KPIs (Marketing)

Top-level profitability KPI: profit relative to the investment made. Goes beyond pure ad spend and includes all relevant cost components.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the average cost of winning one new customer. It is calculated as total marketing and sales spend divided by the number of new customers acquired in that period.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV, also LTV) is the expected total value of a customer over the entire relationship — usually as contribution margin. Compared with acquisition cost (LTV:CAC ratio) it shows whether winning new customers is profitable.

The churn rate indicates what proportion of customers is lost within a given period. It is usually calculated as a percentage per period and is a central metric for customer retention and customer value.

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) and SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) are qualification stages of a lead in the funnel. An MQL shows interest through its behaviour; an SQL is assessed by sales as ready to buy and suitable for handover.