Customer acquisition cost (CAC) calculator

Work out what it costs to win each new customer and how many months of gross profit it takes to earn that back.

What you enter

Marketing spend for the period – Advertising, agency fees, content, events and marketing tools.
Sales costs for the period – Sales wages and commissions, CRM and sales tools, travel to win new business.
New customers won in the period – Count only genuinely new customers, not repeat purchases.
Gross profit per customer per month (optional) – Average monthly revenue per customer × your gross margin. Used for the payback period.

CAC = (Marketing spend + Sales costs) ÷ New customers won. CAC payback (months) = CAC ÷ Gross profit per customer per month.

Spend and new customers are for the same period.
All new customers came from the spend you entered; referrals and word of mouth lower your true CAC.
Amounts exclude GST.

A blended CAC hides big differences between channels. Calculate it per channel where you can.
Long sales cycles mean this month’s spend may win next quarter’s customers; use a longer period if that applies.

Customer acquisition – How a small business finds and wins new customers on purpose: defining who you want, choosing channels you can actually work, and knowing what each new customer costs you.
Sales performance metrics – The handful of numbers that tell you whether your sales engine is working: activity, conversion, velocity and value, how to calculate them from your CRM, and how to use them to coach rather than just to judge.
Marketing ROI – How to work out whether your marketing is making money: the formulas for return on investment, cost per acquisition and customer value, how to attribute results to channels honestly, and how to use the numbers to decide where to spend.