AKA:
Acquisition (ACQ), Cost-per-action (CPA)
What does it mean:
The cost takes to acquire 1 user to your service. Typically this would just factor paid media spend but can sometimes include other costs.
The Formula:
Media spend / Users acquired = CAC
Use it in a sentence:
To colleagues:
“We need to optimize our media spend around the channels with lower CAC.”
To investors:
“Today our CAC is $50 and steady. We have been testing new channels that may bring this down to as little as $30.”
At a party:
“So I say to the guy in the bathroom at the marketing conference, excuse me but your zipper is down and your CAC is showing.”