Blended CAC
Customer acquisition cost calculated in a blended way (not per-channel attribution), often used when attribution is incomplete.
Definition
Customer acquisition cost calculated in a blended way (not per-channel attribution), often used when attribution is incomplete.
More context
Blended CAC estimates acquisition efficiency using total acquisition cost divided by total acquired customers (or qualified conversions) across channels. It’s especially useful when attribution is degraded (e.g. GDPR) or multi-touch journeys make channel-level CAC misleading.
Why it matters
It keeps decision-making grounded in economics even when channel attribution breaks down.
How to use it
Pick a consistent acquisition outcome definition (often CRM-based) and calculate cost including media + related overhead; track the trend over time.
Common pitfalls
Mixing outcomes (leads vs customers) without definitions, or excluding major acquisition costs like salaries/tools.
Related terms
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) — The total cost to acquire a customer. For more accurate CAC, include costs like salaries, tools, outsourcing, and other acquisition-related overhead.
- GDPR — EU privacy regulation that impacts tracking and attribution. In practice, it often makes channel-level attribution less reliable.
- CRM — Customer relationship management system. Often the source of truth for leads and conversions (and useful for “combined conversions”).
- KPI Definitions — A shared set of definitions for metrics like “lead” so different teams (e.g. marketing and sales) mean the same thing when they talk about numbers.