Marketing returns
Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Calculate fully scoped acquisition spending per newly acquired paying customer, rather than cost per lead or order.
Use CAC when the denominator is new customers and costs include your chosen acquisition scope. Use CPA when the outcome is an attributed action instead.
What the result means
CAC expresses the average acquisition investment per new paying customer. Assess affordability against contribution LTV, first-order contribution, and cash payback rather than an isolated benchmark.
The formula
Total acquisition costs / new paying customers
Results are displayed to at most two decimal places. Calculations use the unrounded inputs.
A worked example
Put the formula to work
- Total acquisition costs (currency)
- 18,000
- New paying customers (customers)
- 120
CAC (input currency per new customer): 150.00
Spending 18,000 to acquire 120 new paying customers produces a CAC of 150 per customer.
How to use this calculator
- Define whether the calculation is blended or channel-specific.
- Add every acquisition expense included in that scope.
- Count distinct new paying customers, excluding renewals and repeat orders.
- Divide costs by customers and retain the scope for future comparisons.
Why this number matters
A fully scoped CAC exposes expenses that media-only cost metrics miss and connects acquisition activity to customer economics.
Input definitions
- Total acquisition costs (currency)
- Sales and marketing acquisition costs, including media, labor, tools, and agency costs within your documented scope.
- New paying customers (customers)
- Distinct first-time paying customers acquired by this spending cohort; must be greater than zero.
Assumptions and limitations
- Costs and customers may fall in different periods when sales cycles are long.
- Shared salaries and brand spending require a consistent allocation policy.
- Blended CAC can hide expensive channels or differences between customer segments.
Methodology
The default result and worked example use the same calculation functions as the interactive tool. The formula cannot verify the quality or scope of your source data.
Read our calculation methodology
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