Know Your True
Acquisition Cost
Calculate your real CAC, LTV:CAC ratio, and payback period — then benchmark yourself against your industry to see where you actually stand.
Your numbersPeriod: 1 month
Sales & marketing costs
Paid advertising$4,000
$
Sales team salaries / commissions$3,500
$
Marketing team & tools$2,000
$
Content & creative production$800
$
Total S&M spend$10,300
Customers & revenue
New customers acquired85
Average monthly revenue / customer$149
$
Avg. customer lifespan?24 mo
mo
Gross margin?70%
%
Load industry benchmarks
Your customer acquisition cost
$121
$10,300 total spend ÷ 85 customers
LTV : CAC ratio
Aim for 3:1 or higher
20.66 : 1
CAC: $121LTV: $2,503
✓
Excellent — you have strong unit economicsA 20.7:1 ratio puts you well above the 3:1 benchmark. Your LTV of $2,503 dwarfs your CAC of $121. You can likely afford to increase acquisition spend and still remain highly profitable.
Customer LTV
$2,503
ARPU × lifespan × margin
Payback period
1.2 mo
Months to recover CAC
Max affordable CAC
$834
LTV ÷ 3 (3:1 rule)
Headroom
+$713
Max CAC minus actual
CAC payback period1.2 months
0 mo6 mo12 mo18 mo24 mo
Benchmark: under 12 months is healthy. Under 6 months is excellent.
Reduce your CAC with better creatives
PipelineMagic helps you cut CAC by showing you exactly what creatives, funnels, and messaging are working in your niche — free 7-day trial.