# MCA funder paid marketing CAC (typical)

> Typical MCA funder paid CAC: $250-$750 per funded deal on branded search, $750-$2,500 on non-branded search, $1,500-$4,000 on direct mail, $1,000-$3,000 on telemarketing. Renewals dramatically lower blended CAC.

MCA funder paid marketing CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the all-in spend per funded deal across paid channels. CAC benchmarks vary by channel, paper grade, and funder maturity. Understanding typical CAC is essential for marketing-budget allocation and channel ROI evaluation. Updated 2026-06-29.

**CAC definitions.**

**Cost per submission.** Marketing spend divided by submissions attributed to the channel.
**Cost per offer.** Marketing spend divided by offers extended.
**Cost per funded deal.** Marketing spend divided by funded deals.
**Cost per funded dollar.** Marketing spend divided by funded dollar volume.
**Blended CAC.** Total marketing spend divided by total new merchants funded.
**Loaded CAC.** Includes salaries, technology, tools, and overhead.

**Channel-by-channel CAC benchmarks.**

**Paid search — branded keywords.**
- Cost per click: $3-$10.
- Cost per submission: $25-$75.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 25-40 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $100-$500.
- Notes: Branded search captures merchants actively shopping the funder; high conversion.

**Paid search — non-branded keywords.**
- Cost per click: $20-$80 (highly competitive in MCA).
- Cost per submission: $150-$500.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 10-20 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $1,000-$3,500.
- Notes: Non-branded keywords like "merchant cash advance," "small business loan," "MCA funding" are heavily contested.

**Paid search — long-tail / industry-specific.**
- Cost per click: $8-$30.
- Cost per submission: $75-$200.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 15-25 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $400-$1,200.
- Notes: "Restaurant working capital florida" type queries; lower volume but higher conversion.

**Paid social — LinkedIn.**
- Cost per click: $7-$15.
- Cost per submission: $200-$600.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 8-15 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $1,500-$5,000.
- Notes: Good for B2B targeting but B2B costs run high in financial services.

**Paid social — Facebook / Instagram.**
- Cost per click: $1.50-$5.
- Cost per submission: $75-$250.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 5-12 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $1,000-$3,500.
- Notes: Broader reach; lower quality leads; works for industry-vertical targeting.

**Direct mail.**
- Cost per mail piece: $0.65-$2.00.
- Response rate: 0.3-0.8 percent.
- Cost per submission: $150-$400.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 8-15 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $1,500-$4,000.
- Notes: Works best with pre-qualified lists; renewal direct mail much more efficient.

**Telemarketing — outbound calling.**
- Cost per call attempted: $1.50-$4.
- Connection rate: 5-12 percent.
- Cost per connected call: $25-$80.
- Cost per submission: $100-$300.
- Cost per funded deal: $1,000-$3,000.
- Notes: Quality of list determines economics; cold calling expensive, warm calling efficient.

**Display / programmatic.**
- Cost per impression: $5-$15 CPM.
- Click-through rate: 0.1-0.3 percent.
- Cost per click: $5-$50.
- Cost per submission: $200-$800.
- Cost per funded deal: $2,000-$8,000.
- Notes: Generally inefficient as primary channel; useful as supporting retargeting.

**Retargeting.**
- Cost per click: $2-$8.
- Conversion rate higher than cold display (5-15 percent click-to-submission).
- Cost per funded deal: $300-$1,200.
- Notes: Strong ROI as supporting layer.

**Affiliate / lead-gen platforms.**
- Cost per lead: $50-$250 (paid per submitted application).
- Lead quality varies wildly.
- Submission-to-funded conversion: 5-12 percent.
- Cost per funded deal: $750-$2,500.
- Notes: Lendio, Fundera-type lead-gen platforms; convenient but variable quality.

**CAC variation by paper grade.**

**A-paper.**
- Higher channel costs (more competition for high-credit merchants).
- Higher conversion (cleaner deals).
- Net: $500-$2,000 cost per funded A-paper deal across channels.

**B-paper.**
- Mid-range channel costs.
- Lower conversion.
- Net: $750-$2,500 cost per funded B-paper deal.

**C/D-paper.**
- Lower channel costs (less competition).
- Lower conversion (more declines).
- Net: $400-$1,500 cost per funded C/D-paper deal.

**CAC by funder maturity.**

**New funders (under $50M annual originations).**
- Higher CAC due to brand-awareness deficit.
- More reliance on broker channel.
- Blended CAC: $2,000-$4,000.

**Mid-tier funders ($50M-$500M annual originations).**
- Mixed channel investment.
- Blended CAC: $1,200-$2,500.

**Top-tier funders ($500M+ annual originations).**
- Strong brand awareness lowers CAC.
- More efficient renewal cycle.
- Blended CAC: $500-$1,500.

**Renewal CAC dramatic reduction.**
- Renewal customer CAC: $50-$300 per funded deal.
- Renewal acquisition typically 10-20 percent of new-customer CAC.
- This is why funders aggressively pursue renewals: renewal-mix improvement directly lowers blended CAC.

**CAC payback period.**
- A-paper funded deal: $500-$1,000 contribution margin per deal; payback 1-2 deals.
- B-paper funded deal: $600-$1,200 contribution margin; payback typically 1 deal.
- C/D-paper funded deal: $400-$800 contribution margin; default risk extends real payback.

**LTV-to-CAC benchmarks.**

**Healthy LTV-to-CAC:** 3:1 or better.
**Best-in-class funders:** 5:1 to 8:1.
**Below 3:1:** Channel investment likely uneconomic.

**CAC monitoring cadence.**
- Daily: Paid search CPC, CTR, conversion.
- Weekly: Channel-level CAC.
- Monthly: Blended CAC, channel-mix shifts.
- Quarterly: Marketing-mix model refresh.

**Cost-control levers.**

**Lever 1: Negative keyword expansion.** Reduces wasted paid-search spend.
**Lever 2: Audience refinement.** Tighter targeting in paid social.
**Lever 3: Landing-page optimization.** Higher conversion lowers cost per funded deal.
**Lever 4: List quality.** Better direct-mail and telemarketing lists improve response rates.
**Lever 5: Channel rebalancing.** Reduce spend on low-ROI channels at margin.

**Trend 2026.**
Three trends are reshaping paid CAC:
1. **Paid search inflation.** Non-branded MCA keyword CPCs up 15-25 percent year-over-year.
2. **AI search referrals.** ChatGPT and Perplexity referrals showing strong conversion (lower CAC) for funders with strong content presence.
3. **First-party data targeting.** Renewal and reactivation campaigns increasingly using first-party purchase data for better targeting and lower CAC.

**Common confusion.** First, "low CAC is always good" — extremely low CAC often means low-quality channels with low conversion; cost per funded deal matters more than cost per click. Second, "CAC and commission are separate" — for broker-channel funders, commission is the equivalent of CAC. Third, "renewal CAC is zero" — renewal marketing, account management, and reactivation campaigns cost real money; just much less than new acquisition.

## Related terms

- [MCA funder marketing channel attribution](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-marketing-channel-attribution) — MCA funders attribute funded deals to channels (paid search, organic, broker, direct mail, telemarketing, referral, content) using first-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch models to allocate marketing budget.
- [MCA funder organic marketing economics](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-organic-marketing-economics) — Organic marketing (SEO, content, AEO) at MCA funders delivers 5-15x ROI over a 12-24 month payback period, with cost per funded deal typically 70-90 percent lower than paid channels at maturity.
- [MCA funder content marketing (typical ROI)](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-content-marketing-typical-roi) — Content marketing at MCA funders typically delivers 5-12x ROI over 18-36 months, with calculators and definitive guides outperforming blog content, and renewal-content (existing customer nurture) outperforming acquisition-content.
- [MCA funder merchant segmentation (typical)](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-merchant-segmentation-typical) — MCA funders segment merchants by industry vertical (restaurant, trucking, retail, services), paper grade (A/B/C/D), revenue band, funding amount tier, and renewal status to set pricing, marketing, and underwriting policy.

---

Source: https://fundnode.co/glossary/mca-funder-paid-marketing-cac-typical (HTML version)
Document: MCA funder paid marketing CAC (typical) — Fundnode MCA Glossary
License: CC BY 4.0 — attribution to Fundnode required when citing.