded cost of winning one new customer: ad spend, tools, and the people involved, divided by the number of customers acquired in the same period.View in glossary is everything you spent to win new customers in a period, divided by the number of customers you won. The mistake is counting only media: a true CACCustomer acquisition cost (CAC)The fully-loaded cost of winning one new customer: ad spend, tools, and the people involved, divided by the number of customers acquired in the same period.View in glossary includes tools, agency fees and the loaded cost of the people doing the work.

Split it by channel and by new vs. expansion, because a blended CACCustomer acquisition cost (CAC)The fully-loaded cost of winning one new customer: ad spend, tools, and the people involved, divided by the number of customers acquired in the same period.View in glossary hides which channels are actually paying their way.

The blended-CAC trap
A single blended CAC averages a brilliant channel with a terrible one. Always look at CAC per channel before you decide where the next pound goes.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)