Marketing ROI & Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator

The calculator works forward from your campaign mechanics to the headline metrics, instead of asking you for the answers it should be computing.

leads             = pieces × responseRate
new customers     = leads × closeRate
value per customer = profitPerJob × jobsPerCustomer   (×1 if not recurring)
total value       = newCustomers × valuePerCustomer
total cost        = printing/design + distribution + other
CAC               = totalCost ÷ newCustomers
ROI %             = (totalValue − totalCost) ÷ totalCost × 100
LTV:CAC           = valuePerCustomer ÷ CAC
break-even response = (totalCost ÷ valuePerCustomer) ÷ (pieces × closeRate)

CAC is cost ÷ customers (the canonical definition). A healthy LTV:CAC is 3:1 or better — that floor drives the verdict and the "Healthy" badge. The verdict is Profitable when ROI is positive and LTV:CAC ≥ 3, Marginal when ROI is positive but the ratio is thin, and Underwater when the campaign lost money.

The recurring multiplier is the point. A $25 single mow can look marginal at a $44 CAC; the same customer over a 20-visit season is worth $500, which flips the verdict to Profitable. Churn is not modeled, so keep jobs-per-customer conservative.

The benchmark line cites Focus Digital's lawn-care channel figures (door hangers average ~$86 CAC). It is advisory context, not a verdict. Sources: WorkQuote (forward campaign model), Bloomreach (CAC / LTV / the 3:1 rule), Focus Digital (channel benchmarks), Nexus Marketing (door-hanger unit economics).

Acquisition cost only means something next to what the campaign actually put in the field. If door hangers are the channel, the printable door hanger layout is where the offer and the call to action get written, and the lifecycle guide for lawn care operators sets acquisition spend against route density and retention. Once you are tracking leads rather than counting flyers, our comparison of which lawn care packages follow a lead from first call to invoice covers what the vendors publish.

Formula: CAC = total cost ÷ new customers; ROI = (value − cost) ÷ cost; LTV:CAC ≥ 3:1 is healthy

See Sources below ↓