Marketing, sales and customers
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Marketing, sales and customers
Definition
The average cost of winning one new customer, found by dividing sales and marketing costs for a period by the number of new customers won in that period.
Also called
CAC, Customer acquisition cost
For your role
Choose your role to see what this term means in your work.
Why it matters
Growth is only healthy if new customers cost less to win than they bring in over time.
Where it is used
Marketing reports, growth plans and investor updates. Used by marketing analysts, sales operations, growth teams and finance business partners.
How to calculate it
CAC = sales and marketing costs in period ÷ new customers won in period
Worked example
Raket Parts B.V. won 4 new customers between April and September 2025 (first order in that period). Marketing programme costs for the same months were €147,229.
Marketing only: €147,229 / 4 = €36,807
Adding sales team staff costs of €1,023,834: €1,171,063 / 4 = €292,766
With so few new customers, one more or less changes CAC a lot, and much of that sales effort also serves existing customers.
Raket Parts B.V. is a fictional company created for Insyt.
Definitions vary. Some include only marketing spend; others add sales salaries, tools and overheads, and some split costs between new and existing customers. Check how your organisation calculates it.