Free CAC calculator
Customer acquisition cost is the total marketing and sales cost divided by the new customers produced. A useful limit is the profit you keep from a customer, viewed both on the first sale and across realistic repeat business. Use your own numbers to set the ceiling before you buy leads.
Check the offerThis offer projects $200 per new customer.
$6,000 total cost ÷ $200 kept per customer = 30 customers, spread across 6 active months.
Track closely.
They are asking $1,000.
At 5 out of 20, you need 21 leads a month. At 9 out of 20, you need 12.
The practical view
Acquisition cost should include the costs required to win the customer, not just media. Compare it with profit rather than sales revenue.
Example: a six-month campaign expected to bring five customers each active month. Change any number in the calculator to replace the example with your business.
Build the real total
Include media, agency or contractor fees, sales tools, setup charges, and the labor required to convert leads. Use one consistent cost definition when comparing channels.
Before you sign
Define a new customer, the attribution window, and the point when a sale is confirmed. Separate first-sale economics from repeat business that has not happened yet.
Read the result
The first-sale profit is the conservative acquisition ceiling. Lifetime profit can support a higher cost only when your own records support the repeat-purchase assumptions.
Count only paying new customers attributed to the activity, then divide the full acquisition cost by that count.
Straight answers
Keep checking the pitch
Running a nonprofit? The nonprofit version is coming separately.