Customer value 12 mo
€216
Gross margin across all purchases
What does a new customer really cost you?
Most companies steer on ROAS and don't see that their growth comes entirely from existing customers. Calculate your nCAC, put your margin next to it, and you'll know right away whether you can scale or need to fix things first.
2 min — why nCAC contradicts your ROAS report
Know how much you can pay for a new customer.
As long as you don't know what a new customer brings in, every budget is a gamble: you brake where you should push, or you buy customers who never pay off. This calculator puts your costs next to your margin and repeat purchases. After three steps you know what a new customer costs you today, what they bring in over twelve months and how much you can bid without eating into your profit.
What do you spend?
All marketing costs in an average month.
€
€
€
%
€86
cost per new customer
Healthy — sustainable, limited room to scale
Value / nCAC ratio
2,5×
From 3× you have room to scale
First-order margin
€120
You're profitable from the first purchase
Payback period
4.8 mo
Until a new customer pays for itself
At a target ratio of 3×, your nCAC can be at most €72.
What does this mean for me?Scale, or fix your foundations first?
Now you know what a new customer is allowed to cost you. Chances are you're not exactly there today. What then? Fix a few things first, or scale? And if you scale: how much, and where is your ceiling? We'll put that next to your account together in a free thirty-minute call.
Received.
We'll review your numbers and propose a call with a concrete plan within two business days.
Math that leads to decisions.
5.0 Google reviews
“We steered on ROAS for years. When we started calculating per new customer, it turned out half our budget was going to existing buyers.”
OR CoffeeSpecialty coffee roaster“The review was concrete: here's where you're losing money, here's where you can bid more. Our acquisition cost dropped 62% without losing volume.”
NAOSE-commerce“Finally an agency that starts with the numbers and only then talks about campaigns. The tracking is right now, so the decisions are too.”
StelconB2BQuestions about nCAC.
The questions we get most often about this calculation.
What exactly is nCAC?
nCAC stands for new customer acquisition cost: all marketing costs in a period divided by the number of new customers in that same period. Unlike blended CAC, existing customers who buy again don't count, so you see what growth really costs you.
What is a good nCAC?
There is no universally good number. What counts is the ratio to the gross margin a customer delivers over twelve months. From about 3× you usually have room to scale; below 1× you pay more for a customer than they bring in over a year.
Why is the agency fee included in the calculation?
A new customer costs you everything you spend to acquire them: media, fees, tools and creative production. Counting only ad spend makes your nCAC artificially low and your bidding room unrealistically large.
How do I know how many customers are new?
In Shopify, WooCommerce and most CRMs you can split new versus returning customers. If that's not possible, that is the first thing to fix: without that distinction you're steering on an average whose composition changes every month.
Does this also work for B2B and lead generation?
Yes. For new customers, enter the number of won deals; for order value, the average contract value; and for purchases per twelve months, your renewal or repeat rate. For long sales cycles, we look at a longer period in the review.
What happens to the numbers I enter?
The calculation happens in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you submit the form yourself; then we include the values you entered so we can prepare your review.
Rather just give us a call?
Twenty minutes, your numbers at hand, and you'll know where your bidding room is. No presentation, no sales game.