Cost per customer acquisition calculator
This cost per customer acquisition calculator works out what each new customer costs you. Enter your marketing spend, any sales and team costs, and the customers you won in the same period. Or enter your cost per lead and the share of leads that become customers to see CAC from the lead side.
Generating leads on your own forms? Sell your leads.
CAC from spend and customers
Ads, bought leads, agencies, tools and content for the period.
Salaries, commissions and software for sales and intake, if you include them.
Results
- CAC (marketing only)
- -
- CAC (full, with sales and team costs)
- -
Results show a dash until the inputs they need are filled in.
Formulas
- CAC (marketing only) = total marketing spend ÷ new customers
- CAC (full) = (total marketing spend + sales and team costs) ÷ new customers
CAC from cost per lead
The share of leads that become customers.
Results
- CAC from cost per lead
- -
- Leads needed per customer
- -
Results show a dash until the inputs they need are filled in.
Formulas
- CAC from cost per lead = cost per lead ÷ lead-to-customer rate
- Leads needed per customer = 1 ÷ lead-to-customer rate
How to use the CAC calculator
- Pick one period, such as a month or a quarter, and use the same period for every input.
- Add up marketing spend: ads, bought leads, agency fees, tools and content. Use invoices, not budgets.
- Decide whether to include sales and team costs. Leave the field empty for marketing-only CAC; fill it in for full CAC.
- Count new customers won in the period: signed cases for a law firm, signed jobs for a contractor.
- If you buy leads, use the second calculator: your effective cost per lead after returns and your lead-to-customer rate.
Compare the result with what a customer is worth to you. If CAC is higher than the profit from a customer, the channel or the follow-up needs to change. The formulas and the difference between CAC and CPA are explained in customer acquisition cost and cost per acquisition.
How to read the results
| Result | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| CAC (marketing only) | What marketing spent per new customer. Useful for comparing channels. |
| CAC (full) | What the business spent per new customer, including the people who closed the sale. |
| CAC from cost per lead | What a customer costs when you buy or generate leads at a given cost per lead and conversion rate. |
| Leads needed per customer | How many leads you need for each customer at your current conversion rate. |
To lower CAC from the lead side, raise the lead-to-customer rate (faster follow-up, better intake) or lower the effective cost per lead (claim returns for invalid leads, cut weak sources). See lead conversion rate, speed to lead and cost per lead.
What the calculator does not include
- Customers who came from channels you did not count, such as referrals you did not pay for.
- Time lags: spend in one month can produce customers the next month.
- Refunds, cancellations and chargebacks after the sale.
- Overheads that are not about winning customers, such as rent or delivery costs.
For a per-case or per-sale view with contact and appointment stages, use the lead cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer acquisition cost?
What it costs, on average, to win one new customer: the marketing (and, if you include them, sales) costs for a period divided by the new customers won in that period.
Should CAC include salaries?
It depends on the decision. Marketing-only CAC is useful for comparing channels; full CAC, with sales and team costs, shows what each customer costs the business.
What is a good customer acquisition cost?
One that is lower than the profit a customer brings you over the time you keep them. There is no single good figure: compare CAC with your own customer value, and compare channels with each other on the same basis.
Why is my CAC different by channel?
Channels reach people at different points in their decision and cost different amounts per lead. A channel with a higher cost per lead can still have a lower CAC if more of its leads become customers.
How do I calculate CAC from cost per lead?
Divide cost per lead by the share of leads that become customers. With a made-up example of 50 units per lead and 1 in 10 leads converting, CAC is 500 units.
Related
- Customer acquisition cost: Definition, formula and examples.
- Cost per acquisition: CPA vs CAC vs CPL.
- Cost per lead: How to calculate it and what makes it good.
- Lead cost calculator: Cost per sale or signed case for lead buyers.
Run the traffic. We handle the rest.
Every publisher is reviewed before going live. Email us your verticals, traffic sources, states and expected volume.
Or write to team@summitleads.ai. We reply by email.
What happens next
- Step 1: You email us.
- Step 2: We reply by email.
- Step 3: Every publisher is reviewed, and return and payment terms are agreed during onboarding, before you go live.