Campaign Cost per Acquisition Calculator
Measure the cost of a defined campaign acquisition event.
Business
Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Find the cost of acquiring each new customer using all relevant acquisition spending. Align the spending window with the customer cohort; leads and existing customers are different denominators.
Your numbers
How the calculation works
Customer acquisition cost relates the cost of acquiring a cohort to the number of new customers in it. Including sales and other acquisition costs alongside marketing makes the cost boundary explicit, instead of presenting advertising spend alone as a fully loaded figure.
CAC = (marketing acquisition costs + sales acquisition costs + other acquisition costs) / new customers.
Define the acquisition cohort
Set the reporting window and decide which acquired customers the spending supports. Where acquisition takes time, align costs and outcomes deliberately rather than assuming every expense produces a customer immediately.
Assemble non-overlapping costs
Add marketing, sales and other acquisition spending. Keep supporting allocations clear so a change in cost scope is not mistaken for improved acquisition efficiency.
Divide by new customers
The calculator divides total acquisition spending by the new-customer count. It also displays the total cost, allowing the numerator to be reconciled separately from the customer record.
Worked example: Fully loaded acquisition
Sample inputs demonstrate the method. They are not a forecast or product offer.
The first example combines €6,000 of marketing, €3,000 of sales and €1,000 of other acquisition spending. The €10,000 total divided by 100 new customers gives CAC of €100.
- Marketing acquisition spending
- 6000
- Sales acquisition spending
- 3000
- Other acquisition spending
- 1000
- New customers acquired
- 100
Expected result
- Customer acquisition cost
- €100.00
Worked example: Small cohort
Sample inputs demonstrate the method. They are not a forecast or product offer.
- Marketing acquisition spending
- 150
- Sales acquisition spending
- 50
- Other acquisition spending
- 0
- New customers acquired
- 8
Expected result
- Customer acquisition cost
- €25.00
Understanding your result
CAC is an average cost for the selected cohort. It does not describe the cost of every individual customer, nor does it establish whether those customers generate enough future contribution to cover acquisition spending.
Comparisons need a consistent cost definition, currency and customer rule. A lower result can reflect omitted spending or a changed attribution window rather than a real improvement. No benchmark or future acquisition forecast is supplied.
Questions you might have
Should salaries be included in CAC?
Include the acquisition-related portion when calculating fully loaded CAC, and use that same cost definition when comparing periods.
Choosing the right inputs
- Marketing acquisition spending
- Enter marketing costs attributable to acquiring the selected cohort. Decide whether shared staff and platform costs are included, and keep that definition consistent in later comparisons.
- Sales acquisition spending
- Include the acquisition-related sales cost for the same scope. Avoid counting a salary or shared allocation again if it is already included in marketing or other spending.
- New customers acquired
- Count actual new customers in the matching cohort, using a whole positive number. Leads, repeat orders and retained existing customers are different denominators.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Do not use leads or all active customers as the new-customer count.
- Do not treat zero acquired customers as free acquisition; the cost-per-customer ratio is undefined and requires a positive denominator.
Assumptions to check
- Use amounts in one currency and one reporting period. Results are labelled EUR; the arithmetic also works for another consistent currency.
- Align the spending window and customer cohort. Existing customers and leads are not new customers.
Sources and method
Read our calculation and testing approach.