Glossary

What is Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ?

CAC is the total cost to acquire one paying customer, including all marketing and sales expenses. It's a broader measure than CPI or CPA.

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Overview

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Definition & Meaning | Segwise Glossary

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Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) : Full Definition
Why Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) matters
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Overview

CAC is the total cost to acquire one paying customer, including all marketing and sales expenses.

In mobile UA, CAC specifically measures cost-per-paying-user rather than cost-per-install (CPI) or cost-per-action (CPA).

CAC is a business-level metric used in financial modeling and investor reporting, while CPI and CPA are operational metrics used for daily campaign optimization.

The relationship between them is: CPI × (1/install-to-payer conversion rate) × (allocated overhead) = CAC.

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