Can you afford your next customer?
Enter what one new customer's first order brings in, what it costs to deliver, and what you want to keep. Get the most that customer can cost to win. Leave anything you don't know blank.
One currency, one recent period. Blank means you don't know it yet; it is never counted as zero.
- Any acquisition cost per new customer that is not media: agency or creative fees, affiliate commissions, discounts given to win the sale.
- Do later orders add contribution, and over what period have you actually seen it?
- How long until a new customer pays back what it cost to win them, and can the business wait that long?
- Would the next dollar buy customers as cheaply as the average does today?
The math is the easy part.
The calculator gives you the number. We send what moves the inputs — from accounts we run every day.
How the limit is calculated
Everything is per new customer, for their first purchase, in one currency and one recent period. Each cost is taken away once.
contribution before acquisition = net revenue − variable costs
total acquisition allowance = contribution before acquisition − contribution kept
left for media = total allowance − non-media acquisition costTwo illustrative businesses, both with $100 of net revenue on the first order. The ecommerce one has $60 of variable costs and keeps $10, so it can spend up to $30 to win a customer. The digital one has $20 of variable costs and keeps $20, so it can spend up to $60. Same revenue, double the allowance. These are teaching figures, not recommended margins.
Why the higher ROAS can be the weaker campaign
Two fictional campaigns each spend $10,000. A brings in $40,000 of first-purchase revenue at a 20% contribution margin; B brings in $25,000 at 60%. A reports 4.0, B reports 2.5. But A leaves $8,000 of contribution against $10,000 of spend, a $2,000 shortfall, while B leaves $15,000, $5,000 ahead. Both figures are before overhead and before any later orders, and neither proves the spend caused the sales. It shows why the margin has to be in the number before anyone asks for more budget.
Media limit or all-in allowance?
The total allowance covers everything it takes to win the customer. If you also pay an agency, creative production, affiliate commissions, or a first-order discount, declare that cost per customer and the calculator shows what is left for media. Say which one you mean whenever you quote a target, or the media budget quietly absorbs costs it was never meant to cover.
What is a first-purchase acquisition limit?
It is the most you can spend to win one new customer and still keep the contribution you chose, counting only their first order. Start from what that order brings in after discounts, refunds and sales tax, take away the costs that rise with each order, and set aside what you want the customer to leave toward overhead and profit. What is left is the allowance.
Why not just use ROAS?
Revenue divided by ad spend says nothing about what the revenue costs to deliver. A campaign returning 4.0 on a 20% margin loses money before overhead; one returning 2.5 on a 60% margin can make it. The limit starts from contribution, so the margin is in the number.
Is the allowance my profit?
No. Contribution is what is left after variable costs, before fixed overhead such as salaries and rent. The amount you choose to keep is your decision about how much of that each new customer should leave behind. A positive result is not net business profit.
What if I don’t know one of the numbers?
Leave it blank. The calculator never treats a blank as zero. It shows what is unknown and turns it into a specific request you can send to whoever holds the number, so you end with a data request rather than a made-up limit.
What about repeat purchases?
This is deliberately first-purchase only. If customers reliably buy again you may choose to spend more than the first order supports, but that depends on what later orders actually add, how long it takes, and whether the business can wait. Answer this question first, then examine those separately.
From Sam— Growth checkWhat's actually holding your growth back?
About 4 minutes, no account access. For Ecommerce stores, SaaS, and digital products. A score across five areas and the one constraint to fix first.
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