CAC ROI by Channel Calculator
Different acquisition channels have different CAC and LTV profiles. Paid search wins on speed; SEO wins on cost; outbound wins on enterprise. Compare LTV/CAC ratios across your channel mix and find the most efficient channel.
| ACV | — |
| Customer LTV | — |
| Paid Search CAC | — |
| Paid Search LTV/CAC | — |
| Paid Search Payback | — |
| SEO CAC | — |
| SEO LTV/CAC | — |
| SEO Payback | — |
| Outbound CAC | — |
| Outbound LTV/CAC | — |
| Outbound Payback | — |
| Content CAC | — |
| Content LTV/CAC | — |
| Content Payback | — |
LTV/CAC Benchmarks by Channel
Paid Search (Google Ads, LinkedIn): high CAC ($500-$5K), fast scale, CAC rises with budget. Best for high-intent keywords. LTV/CAC typically 1.5-3x at scale.
SEO/Content: low ongoing CAC ($100-$800 once established), slow ramp (12-18 months), compounds. LTV/CAC 5-15x once mature. Best for educational content + product-led growth.
Source: Bessemer State of the Cloud + OpenView SaaS benchmarks
Outbound and Enterprise
Outbound SDR-driven: high CAC ($2K-$10K), works for ACV $25K+. Below that ACV, payback is too long. LTV/CAC 1.5-3x at enterprise; 0.5-1x at SMB.
Partnership/referral: variable CAC ($200-$2K depending on revenue share), scales with partner ecosystem. LTV/CAC often 3-8x. Best when you have integrations or marketplace presence.
Channel Saturation
Every channel has a saturation point. Paid search at $50K/mo may have $1.5K CAC; doubling to $100K may give you $2K CAC (rising CAC). Plot the marginal CAC curve — at some point marginal CAC exceeds your LTV.
Healthy companies diversify across 3-5 channels. Concentrating 80%+ of acquisition in one channel = single-point-of-failure risk. Algorithm changes, ad cost increases, or platform policy changes can crater your funnel overnight.
Practical Allocation
Calculate marginal CAC and LTV/CAC for each channel. Allocate budget to the highest-LTV/CAC channels until they saturate, then move to the next. Re-run quarterly.
Track payback period alongside LTV/CAC. Healthy SaaS targets payback under 12 months at gross margin. Outbound deals with 30-month payback are sometimes worth it for strategic enterprise wins; usually not.
CAC ROI by Channel Calculator: Formula and Worked Example
Per-channel ROI uses two ratios: LTV/CAC (= Customer LTV ÷ Channel CAC) and payback months (= Channel CAC ÷ (ACV/12 × gross margin)). Worked example: ACV $12,000, gross margin 75%, monthly churn 2% → LTV = $12,000 × 0.75 ÷ 0.02 = $450,000. With Paid Search CAC $4,000: LTV/CAC = 112x (suspiciously high — likely under-attributed or LTV inflated by churn assumption). With Outbound CAC $8,000: 56x, payback 10.7 months. SEC EDGAR 10-K filings (sec.gov/edgar) disclose public-SaaS S&M expense and net new customers — useful sanity check against your blended ratio. Watch LTV inflation: a 0.5% churn assumption produces LTV 4× higher than a 2% churn — recompute LTV/CAC with realistic 24-month rolling churn before reallocating budget. Last updated: 2026-06-24.