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Performance marketing

Cost per customer instead of cost per click: how to measure marketing properly

Measure marketing by the cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) and their value, not by the cost per click. Cheap clicks look good in a report, but they do not pay invoices. What matters is how much a customer costs you and how much they bring you; only that shows whether the campaigns make money.

Key takeawayCPC (cost per click) is an input, not a result. Track CAC (cost per customer) and LTV (customer value). If the value of a customer is significantly higher than the cost of acquiring them, marketing is working.

Why cost per click is misleading

A low cost per click can mean cheap but low-quality traffic. Conversely, a more expensive click from someone ready to buy may be the better deal. A click says nothing about whether the visit turns into a job.

The numbers that make sense

  • CAC: how much one acquired customer costs you.
  • LTV: how much a customer brings you over the whole relationship.
  • The LTV : CAC ratio: healthy companies tend to have at least 3 : 1.
  • Conversion rate: how many visits turn into an enquiry.

How to start measuring properly

  1. Set up conversion tracking, not just traffic tracking.
  2. Connect advertising data with real jobs.
  3. Calculate customer value, not just the first order.
  4. Decide based on CAC and LTV, not on cost per click.

This is how we report as well; details at performance marketing. The connection to the whole system is at Growth System™.

Frequently asked questions

What does the abbreviation CAC mean?

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the cost of acquiring one customer: total marketing spend divided by the number of new customers.

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What LTV to CAC ratio is healthy?

A ratio of at least 3 : 1 is generally considered healthy: the customer brings in at least three times what it cost to acquire them.

Why is tracking cost per click not enough?

Because a click does not pay invoices. A cheap click without a conversion is more expensive than a pricier click that brings a job. What decides is the cost per customer, not per visit.

Do you not know how much one customer costs you? Let us work it out together.

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