CAC
Customer Acquisition Cost
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the cost of acquiring one new customer: total marketing and sales spend for a period divided by the number of new customers in the same period.
What is CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)?
CAC shows how much a business spends to acquire one new player, client, or user. It is calculated for a specific period: total marketing and sales costs are divided by the number of new customers over the same timeframe.
## How to calculate it
Formula: CAC = (traffic costs + acquisition team salaries + partner commissions + bonus costs for acquisition) / number of new customers. What counts as a "customer" depends on the vertical: in gambling and betting, it is often a player with a first deposit (FTD); in crypto and fintech, a verified user or first transaction; in dating, a confirmed user; in nutra, a paid order. The definition should be fixed in advance, otherwise comparing periods is meaningless.
## Where it applies and what it affects
CAC is compared with LTV: lifetime profit from a customer should cover the cost of acquiring them with a margin. In affiliate models, CAC is compared with the CPA rate or revshare share; in nutra, with the margin per order after refunds and cancellations. Rising CAC usually signals more expensive traffic, creative fatigue, or a drop in conversion to deposit, KYC verification, or payment.
## Common mistakes
Only media buying is counted, without salaries, KYC provider fees, and bonuses, which are also part of acquisition cost. Organic and paid traffic are mixed without proper tagging, making CAC look artificially low. The lag between spend and registration is ignored, as is churn before the first deposit or first withdrawal.
FAQ
How is CAC different from CPA?
CPA usually refers to the price of a single target action paid by an advertiser or network, such as a registration or deposit. CAC includes all customer acquisition costs, including salaries, tools, and bonuses, so it is almost always higher.
What is a good CAC?
There is no universal benchmark. The acceptable level depends on the vertical, country, and monetization model. A practical guide is the LTV-to-CAC ratio: if lifetime profit from a customer is clearly higher than the cost of acquiring them, the model works.
How can CAC be reduced without losing customer quality?
Typically, segmenting traffic by quality, testing creatives, and reducing drop-off during registration and verification helps. It is important to measure not only the cost of registration but also the final CAC for customers who reach a deposit or first purchase.