Calculators / Customer acquisition cost

Customer acquisition cost calculator

Enter what you spent on marketing and how many new customers it brought in. Add order value and margin to see how many orders it takes to earn the cost back.

Your numbers

$
Ads, influencers, first-order discounts, tools.
$
%

Per new customer

Acquisition cost (CAC)
Gross profit per order
First order minus CAC
Orders to pay back CAC

The formulas

CAC = marketing spend ÷ new customers
Gross profit per order = order value × gross margin
Orders to pay back = CAC ÷ gross profit per order

Worked example

Last month a store spent $2,400 on ads and$600 on two creator posts, and got 120 new customers. Orders average $55 at a 40% gross margin.

CAC3,000 ÷ 120 = $25.00
Gross profit per order55 × 0.40 = $22.00
First order minus CAC22 − 25 = −$3.00
Orders to pay back25 ÷ 22 = 1.14

Each new customer loses $3 on the first order and turns profitable on the second. Whether that is fine depends on how many of them actually come back, which your store's repeat-customer report will tell you.

Bringing CAC down

Raise the first order value

Bundles and a free-shipping threshold just above your typical basket raise order value without changing what a customer costs to win, so the payback comes sooner.

Find the channel that is dragging it up

Work out CAC per channel, not just overall. One expensive channel can hide inside a reasonable average. The ROAS calculator helps judge each ad campaign on its own.

Read more

Formula and examples last checked October 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

What should be included in marketing spend?

Everything you spent to win new customers in the period: ad spend, influencer and affiliate payments, discounts given only to first-time buyers, and marketing tools and freelancers. If some of it was aimed at existing customers (a newsletter to past buyers, say), leave that part out.

Should I count every customer or only new ones?

Only new ones. Repeat customers who would have come back anyway did not cost you that marketing money, and counting them makes acquisition look cheaper than it is.

What is a good CAC?

One that the customer pays back. If the first order's gross profit covers it, the customer is profitable from day one. If it takes three orders, you need to be confident most customers order three times. The "orders to pay back" line is the number to watch.

How long a period should I use?

A month is a common choice. Use the same period for spend and for new customers, and avoid a period with a big one-off campaign unless that is what you want to measure.

Other calculators