Zákaznické metriky
Unit Economics · CAC · LTV · Churn
Metrics describing economics at the level of a single customer — how much it costs to acquire, how much they earn, and how long they stay.
What it is
Unit economics describes profitability at the unit level — typically one customer or transaction. Key for evaluating SaaS and subscription businesses.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Total sales & marketing costs / number of new customers in a given period. Includes advertising, sales team salaries, software, events.
LTV (Lifetime Value): Total profit a customer generates over the entire relationship. LTV = (Average annual revenue − cost to serve) / Churn Rate
Churn Rate: Percentage of customers who stopped paying in a given period.
- →Churn 5% annually = average customer lifetime 20 years
- →Churn 50% annually = average customer lifetime 2 years
LTV/CAC ratio: Key indicator of business health.
- →LTV/CAC > 3× = healthy business
- →LTV/CAC < 1× = company loses money on each customer (unsustainable)
Why track it
Unit economics shows whether the business model is fundamentally healthy — regardless of the current growth phase. A startup can have negative FCF and still have excellent unit economics (investing in customers who pay back in 12 months).
Payback period: Number of months for CAC to be recovered from customer revenue. Under 12 months = excellent, over 24 months = risky.
NRR (Net Revenue Retention): If existing customers spend 10% more annually (upsell), NRR = 110% — the company grows even without new customers.
Real-world example
SaaS company with good unit economics:
- →CAC: $1,000/customer
- →Average annual subscription: $500
- →Gross margin: 80% → $400 annually
- →Churn: 10% annually → average lifetime 10 years
- →LTV = $400 × 10 = $4,000
- →LTV/CAC = 4× ✓, Payback period = 2.5 years ✓