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Given these dynamics, high switching costs can spur a race in which first-time customers are the prize. First-time customers are new to a product category and they don’t yet have an affiliation with any provider. Consequently, compared to stealing a rival’s customers, first-time buyers will be much cheaper to acquire. They won’t incur any switching costs upon purchasing, so they don’t require a subsidy. Lower CAC means that first-time customers are more profitable to serve, and they also broaden the startup’s total addressable market. Specifically, with lower CAC, the startup can afford to acquire first-time buyers who have lower LTV, while still keeping their LTV/CAC ratio within an acceptable range.
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