Respondents (excluding the smallest companies) spent a median $1.13 to acquire each dollar of new ACV from a new customer. The result drops to $1.00 if we include companies with <$2.5MM in revenues. The median spend to acquire each dollar of new ACV from a new customer this year is similar to last year’s result of $1.18.
Note to regular ForEntrepreneurs readers: The way CAC is measured here is different than how I normally measure CAC (see SaaS Metrics 2.0 – A Guide to Measuring and Improving What Matters). In those posts CAC is the average amount that it costs to acquire a single customer. In this survey, CAC is measured as the cost to acquire a dollar of ACV (annualized contract value).
For Entrepreneurs.comThe median cost for a SaaS company to acquire a dollar of new customer revenue is $1.18
56% treat “Existing Customer Renewals” as high priority
Three uses for the SaaS Guidelines
Software and online services are in a period of dizzying growth
Median annual gross dollar churn was 8%, 7%, 6% and 8% in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013
Investment in marketing automation tools is expected to reach $25 billion by the year 2023
High-growth companies offer a return to shareholders 5 times greater than medium-growth companies
SaaS IPOs have more than doubled over the last 12 years
In 2017, the global adoption rate for biotech soybean amounted to 77 percent.