What is a good 7 day retention rate after signing up for a social shopping startup?

To answer this, you need to have a working model for your customer LTV (Life Time Value). Most startups can't accurately estimate their LTV, so if you don't have good enough data, then building your CAC based on assumed LTV numbers can be fatal. In this case, it's better to evaluate your CAC costs based on the months of revenue it takes to recover the cost to acquire the customer, and ultimately this calculation should be net of any costs associated with providing the service on a monthly basis and, even more conservatively allow for a healthy degree of churn. Keep in mind that this calculation doesn't evaluate your true profitability only the capital efficiency of your customer acquisition spend. Hope this helps. Happy to talk this through in more detail and with more specifics to your business.

I've lead the marketing team for 3 VC funded startups that all successfully acquired customers en mass, but along the way I've certainly observed a fair share of startups that failed due to inability to acquire customers fast enough. Here are some common reasons startups fail: 1. They incorrectly think their product is so good that the customers will just show up and pay 2. The product is "cool" but doesn't solve a pain that valued in the market 3. Users like the tool enough to beta it for free but not enough to actually pay for it 4. Company acquires customers but the lifetime value to customer acquisition cost isn't sustainable, or requires such scale that the company never gets there 5. Most companies waste a ton of money on Adwords until they realize they should hire an expert 6. Startups acquire traffic but can't convert it into repeat purchases or usage 7. The market just isn't big enough 8. There's another solution that is more compelling There's a ton of other reasons too. If you're having trouble acquiring customers, feel free to give me a ring. Happy to chat any time.

1. Export a list of "other contacts" from gmail, linkedin connections, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. 2. Call & email everyone (personally if possible) and ask them directly if they need your help. 3. Ask for a referral from everyone that buys. 4. Get a success story written about YOUR CUSTOMER that mentions you in as many blogs, magazines, etc that you can. 5. Write a blog with suggestions and ideas that genuinely help your prospects. 6. Figure out why other businesses related to yours would WANT to promote you to their audience. And then pitch.

I think you're looking at this the wrong way. Your customer acquisition cost is not something you should benchmark against other businesses. Without knowing more, like your short and long-term goals, it's impossible to answer. Two companies with similar business models may have different answers to this question. A venture-backed startup trying to keep up with aggressive revenue goals may be able to stomach an astronomical CAC. A bootstrapped startup that is not seeking venture money may aim for slower growth and much lower CAC. I suggest setting up a call with a marketing or finance expert to determine what CAC is appropriate for your company and how to get there.

Lot of ways 1. Target their fans on facebook - if they are big (20k+) you should be able to select them as an interest 2. Bid on the same keywords as them on adwords search and/or display - this requires some technical chops but there are ways to find your competition's placements. If you can get there and present a better ad and/or outbid them, you can get the clicks they are used to getting. 3. Find where their customers are spending time online - another thing that will take some chops but you can find out what blogs, facebook pages, etc your competition's fans are looking at and get in front of them there. This is an indirect method. Most of the other options you will have are some variation on that theme. Make sure you have a way to stay in front of them (like retargeting or email marketing) if you want to make your investment go as far as possible! Good luck