Industry benchmarks for Med Spas and Aesthetic Clinics
Med spas typically recover CAC within about 2 months, often on the first or second visit. CAC runs $200 to $600 per new patient across paid social, local search, and consult-to-book conversion, with a meaningful share of spend wasted on consults that never book. Monthly revenue per patient averages $150 to $400 when packages and memberships are amortized, at 65 to 75 percent margin after injectables, consumables, and provider commission. At $350 CAC against $175 in monthly gross profit, payback is 2.0 months.
Membership plans are the retention lever that turns an episodic patient into a recurring one. Patients on a monthly plan return predictably, spend more on add-on treatments, and remove the reacquisition cost that otherwise recurs every 3 to 6 months. Rebooking at checkout is the operational version of the same idea, and clinics that book the next appointment before the patient leaves see materially longer lifetimes than those relying on recall texts. Track cost per booked consult and consult-to-treatment conversion separately, since a low CAC with a 30 percent close rate is worse than a higher CAC that converts at 70.
Frequently asked questions
CAC Payback Estimator for Med Spas and Aesthetic Clinics, answered.
Should provider commission count in gross margin?
Yes. Injector commission is a direct cost of delivering the treatment and belongs in cost of services, alongside product and consumables.
How do I model patients who visit irregularly?
Amortize annual spend into a monthly average rather than modeling per visit. A patient spending $3,000 a year across four visits is $250 per month for payback purposes.
What is a healthy new-patient CAC for a med spa?
$200 to $600 depending on market and treatment mix. Higher is defensible for surgical or device-based treatments where first-visit revenue exceeds $1,500.