CAC payback period
CAC payback is the number of months a new customer’s gross margin takes to repay their acquisition cost: CAC divided by (monthly revenue per customer × gross margin).
Payback prices growth in cash — the resource a business can actually run out of. A company with strong LTV:CAC but a 30-month payback still locks up every growth dollar for two and a half years, and if churn assumptions slip, the LTV evaporates while the CAC is already spent.
Benchmarks (2026): B2B SaaS median sits around 15-16 months; under 12 reads as efficient; over 18 is a structural conversation. Always compute on gross margin and fully loaded CAC — the revenue-unadjusted version flatters by 20-40%.
Knowing what CAC payback period means isn’t the edge.
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