Customer acquisition cost formula in Excel or Google Sheets
Put the inputs in column B from row 2, then paste the formulas below. They work the same in Excel and Google Sheets.
| Cell | What | Value or formula | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2 | Sales costs, incl. salaries and commission ($) | 60000 | 60000 |
| B3 | Marketing costs, incl. ads and tools ($) | 40000 | 40000 |
| B4 | New customers won | 50 | 50 |
| B6 | Customer acquisition cost ($) | =ROUND((B2+B3)/B4,0) | 2000 |
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Frequently asked questions
- How do you calculate CAC?
- Add all sales and marketing costs for the period and divide by the new customers won in it. $100,000 of cost for 50 new customers is a CAC of $2,000.
- What should be included in CAC?
- Salaries and commissions of sales and marketing, ad spend, events, agencies and the software they use. Leaving salaries out makes CAC look far lower than it is.
- What is a good CAC?
- One that the customer pays back quickly: compare it with gross profit per customer (CAC payback) and with lifetime value (LTV:CAC of 3 or more is the common target).
About the author
Abdessamad Ghanem
Customer Experience & Customer Success Consultant · Founder of Clarivoxx
Abdessamad Ghanem works across Customer Support, Sales, Customer Success, Account Management and Partner Management. He writes Clarivoxx Insights for B2B SaaS professionals who own retention, adoption and customer outcomes.