CPA
metricsCost Per Acquisition
Definition
The cost to acquire one paying customer through paid advertising. Includes all ad spend divided by number of conversions.
How to Calculate CPA
Ad Spend ÷ Number of Customers Acquired
Example
Scenario: You spend $5,000 on ads and acquire 100 new customers
Calculation: $5,000 ÷ 100 = $50 CPA
What's a Good CPA?
Should be 20-40% of your average order value for profitable scaling
Common Mistakes
- Not accounting for refunds and returns in CPA calculation
- Optimizing only for lowest CPA without considering customer quality
💡 Expert Tip
Track both first-order CPA and blended CPA (including repeat purchases). High-quality customers justify higher CPAs.
— Based on $100M+ in managed ad spend
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By Kristijan Arapov • Based on $100M+ in managed ad spend • Updated 2026