Revenue Maths: Calculator
Customer acquisition cost calculator
Add up everything it takes to win a customer, not just the ads, and see how many jobs it takes to earn that back.
Starting values are a worked example for a service business. Replace them with your own numbers.
Each new customer pays for themselves on the first job.
How it's calculated
CAC = (ad spend + agency and tool fees + sales and quoting time) ÷ new customers won. Payback = CAC ÷ gross profit on a first job.
Next: compare CAC with what a customer is worth using the lifetime value calculator.
Questions
What is customer acquisition cost?
Everything you spend to win new customers in a period, divided by the number of new customers. That includes ads, agency and software fees, and the time spent quoting and following up.
Why include quoting time?
Because it is a real cost of winning work. An owner who spends ten hours a week quoting jobs that don't go ahead is paying for acquisition with their own time.
What is CAC payback?
How much gross profit it takes to earn back what a customer cost to win, shown here in first jobs. If one job covers it, you can grow on new customers alone. If it takes three, you rely on repeat work.
What is a good CAC?
It depends on what a customer is worth. Compare it with lifetime value: a common rule of thumb is that lifetime gross profit should be at least three times CAC.
Start with a diagnostic.
The 90-Day Plan: a diagnostic of your marketing and a week-by-week plan, built in two weeks. Yours to keep, whether or not we run it.