Six numbers about your business show what a new customer costs, what they bring in over their lifetime, and the highest cost per lead you can afford without losing money. Two more fields show what you can pay per lead and per customer if you decide in advance what share of the first order goes to ads. The fields hold an example — enter your own numbers.
Want to go through your numbers together and find where money leaks?
Message us →Profit here is gross: only cost of goods and ad spend are subtracted. Salaries, rent and taxes are not included, which is why many businesses aim for an LTV to CAC ratio of 3 to 1. The affordable cost is based on the first order, while LTV includes repeat purchases, so the two conclusions can differ.
Unit economics is the math of a single customer: what it costs to win them and what they bring in. The calculator uses five formulas:
The Affordable cost block answers a different question: what you can pay if you have decided in advance what share of the first order goes to winning a customer.
A qualified lead is one a manager has checked and confirmed as a fit. Some leads drop out, so you can pay more for a qualified lead than for a plain one: with the default example, up to $6 per lead and up to $12 per qualified lead.
The first purchase and the full customer lifetime are shown separately. Salons, cafés and service businesses often lose money on the first order and profit only on repeat visits. That works as long as customers really come back, so take the purchase count from your own data, not from hopes.
Working out the whole picture — channels, budgets and a plan — is part of marketing strategy.
It is the math of one customer: what it costs to acquire them and how much money they bring in. If a customer brings in more than they cost to acquire, ads build profit. If less, every new customer adds to the loss.
A common benchmark is 3 to 1: a customer brings three times more gross profit than they cost to acquire. The buffer covers salaries, rent and taxes, which this calculation leaves out. Between 1 and 3 ads pay off, but barely. Below 1 they lose money.
That happens in businesses with repeat purchases. The first order does not cover acquisition; the money comes from customers who return. This only works if customers really do come back.
There are four levers: lower the cost per lead (ads, audiences, landing page), raise lead-to-customer conversion (reply speed, sales script, chatbot), raise the average order value, and bring customers back for repeat purchases. Change the numbers above to see which lever moves the result most.
Multiply the average order value by the share you are willing to spend to win a customer: that is the affordable cost per customer. Multiply it by the lead-to-customer conversion to get the affordable cost per lead. Example: a $120 order, 20% for ads, 25% conversion: up to $24 per customer and $6 per lead.
A lead that a manager has checked and confirmed as a fit: the person suits you and is ready to talk about buying. Some leads drop out, so you can pay more for a qualified lead than for a plain one. The calculator shows it as a separate line in the Affordable cost block.
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