Customer Acquisition Payback Calculator

Calculate how many months it takes to recoup your customer acquisition cost through gross margin. A key metric for sustainable ecommerce growth — shorter payback = healthier unit economics.

Customer Acquisition Cost ($)

Total spend to acquire one customer

Average Order Value ($)

First purchase + repeat order avg

Gross Margin (%)

Revenue minus COGS only

Purchase Frequency (orders/year)

How often customers reorder

Customer Lifetime (years)

How long avg customer stays

Healthy DTC payback: under 6 months for most categories. Under 3 months is excellent. Over 12 months is a growth constraint — you're financing customers longer than they stay.