Glossary
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the total amount spent on marketing and sales to acquire one new customer, calculated as (marketing + sales spend) / number of new customers in the period.
Also known as
- CAC
- customer acquisition cost
- Customer Acquisition Cost
CAC is the metric SaaS investors scrutinize most closely because it determines whether a business model is viable. The golden rules of B2B SaaS: **LTV / CAC ≥ 3**, and **CAC payback period ≤ 12 months** (the time it takes to recover the acquisition cost through MRR). Below 3, the model doesn't scale; above 5, you're probably under-investing in growth.
2026 benchmarks by segment: B2B SaaS SMB ~€205 average CAC, mid-market ~€1,450, enterprise ~€30k–100k. The classic mistake is calculating a "blended" CAC (all channels combined) instead of a per-channel CAC — one channel may show an excellent CAC (organic SEO) while being non-scalable, while a scalable channel (paid ads) has a higher CAC but lets you invest 10× more volume. The modern approach (Bessemer, OpenView) separates organic CAC vs paid CAC vs outbound CAC to manage each channel independently.
In the getchatsocial.com product
getchatsocial.com surfaces the implicit per-channel CAC through the Brandyze attribution module: leads identified by `score_lead` are linked to their source (social post, cold outreach, SEO) to calculate an acquisition cost per channel.
FAQ
What LTV/CAC ratio should I target in B2B SaaS?
The standard benchmark is LTV/CAC ≥ 3, ideally between 3 and 5. Below 3, unit economics are stressed. Above 5, it's often a sign of over-caution — you're under-investing in acquisition.
How do I reduce my CAC?
Three main levers: (1) increase funnel conversion rates (CRO, copywriting, social proof), (2) shift growth toward zero-marginal-cost organic channels (SEO, AEO, content), (3) sharpen paid targeting (lookalike audiences, high-intent retargeting).