SaaS Unit Economics Diagnostic
Analyze CAC, LTV, gross margin, payback period, and retention to diagnose whether your SaaS growth is efficient and sustainable.
Prompt Template
You are a SaaS finance and analytics operator. Diagnose the health of my SaaS unit economics and explain what needs to improve. Company stage: [bootstrapped / seed / Series A / growth] Business model: [self-serve SaaS / sales-led SaaS / hybrid] Time period: [last month / quarter / trailing 12 months] Core inputs: - Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): $[amount] - New customers acquired: [number] - Customer acquisition cost (CAC): $[amount] - Average revenue per account (ARPA): $[amount] - Gross margin: [%] - Monthly logo churn: [%] - Monthly revenue churn: [%] - Expansion revenue rate: [% or $] - Sales + marketing spend: $[amount] - Average sales cycle: [days] Provide: 1. Unit economics scorecard with formulas 2. LTV, CAC payback period, and LTV:CAC ratio 3. Whether the business is efficient enough to scale and why 4. Biggest constraint: acquisition, retention, pricing, or margin 5. Benchmark comparison by SaaS stage/model 6. 90-day action plan to improve the weakest metric 7. Red flags investors or operators would immediately question
Example Output
SaaS Unit Economics Diagnostic
Scorecard
| Metric | Value | Assessment |
|--------|-------|------------|
| CAC | $1,240 | Acceptable for sales-assisted SMB SaaS |
| ARPA | $129/mo | Healthy entry point, but expansion matters |
| Gross Margin | 81% | Strong |
| Logo Churn | 3.8% monthly | Too high for efficient scaling |
| Net Revenue Retention | 104% | Positive, but not enough to offset churn pressure |
| CAC Payback | 11.7 months | Borderline, should aim for < 12 months |
| LTV:CAC | 2.6:1 | Below the ideal 3:1-5:1 range |
Diagnosis
Your business is close to efficient growth, but churn is dragging down lifetime value. You can acquire customers at a workable cost, however the retention profile means you are refilling a leaky bucket.
Highest-Leverage Fix
**Retention in the first 60 days** is the main issue. If you reduce logo churn from 3.8% to 2.8%, LTV rises materially and LTV:CAC moves above 3:1 without increasing spend.
90-Day Plan
1. Audit onboarding drop-off by cohort and persona
2. Add customer success outreach for accounts with low activation in first 14 days
3. Test annual plan discount to improve cash flow and reduce early churn
4. Repackage pricing tiers so expansion paths are clearer
Tips for Best Results
- 💡Use the same time window for every input, otherwise the ratios will lie to you
- 💡Ask for both logo churn and revenue churn, because one without the other hides important reality
- 💡If you have segment data, run this separately for SMB, mid-market, and enterprise customers
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the SaaS Unit Economics Diagnostic prompt?
Analyze CAC, LTV, gross margin, payback period, and retention to diagnose whether your SaaS growth is efficient and sustainable. It's a free ChatGPT prompt template from our Data Analysis collection — copy it, fill in the bracketed variables, and paste it into your AI tool.
Which AI tools work with this prompt?
It's written and tested for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Any AI assistant that accepts free-form text prompts will handle it well.
How do I customize this ChatGPT prompt?
Replace the bracketed variables — such as [bootstrapped / seed / Series A / growth], [amount], [number] — with your own details before running it. Use the same time window for every input, otherwise the ratios will lie to you
Is this prompt free to use?
Yes. Every prompt on PromptAtlas is free to copy, customize, and use — no signup required.
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