What is blended CAC?
Blended CAC = total marketing spend / total new customers. Spans all channels (paid + organic + email + referral) and is the only CAC number that can't be gamed by attribution overlap.
The formula
Blended CAC = (all marketing spend in period) / (all new customers acquired in period).
Includes paid ads, agency/freelance fees, tool subscriptions, affiliate, influencer, content production. Customer counter includes paid-attributed + organic + referral + word-of-mouth.
Why it beats channel CAC
Channel-specific CAC (Meta CAC, Google CAC) suffers from attribution overlap — both platforms claim the same customer. Blended CAC counts every dollar against every customer, so it can't be inflated. It's what investors care about.
The target
Healthy blended CAC = LTV / 3 or better. If your 12-month LTV is $180, blended CAC should be under $60. Brands sustainably above this ratio have unit economics that work without growth-stage subsidization.
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