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Evaluate acquisition channels using unit economics, customer quality, and scalability. Use when deciding whether to scale, test, or kill a growth channel.
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| name | acquisition-channel-advisor |
| description | Evaluate acquisition channels using unit economics, customer quality, and scalability. Use when deciding whether to scale, test, or kill a growth channel. |
| intent | Guide product managers through evaluating whether to scale, test, or kill an acquisition channel based on unit economics (CAC, LTV, payback), customer quality (retention, NRR), and scalability (magic number, volume potential). Use this to make data-driven go-to-market decisions and optimize channel mix for sustainable growth. |
| type | interactive |
| best_for | ["Deciding whether a paid or outbound channel deserves more budget","Comparing channel quality, payback, and scalability side by side","Making scale, test, or kill decisions with finance-backed reasoning"] |
| scenarios | ["Should we keep investing in paid LinkedIn ads for enterprise leads?","Compare content marketing, outbound email, and partner referrals as acquisition channels","Help me decide whether to scale or kill our webinar acquisition channel"] |
Guide product managers through evaluating whether to scale, test, or kill an acquisition channel based on unit economics (CAC, LTV, payback), customer quality (retention, NRR), and scalability (magic number, volume potential). Use this to make data-driven go-to-market decisions and optimize channel mix for sustainable growth.
This is not a channel strategy framework—it's a financial lens for channel evaluation that helps you avoid scaling unprofitable channels or killing channels with fixable problems. Use when deciding how to allocate marketing budget across channels.
A systematic approach to evaluate acquisition channels:
Unit Economics — What does it cost to acquire, and what's the return?
Customer Quality — Do customers from this channel stick around and expand?
Scalability — Can this channel sustain growth at the volume you need?
Strategic Fit — Does this channel align with your go-to-market strategy?
| LTV:CAC | Payback | Customer Quality | Scalability | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| >3:1 | <12mo | Good retention | High volume | Scale aggressively |
| 2-3:1 | 12-18mo | Average retention | Medium volume | Test & optimize |
| <2:1 | >18mo | Poor retention | Low volume | Kill or fix |
Use this when:
Don't use this when:
Use workshop-facilitation as the default interaction protocol for this skill.
It defines:
Other (specify) when useful)This file defines the domain-specific assessment content. If there is a conflict, follow this file's domain logic.
This interactive skill asks up to 4 adaptive questions, offering 3-5 enumerated options at decision points.
Agent asks:
"Let's evaluate this acquisition channel. Please provide:
Channel details:
Customer acquisition:
Business context:
You can provide estimates if you don't have exact numbers."
Agent calculates (if not provided):
CAC = Monthly Spend / Customers Acquired per Month
Agent asks:
"Now let's compare this channel's unit economics to your blended metrics.
Channel Unit Economics:
Questions:
Do customers from this channel have similar LTV to other channels?
What's the payback period for this channel?
Based on answers, agent calculates:
Agent flags:
Agent asks:
"How do customers from this channel perform compared to other channels?
Retention & Expansion:
What's the churn rate for customers from this channel?
What's the NRR for customers from this channel?
What's the customer profile from this channel?
Based on answers, agent evaluates:
Agent flags:
Agent asks:
"Can this channel scale to meet your growth targets?
Efficiency & Volume:
What's the S&M efficiency for this channel (Magic Number)?
What's the addressable volume for this channel?
What's the CAC trend for this channel?
How much growth do you need from acquisition?
Based on answers, agent evaluates:
Agent synthesizes:
Agent offers 3-4 recommendations:
When:
Recommendation:
"Scale this channel aggressively — Excellent economics + scalability
Unit Economics:
Customer Quality:
Scalability:
Why this is a winner:
How to scale:
Expected impact:
Risk: Low. Strong unit economics support aggressive scaling."
When:
Recommendation:
"Test & optimize before scaling — Marginal economics, fixable
Current State:
Customer Quality:
Diagnosis: [One of these:]
How to optimize:
If CAC is the problem:
If LTV is the problem:
If targeting is the problem:
Timeline:
Don't scale yet: Current economics are break-even at best. Fix first, then scale."
When:
Recommendation:
"Kill this channel (or pause) — Economics don't support investment
Why:
Problem:
Customer Quality:
What's broken: [Specific diagnosis:]
Should you fix or kill?
Fix if:
Kill if:
Recommendation: Kill and reallocate budget
Reallocate to:
What to do with budget:
Exception: If this channel is <10% of total S&M spend, just pause it. Not worth fixing."
When:
Recommendation:
"Continue, but cap investment — Strategic value > short-term ROI
Financial Reality:
Why continue despite poor economics:
How to manage:
Timeline:
Risk: You're subsidizing growth. Make sure it's worth it."
If user has multiple channels, agent can generate:
| Channel | CAC | LTV | LTV:CAC | Payback | Magic Number | Quality | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | $500 | $2,000 | 4:1 | 8mo | 0.9 | High | Scale |
| Content | $200 | $1,500 | 7.5:1 | 4mo | 1.2 | High | Scale |
| Outbound | $10K | $50K | 5:1 | 18mo | 0.6 | Medium | Optimize |
| Events | $15K | $30K | 2:1 | 24mo | 0.3 | Low | Kill |
Budget allocation recommendation:
See examples/ folder for sample conversation flows. Mini examples below:
Channel: Organic content (blog, SEO)
Recommendation: Scale aggressively. Exceptional unit economics, fast payback, high-quality customers. Increase content spend 2-3x.
Channel: Google Ads
Recommendation: Test & optimize before scaling. CAC is high, onboarding is weak for this segment. Improve landing page, target higher-intent keywords, better onboarding for paid customers.
Channel: Industry events
Recommendation: Kill. CAC too high, payback too long, poor customer quality. Reallocate budget to content and paid search.
Symptom: "Let's 10x our Google Ads spend!" (LTV:CAC is 1.5:1)
Consequence: You accelerate cash burn without improving unit economics. Lose money faster.
Fix: Only scale channels with LTV:CAC >3:1 and payback <12 months. Fix broken channels before scaling.
Symptom: "CAC is only $100!" (but customers churn in 30 days)
Consequence: Low CAC means nothing if LTV is also low. You're acquiring churners, not customers.
Fix: Track cohort retention and NRR by channel. Low CAC + high churn = bad channel.
Symptom: "We got 10,000 signups from this campaign!" (5% convert to paid)
Consequence: Signups don't pay bills. CAC is calculated on paid customers, not signups.
Fix: Track CAC on paid customers only. Ignore vanity metrics like signups, impressions, clicks.
Symptom: "Blended CAC is $500" (but hiding that one channel is $10K CAC)
Consequence: Bad channels hide in blended metrics. You don't know which channels to kill.
Fix: Track CAC, LTV, payback by channel. Compare channels individually.
Symptom: "We reduced CAC 50%!" (by targeting low-intent, low-LTV customers)
Consequence: CAC dropped but so did LTV. Unit economics got worse, not better.
Fix: Optimize for LTV:CAC ratio, not CAC alone. Higher CAC with higher LTV is better.
Symptom: "LTV:CAC is 6:1, this channel is amazing!" (payback is 48 months)
Consequence: You run out of cash before recovering CAC. Great ratio, terrible cash flow.
Fix: Pair LTV:CAC with payback period. 3:1 with 8-month payback beats 6:1 with 36-month payback.
Symptom: "This channel didn't work after 2 weeks"
Consequence: Channels need time to optimize. Killing too early wastes learning.
Fix: Give channels 3-6 months and 100+ customers before evaluating. Track trends, not snapshots.
Symptom: "90% of our customers come from Google Ads"
Consequence: Algorithm change, competitor outbids you, channel saturates = business grinds to halt.
Fix: Diversify channels. No single channel should be >50% of new customer acquisition.
Symptom: "This retargeting campaign has great ROI!" (but customers would've converted anyway)
Consequence: You're paying for conversions that would happen organically. Inflated ROI.
Fix: Test incrementality with holdout groups. Only count truly incremental conversions.
Symptom: "Enterprise events are strategic, we can't stop!" (losing $500K/year)
Consequence: "Strategic" becomes an excuse for burning cash indefinitely.
Fix: Cap spend on strategic channels. Set timeline for improvement (6-12 months). If no progress, kill.
saas-economics-efficiency-metrics — CAC, LTV, payback, magic number calculationssaas-revenue-growth-metrics — NRR, churn, cohort analysis by channelfinance-metrics-quickref — Fast lookup for channel evaluation metricsfeature-investment-advisor — Similar ROI framework for feature decisionsbusiness-health-diagnostic — Broader business health assessmentresearch/finance/Finance_For_PMs.Putting_It_Together_Synthesis.md (Decision Framework #2)research/finance/Finance for Product Managers.md