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Advertising

CPA

Cost per acquisition

The average cost to win one order or conversion from advertising.

CPA (cost per acquisition) is ad spend divided by the number of orders (or conversions) it produced. It tells you what each new order costs to acquire. On its own it's just a cost — it only means something next to your break-even CPA.

Formula

CPA = Ad spend ÷ Conversions

Example: $2,000 spend for 100 orders = $20 CPA.

What a good result depends on

A ‘good’ CPA is comfortably below your break-even CPA.

Common mistakes

  • Judging CPA without knowing your break-even.
  • Confusing CPA (per order) with CAC (per customer, who may repeat).
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