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Cost Per Acquisition

CPA

What you pay on average for one conversion: total cost divided by conversions.

CPA, cost per acquisition (or cost per action), is your total ad spend divided by the number of conversions it produced: the average price of one sale or lead. It is the cost-side twin of ROAS.

A CPA only means something against your break-even, which is set by your average order value and your margin. A 40 CPA is comfortable when each order earns you 120 in gross profit and a loss when it earns you 30. Smart Bidding can target a CPA for you, but only as well as the conversion values it is fed, which is why we move accounts toward value-based bidding once the data is clean.

Set the number that fits your store with the break-even ROAS calculator, and make sure the conversion tracking under it is trustworthy first.

Related terms

ROAS Revenue earned for every dollar of ad spend, written as a multiplier (revenue / ad cost). CAC The all-in cost to win one new customer across marketing and sales. AOV Total revenue divided by number of orders: the average a customer spends per purchase.

Put the number to work: the break-even ROAS calculator turns your margins into the ROAS you need, and a free Due Diligence Audit checks whether the figures you see are the ones you are getting. Back to the glossary.