What customer acquisition cost is
Photo: Avila Ops Tecnologia
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is your average spending to win a new customer. Total marketing and sales expenditure for a period, divided by new customers in that period. R$ 1,500 spent in June for ten new customers means CAC of R$ 150.
CAC shows whether attraction spending returns. Six months of records allow monthly comparison.
Why is a simple calculation so rarely done?
Spending is scattered: Meta ad manager, agency invoices, WhatsApp agents’ salaries. New customers mix with old ones in the same conversation.
Two habits are needed: record all attraction costs together and mark each customer’s entry month and channel. Spreadsheets work initially. CRM, which keeps each contact’s history, works when spreadsheets fail: avilaops.com/guias/crm-para-pequenas-empresas-com-whatsapp.
A beauty clinic spends R$ 1,500 monthly attracting customers and gets 12 new ones in June: CAC R$ 125. A first visit leaving R$ 180 margin already pays for acquisition. At R$ 90, the clinic pays to meet customers.
What does it mean beside customer value?
CAC alone is neither good nor bad. Compare spending across the customer’s relationship. R$ 300 is expensive for R$ 60 shirts, cheap for accountants securing R$ 400 monthly contracts for two years.
If new customers do not repay CAC on the first or second purchase, review the channel. See What a new customer costs, and why to know.
What to do now
Total six months’ attraction spending and new customers. Divide and compare with each customer’s margin. Failure to distinguish new from existing customers is a record problem, not marketing. Five figures on one self-updating screen: avilaops.com/sistema-para-pequenas-empresas or WhatsApp: wa.me/5517997811471.
Frequently asked questions
What counts toward CAC?
Ads, agencies, marketing tools, sales commissions, paid service time. Not products, rent, or delivery. Ask: would this expense exist if I stopped seeking new customers? If not, include it.
What is a good CAC?
No universal figure. It must be below the profit generated while customers buy from you. For one-time sales, it must fit that sale’s margin.
How do I calculate CAC without ads?
Add paid prospecting time, printed materials, gifts, tools; divide by new customers. Referral CAC looks like zero, but someone spent time requesting and serving referrals.
Turn what you learned into your next step.
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