---
title: "Customer acquisition cost (CAC): calculation, benchmarks and levers"
description: "How to calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC), interpret it with LTV, and the levers to reduce it. A key advertising-performance metric."
url: "https://publicitefrance.com/en/blog/cout-acquisition-client/"
lang: en
translated_from: "https://publicitefrance.com/blog/cout-acquisition-client/"
category: "Digital advertising"
publisher: "PubliCité France"
updated: "2026-08-02"
keywords: ["customer acquisition cost", "CAC", "LTV", "advertising ROI"]
---

# Customer acquisition cost (CAC): calculation, benchmarks and levers

**In short:** CAC measures how much acquiring a new customer costs. It's one of the most important advertising metrics — but never read alone: it's compared to **customer lifetime value (LTV)**.

## How to calculate CAC
Basic formula:

> **CAC = (marketing + sales spend) ÷ number of new customers acquired** over a period.

Example: €10,000 spent to acquire 100 customers = €100 CAC. Ideally, include all acquisition costs (media, tools, possibly related salaries).

## CAC isn't read alone: the LTV/CAC ratio
A €100 CAC is excellent if a customer brings €600 over their lifetime (LTV), and disastrous if they bring €80. So watch the **LTV/CAC ratio**: a healthy ratio is often around 3 to 1 (a customer's value is about three times their acquisition cost), adjusted by sector.

## Levers to reduce CAC
- **Improve targeting**: less wasted spend.
- **Optimise conversion** (site, funnel, offer): more customers for the same budget.
- **Activate free channels**: SEO, content, word of mouth, referrals.
- **Increase retention**: keeping customers costs less than acquiring them.

## FAQ
**What is a good CAC?**
There's no universal value: a good CAC is clearly below the value a customer generates (LTV). The ratio matters more than the raw amount.

**CAC and CPA — same thing?**
Close: CPA (cost per acquisition) often measures the cost of an action (purchase, lead) on a channel; CAC aggregates the cost of acquiring a customer across all channels.

**How to improve the LTV/CAC ratio?**
By lowering CAC (targeting, conversion) and/or raising LTV (retention, upsell, cross-sell).

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*PubliCité France — blog, Digital advertising. French version: /blog/cout-acquisition-client/*