Create intermediate Works with: Any AI

Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Calculator

Table output Has example

Calculate what it costs to win a customer and when it pays back.

The Open buttons send the prompt text as currently shown below to that site only when you click. Fill in the placeholders first.

Build a calculation for acquisition cost. Monthly marketing and sales spend: [SPEND]. New customers per month: [NEW_CUSTOMERS]. Average monthly revenue per customer: [REVENUE_PER_CUSTOMER]. Gross margin: [GROSS_MARGIN]. Churn per month: [CHURN].

Calculate cost per new customer as spend divided by new customers, gross profit per customer per month, payback months as acquisition cost divided by monthly gross profit, and an approximate lifetime as one divided by monthly churn. Show every step with my figures.

Return a table, a sensitivity view for churn changes of plus and minus 20 percent, and plain advice about what the numbers do and do not show. Include a warning that blended figures can hide channels that lose money.

Show the worked numbers: spend 6,000 and 40 new customers give an acquisition cost of 150. Monthly revenue per customer 50 with 60 percent gross margin gives gross profit 30 per month. Payback = 150 / 30 = 5 months. With monthly churn of 5 percent, expected lifetime = 1 / 0.05 = 20 months, so lifetime gross profit = 30 x 20 = 600, and the ratio of lifetime profit to acquisition cost = 600 / 150 = 4. Show the same chain with my numbers. With churn of 6 percent the lifetime falls to about 16.7 months, so test sensitivity as requested. Note these are approximations that assume constant churn and constant margin, which rarely holds.

Add a section describing how to split the calculation by channel when the data allows, with a small table, and how to include only the costs that belong to acquisition, such as ad spend, agency fees and the time of sales staff. State clearly which costs I excluded and why, because comparisons between companies are meaningless unless definitions match.

Add a one-paragraph interpretation for a non-financial manager, stating whether acquisition looks healthy, which assumption matters most and what to measure next month.

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Replace each bracketed placeholder with your own details, then paste into Any AI or another assistant.

Invented figures. Spend 6,000, new customers 40: cost per customer 150.
Revenue per customer 50 a month, margin 60 percent: gross profit 30 a month.
Payback = 150 / 30 = 5 months.
Churn 5 percent a month: lifetime about 1 / 0.05 = 20 months; lifetime gross profit 30 x 20 = 600; ratio 600 / 150 = 4.
Sensitivity: churn 6 percent gives lifetime 16.7 months, profit 500, ratio 3.3; churn 4 percent gives 25 months, profit 750, ratio 5.
Caution: blended figures can hide a channel that loses money.

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