---
title: "Goal seek: definition, formula and example"
description: "Working backwards from a target to the input that reaches it: the price, acquisition cost or renewal rate at which a plan pays back."
url: https://offersuite.io/glossary/goal-seek
updated: 2026-10-13
---

# Goal seek

Working backwards from a target to the input that reaches it: the price, acquisition cost or renewal rate at which a plan pays back.

## In plain words

Goal seek turns a calculation round. Where a forecast answers what a plan earns at a given price, goal seek asks what price makes the plan hit a target. You fix the goal, pick one input to move, and solve for it.

It turns a vague aim into a number someone can act on. Pay back within three months becomes a first-order price. Break even on ads becomes the most a customer may cost to acquire.

## Formula

- Find the value of one input at which the result equals the target, with every other input held

## Worked example

The coffee subscription's first order sells for $32.00 and pays back its $30.00 acquisition cost in month 5. To pay back by month 3, the engine solves for the first-order price: $38.45.

Or leave the price alone and ask about retention. To pay back by month 4, every renewal rate would have to rise by 1.4 points.

### The example order

A $40.00 bag of coffee, shipped free, every cost counted

Revenue $40.00 to contribution margin $15.36 (38.4%)

Revenue

$40.00

Cost of goods

−$12.00

Pick and pack

−$1.18

Packaging

−$0.50

Shipping label

−$7.50

Card fee per order

−$0.30

Refunds

−$2.00

Card processing

−$1.16

Contribution margin

$15.36

2 declared kinds cost nothing on this option

Computed by the margin engine in Offer Suite's own code, in whole cents, from a $40.00 bag of coffee with a $12.00 unit cost.

## A solved value is not a recommendation

Goal seek says what an input would have to be. It does not say the market will accept it. A first-order price that pays back sooner will also convert fewer visitors, and nothing in the solve knows by how much.

## Using it

Solve for one input at a time and read the answer as a boundary. If the price that reaches your payback target is far above anything you could charge, the target is wrong or another input has to move. When there is no answer at all, the reason is the finding: no price pays back by then.

## In Offer Suite

Offer Suite's simulator can solve a subscription offer for the highest acquisition cost, the lowest first-order price, the renewal lift, the mix of options or the ad budget that reaches a goal. When no value does, it says why and does not answer with the nearest one.

Source: Offer Suite's offer simulator.

## Related

- [Glossary **Glossary of offer economics** The terms behind offer profit, defined plainly with their formulas and a worked number: contribution margin, profit per visitor, break-even lift and more.](https://offersuite.io/glossary)
- [Calculator **Subscription payback calculator: CAC and churn** How much a subscriber's first order loses against what you paid to acquire them, how many renewals it takes to earn that back with churn, and in which month.](https://offersuite.io/calculators/subscription-payback)
- [Calculator **Subscription intro offer calculator** Subscribe and save, a discount on the first order, a free trial or a free product: each as a cohort of subscribers with the same costs, ranked on profit per visitor after acquisition.](https://offersuite.io/calculators/subscription-intro-offer)
- [Glossary **Allowable CAC: definition, formula and example** The most you can pay to acquire a customer and still be paid back by a chosen month. A ceiling for the ad account, set by the offer.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/allowable-cac)
- [Glossary **Break-even price: definition, formula and example** The lowest price at which an order still covers its own costs. Below it, every sale loses money before any fixed cost is counted.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/break-even-price)
- [Glossary **Sensitivity analysis: definition and formula** Moving each input of a plan up and down by the same step to see which one changes the result most. It shows where to spend effort.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/sensitivity-analysis)