Marketing Channels · Channel economics · Component
The payback
How long until an acquired customer repays the cost — the number that connects a channel decision to cash.
The deliverable
What it is
Two channels with the same acquisition cost and different payback periods are not equivalent. The faster one funds growth; the slower one consumes it.
This is where marketing and finance actually connect, and the absence of the number is why the two functions argue past each other.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The period
How long until the acquisition cost is recovered.
3 attributes: Payback period · Channel · Margin used
LearnThe cash effect
What the payback period does to cash.
3 attributes: Cash consumed · Links to · Sustainable
LearnThe comparison
Channels ranked by payback as well as by cost.
3 attributes: Cost rank · Payback rank · Constraint
Learn
Growth through a long-payback channel consumes cash in proportion to how fast you grow.
The other components in channel economics
The loaded cost
Everything the channel costs, not just the media line — because production and management frequently exceed the spend.
LearnThe spillover
What this channel does to the performance of the others — because channels are not independent and are almost always measured as though they were.
Learn