One of the most interesting things, to me, is that Customer Acquisition Cost is ... not bad at all! Most places that sell online are spending much more than that per customer. Different issues at play here with uncertainty around getting a job and a timeline, but for a company trying to grow, spending < 25% of your revenue on acquisition is exciting.
At the time, the hook was “You pay nothing unless you get a job,” and then lying about how many people get jobs. Since then, the central thesis of the company has been shown to not work, so it pivoted into loans at 12.5% interest. They are trying very hard to market the loan approach like they’re ISAs.
I’d bet that if these lawsuits (or regulators) forced them to cut the dishonest marketing, their acquisition costs will increase.
> Most places that sell online are spending much more than that per customer
In percentages yes, as you note. But in raw numbers, that’s insane!
Ad placements (simplified) can be geared towards CPA or ROAS - the former would be towards getting conversions, the latter towards ensuring a return on said conversions. Neither directly implies that you should be spending a massive % of your revenue for it.
