In brief: CAC expresses the average cost of acquiring a new customer. The calculation should include relevant marketing and sales costs for the same period and a clearly defined customer group.
How I use CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) in practice
I bring in CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) only when it is clear who collects the data and who acts on it. First I verify the event in the browser and source system, then its transfer to the report and finally its meaning for sales. I document differences between platforms instead of forcing them to match.
What to watch out for
A tool is not a source of truth by itself. With CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), I need to know the collection boundaries and whether corrections are possible. Without checking duplicates and missing events, a precise calculation can rest on faulty input.
Questions for a decision
- Exactly how do we calculate the value, and from which source?
- Which decision changes if the number rises or falls?
- What can distort or duplicate the measurement?
- What do we compare the value with so it has business meaning?