What is Cost per Acquisition (CPA)?
The average cost to acquire one customer or conversion.
Definition
CPA measures how much you spend in advertising to generate one conversion (purchase, signup, lead, etc.). It's calculated by dividing total ad spend by the number of conversions. CPA is the ultimate efficiency metric — it tells you whether your campaigns are profitable. If your product has a $50 margin and CPA is $30, you profit $20 per customer. Lowering CPA requires improving either creative quality (higher CTR/CVR) or audience targeting.
Example
A brand spends $3,000 on ads and generates 100 purchases, making CPA $30. By refreshing creative and cutting underperforming ad sets, they reduce CPA to $22 — saving $800 on the same 100 conversions.
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