Industry benchmarks for Logistics and 3PL Services
Third-party logistics providers recover CAC in about 4 months when measured on net revenue rather than gross billings. CAC runs $8,000 to $25,000 per shipper including enterprise sales cycles, RFP responses, and onboarding or integration work that precedes the first invoice. Net revenue per shipper lands at $5,000 to $15,000 monthly, and the 42 percent figure here is margin on net revenue after carrier and operational cost, which corresponds to roughly 12 to 20 percent on gross billings. At $14,000 CAC against $3,360 in monthly gross profit, payback is 4.2 months.
Share of wallet is the LTV lever, because shippers rarely leave outright but they do reallocate volume lane by lane. Winning additional lanes, modes, and warehouse services inside an existing account is far cheaper than new logo acquisition and it raises switching cost with every integration. EDI and API connectivity is the practical lock-in, since a shipper whose ERP and WMS are wired into your system will not move for a small rate difference. Volume volatility is the risk to model, as a customer can stay while cutting shipments in half, which shows up as revenue churn rather than logo churn.
Frequently asked questions
CAC Payback Estimator for Logistics and 3PL Services, answered.
Should I model 3PL margin on gross or net revenue?
Model on net revenue, meaning billings minus carrier and direct operational cost. Gross revenue margins of 12 to 20 percent make payback math misleading, so the estimator uses margin on net revenue.
Does onboarding and integration cost count as CAC?
Yes, when it happens before the account generates revenue. EDI setup and system integration are real acquisition costs and often the largest component for enterprise shippers.
How do I handle a customer who stays but ships less?
Track net revenue retention alongside logo churn. Volume-based revenue contraction is the dominant form of value loss in logistics and logo churn alone will miss it entirely.