Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is a key metric for fintech companies—particularly startups with high burn rates—and may be calculated using the following formula:
To help companies determine how their CACs compare to those of competitors in their industry, we’ve compiled average CAC benchmarks by fintech industry and customer size, sourced from clients we’ve worked with over the past 8 years.
Fintech CAC Benchmarks by Industry and Customer Size
| Niche | Consumer | SMB | Middle Market | Enterprise |
| Overall | $202 | $1,450 | $4,903 | $14,772 |
| Payment Processing | N/A | $1,467 | $5,015 | $15,665 |
| Investing & Trading | $166 | $1,521 | $5,786 | $13,290 |
| Financial Planning | $176 | $1,383 | $3,905 | N/A |
| Cryptocurrency | $188 | $1,505 | $4,797 | $17,249 |
| Lending | $175 | $1,322 | $4,404 | $14,449 |
| Banking | $258 | $1,468 | $5,512 | $13,212 |
| Microfinance | $249 | $1,487 | N/A | N/A |
The following section demonstrates how to apply the figures from the table above into real-life situations to assess the financial health of your fintech company.
Using Fintech CAC Benchmarks
CAC is most often calculated as a rolling average in order to evaluate the campaign’s performance over time. This allows fintech companies to evaluate their costs independently of seasonality, as demand for their products varies by time of year. CAC is then compared to the average lifetime value (LTV) of customers, to find the LTV to CAC ratio, with a ratio 4:1 being considered ideal. The below table shares 3 examples:
How to Calculate LTV Ratio: 3 Examples
| Industry | Banking | Financial Planning | Payment Processing |
| CAC | $258 | $1,383 | $1,467 |
| LTV | $1,135 | $4,149 | $4,108 |
| LTV to CAC Ratio | 4.4:1 | 3:1 | 2.8:1 |
If a company finds that their ratio is too low, they have two options:
- Increase LTV by either increasing the price of services, targeting higher value leads, reducing churn, or creating and taking advantage of upsell opportunities
- Lower CACs by selecting lower cost marketing channels, targeting warmer leads, conversion optimizing their content, or addressing drop-off points in their marketing funnel
Which option will be most effective can be determined by comparing their CACs to the industry benchmarks provided above. If a company’s CAC is already below their industry average, attempting to decrease it further will be less effective than focusing on increasing the value of each individual customer. Conversely, if their CACs are higher than that of their competitors, then investing in lowering their CACs will have a significant impact on their LTV-to-CAC ratio. One of the best ways to do so is by investing in lower CAC marketing channels, as shown in the table below:
Average CAC by Marketing Channel
| Channel | B2B | B2C |
| Thought Leadership SEO | $647 | $298 |
| PPC/SEM | $802 | $290 |
| Social Media Marketing | $658 | $212 |
| Content Marketing | $1,254 | $890 |
| Webinars | $603 | $251 |
| Account-Based Marketing (ABM) | $4,664 | N/A |
| Public Speaking | $518 | $472 |
| Trade Shows | $1,390 | N/A |
| Video Marketing | $815 | $301 |
Note, however, that selecting marketing channels must also take into account audience preferences. For example, ABM is wholly unsuited for most B2C audiences, and social media in a B2B context is most effective on LinkedIn.
Requesting a Copy of this Report
If you’d like to request a copy of this report, you can do so here.
If you would like to discuss how to improve CAC at your fintech company, consider working with an experienced marketing firm to identify areas of improvement and implement corresponding strategies to enhance performance. First Page Sage is the leading SEO agency in the United States and we specialize in improving your CAC by generating organic leads through though leadership content. Reach out to us here or use the contact information below to discuss a future partnership.
