Free white paper · 14 pages · PDF
Calculating the Cost of Customer Acquisition
Customer acquisition cost is the total you spend on sales and marketing to win new customers, divided by the number you won. It is simple to define and easy to get wrong, because most companies leave out the biggest costs: their own people's time. This white paper shows what to include, how to calculate CAC overall and by channel, how to compare it with what a customer is worth, and where it usually comes down. It is for owners, finance leads and sales leaders.
What's inside
- What customer acquisition cost includes, and the costs most companies leave out
- The formula, with a fill-in worksheet
- A worked example for a commercial service company
- CAC by channel: referrals, inbound, outbound, trade shows and bids
- Cost per qualified meeting, the number that predicts CAC
- Payback period and customer lifetime value
- The full cost of an in-house SDR, with BLS wage data
- Six ways to lower CAC without cutting the pipeline
