FREE TOOL
CAC Payback Calculator for Ecommerce
How many orders does it take to earn back the cost of a new customer?
Use this free CAC payback calculator to compare up to 10 ad platforms. See how many orders cover CAC. You can also estimate your CAC payback period in months.
Contribution is what a sale leaves after its costs. Those costs include products, shipping, fulfilment and payment fees. This money can pay back CAC: the cost to win a new customer. Fixed bills, such as rent, come later.
Payback in orders
Example results
Whole orders needed to earn back the cost of one new customer, including their first order.
- Meta Ads CAC
- USD 90.0
- Contribution per order
- USD 39.0
Order value and costs
US Dollar (USD). USD is the fallback until country detection finishes. You can change it.
Choose a period to set dates, or choose Custom dates.
Other costs, if they apply
Need help finding your figures in Shopify?
Find order value and costs in Shopify
Ask Sidekick for the figures it can find. Add costs recorded outside Shopify yourself.
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Compare CAC recovery
Advertising platforms
Enter CAC, or calculate it from ad spend and new customers.
Platform 1
Find your Meta Ads CAC
Open your report, choose matching dates and look for Cost per Purchase for the Purchase event.
Use that figure as CAC only if the purchases are from unique new paying customers. Otherwise, enter ad spend and a new-customer count from your store or attribution report.
Open Meta Ads reportingYou may need to sign in and select your account. This link does not set dates or filter your report.
Payback in orders
Example results
Whole orders needed to earn back the cost of one new customer, including their first order.
- Meta Ads CAC
- USD 90.0
- Contribution per order
- USD 39.0
CAC recovery by platform
Contribution from 1 order, including the first order. The goal is to cover 100% of each platform’s CAC.
43.3% of CAC covered — USD 51.0 still to recover.
These colours show progress toward covering CAC. They are not industry benchmarks. Bars stop at 100%; the figures still show any amount above it.
Platform payback and supporting figures
Meta Ads
Repeat orders are needed to cover CAC.
- CAC per new customer
- USD 90.0
- Equivalent orders
- 2.3
- Whole orders, including first
- 3
- More orders after the first
- 2
- Money after CAC on first order
- -USD 51.0
Order value and cost breakdown
- Average order value
- USD 100.0
- Products
- USD 50.0
- Shipping and fulfilment
- USD 8.0
- Payment fees
- USD 3.0
- Sales and affiliate commissions
- USD 0.0
- Other order costs
- USD 0.0
- Contribution before CAC
- USD 39.0
- Contribution margin
- 39%
Assumptions behind your estimate
Each order has the same average value and costs. The first order is included in the order count.
Contribution is the money left from a sale after its costs. Use it to cover CAC and regular bills.
The order count does not predict whether or when a customer will buy again.
Use the same dates and currency for ad spend and new customers. Keep the way you count new customers the same.
Two ad platforms may count the same customer. For blended CAC, count each new customer once.
Regular business bills, tax and interest are left out. Do not count the same ad cost or commission twice.
Changing the currency changes the unit shown. It does not convert your amounts.
What’s different about this calculator
Compare how many orders or months it takes to earn back the cost of a new customer from each ad platform.
| Basic calculation | What this adds |
|---|---|
| Acquisition cost divided by contribution | Compares several platforms using the same contribution assumptions |
| An acquisition cost entered directly | Also calculates each platform’s cost from ad spend and new customers |
| Orders or months needed for payback | Also shows the share recovered over your chosen comparison period |
RESULT REVIEW
What is making your CAC harder to recover?
High acquisition costs, low margins and fewer repeat purchases can lead to the same result. In a free 25-minute review, we’ll help you understand what your numbers show and what to look at next.
Free 25-minute review. You decide what to share.
HOW THIS TOOL WORKS
How CAC payback is calculated
1. Find your acquisition cost
Enter CAC directly, or use ad spend and unique new paying customers from matching dates and channels.
Example: USD 9,000 spent to win 100 new customers gives CAC of USD 90.
2. Find the money available to cover CAC
In orders mode, subtract product, shipping, fulfilment, payment, commission and other order costs. A contribution margin you enter must already include those costs.
Example: a USD 100 order with USD 61 of costs leaves USD 39. In months mode, enter monthly contribution per original customer, including customers who never buy again, or calculate it from the group’s contribution, original customer count and months covered.
3. Estimate payback
Divide CAC by contribution per order, or by average monthly contribution per customer for a time estimate.
Example: USD 90 ÷ USD 39 gives 2.3 equivalent orders: 3 whole orders, including the first. USD 90 ÷ USD 15 monthly contribution gives 6 months. Zero or negative contribution cannot recover a positive CAC.
4. Compare CAC recovery
Choose the number of orders or months to compare. Figures can exceed 100%; the chart stops at full recovery.
Example: 3 orders × USD 39 ÷ USD 90 covers 130% of CAC. These are estimates based on similar orders or a steady monthly pace, not a prediction of repeat purchases or actual cohort payback. Fixed overhead, tax and interest are excluded. Currency selection does not convert amounts.
Questions & Answers
What is CAC payback?
CAC payback tells you how much selling it takes to earn back the cost of winning a new customer. This calculator shows the number of orders needed or an estimated payback period in months.
Should I measure CAC payback in orders or months?
Use orders to see how many purchases must cover your acquisition cost. Use months when you have a monthly contribution average for a group of new customers. An order count alone cannot tell you how long payback takes.
What is contribution margin?
Contribution margin is the percentage of sales left after the costs that change with a sale, such as products, shipping, payment fees and commissions. That money helps cover CAC and regular business bills. Gross margin often leaves out shipping and payment fees, so it may be too high for this calculation. The Product Profit, Margin & Pricing Calculator can help you check those costs.
Can I use cost per purchase as CAC?
Only if those purchases are from unique new paying customers. Many ad reports also count repeat orders. If that is the case, use ad spend divided by new customers for the same dates. Platform help beside each row points to the relevant report.
Why might CAC not be recoverable?
If order costs use up all the sales money, there is no contribution left to cover a positive CAC. The same applies to a monthly contribution of zero or less. Check your costs and price before relying on more repeat orders.
Does this tell me whether my advertising is profitable?
It shows what is needed to cover CAC. It leaves out regular bills, tax and interest, and does not predict repeat purchases. Use the Acquisition Profitability Calculator to look more closely at your first-order advertising results.
How does CAC payback differ from customer lifetime value?
CAC payback asks when acquisition cost is covered. Customer lifetime value asks how much a customer is worth over a stated period. The Customer Lifetime Value Calculator helps you compare first and repeat purchases.
Does the calculator include ad spend, commissions and fixed costs?
Ad spend is included in CAC when you choose Ad spend / new customers. Applicable sales commissions can be entered as order costs. Fixed costs, such as rent and base salaries, are excluded. Do not enter the same cost in both CAC and order costs.
Do I need Shopify to use this calculator?
No. Enter figures from your store, accounts or advertising reports. The Shopify Sidekick prompts are optional help. The fixed payment fee can stay at zero if your provider does not charge one.
Can I save or share my results?
Use Copy for the full calculation, or Share with AI to copy a brief and open ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Shopify Sidekick. Any AI copies the same brief without opening another site. Your chosen email result does not sign you up for marketing. Saved figures may be restored in the same browser; copied results are the safest way to keep your own record.