CAC
Spend divided by the customers the campaign truly acquired.
Business Domains · Module 14
Marketing Analytics.
Marketing analytics is not finding the channel with the prettiest ROAS. It is deciding which spend creates valuable customers that would not have arrived otherwise.
Core idea
The important question is not “who got credit?” but what value did the spend actually create?
01
Context
One channel has the best ROAS — and the worst customers.
“Paid Social looks amazing on first-order ROAS. Should we move budget there?”
First-order attribution can reward channels that capture low-quality or already-converting customers.
A better analysis connects spend to acquisition, conversion, margin, retention and incremental lift.
02
Marketing economics
Follow spend past the first conversion.
ROAS
Revenue relative to spend, with clear attribution rules.
Customer quality
Repeat rate, margin and retention after acquisition.
Incrementality
What happened because of marketing, not merely after exposure.
Rule
Attribution is an accounting rule; incrementality is a causal question.
03
Challenge
Decide whether to scale the channel.
Exercise · 20 minutes
Go beyond ROAS.
- What attribution window produced the ROAS?
- How does customer quality compare by channel?
- Should CAC use signups or paying customers?
- What margin metric matters more than revenue?
- How would you test incrementality?
- What would make a high-ROAS channel unattractive?
04
AI assist
Force AI to separate attribution from causality.
Marketing analysis prompt
Evaluate whether Paid Social budget should be increased.
Use:
spend, attributed orders, new paying customers, contribution margin,
30-day repeat rate, 90-day customer value.
Report:
CAC, first-order ROAS, contribution ROAS, repeat rate and customer value.
Explicitly state attribution assumptions.
Do not claim incrementality from observational attribution.
Suggest an experiment or holdout design if causal lift is required.05
Validation
The marketing checklist.
01
Is the attribution window explicit?
02
Are new and returning customers separated?
03
Does revenue become contribution or profit anywhere?
04
Are channels compared on customer quality?
05
Could branded/direct demand be receiving paid credit?
06
Is incrementality distinguished from attribution?
06
Worked takeaway
Optimize for customer value, not dashboard credit.
Measure the cost of a meaningful acquired customer.
Compare downstream retention and margin.
State the rule and its limitations.
Use experiments or holdouts for incremental lift.
Analyst habit
Whenever a channel looks efficient, ask what happens to those customers after the first conversion.