Target Audience · Segment value · Component
The acquisition cost
What it costs to win one, fully loaded — because the reported figure excludes most of what winning a customer actually takes.
The deliverable
What it is
Reported acquisition cost is usually media spend over conversions. Sales time, the deals lost along the way and the onboarding required all belong in the figure and rarely appear.
Cost differs by segment by more than most organisations expect, and the expensive segments are frequently the ones being pursued hardest.
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 direct cost
Marketing and sales spend attributable to winning this segment.
3 attributes: Direct spend · Allocation basis · Period
LearnThe time cost
How much human effort winning one takes.
3 attributes: Selling time · Whose time · Cost of that time
LearnThe loss cost
The cost of the opportunities that did not close.
3 attributes: Win rate · Cost of losses · Fully loaded cost
Learn
A segment with a low win rate is expensive even when each pursuit is cheap. Include the losses.
The other components in segment value
The lifetime value
What a customer in this segment is worth over the relationship — spend, margin and duration together rather than revenue alone.
LearnThe ranking
Segments by contribution, held against the ranking by revenue — because where the two orders differ, effort is in the wrong place.
Learn