Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition, or Cost Per Action) is the average cost to get one conversion — a sale, signup, lead, or other defined action. It's the key efficiency metric for conversion campaigns.
Also called: Cost per actionFormula
CPA = Total ad spend ÷ ConversionsExample
Spend $1,000 and get 25 signups → CPA = 1,000 ÷ 25 = $40 per signup.
Why it matters
CPA tells you what each customer or lead actually costs. Compared against your customer lifetime value (LTV), it's the clearest signal of whether a campaign is sustainable.
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FAQ
What is a good CPA?
A good CPA is one comfortably below the value of the action — e.g. below your gross profit per sale, or well under a lead's expected value. There's no universal figure; it's relative to your economics.
What's target CPA bidding?
Target CPA is an automated bidding strategy (on Google, Meta and others) where you set a desired cost per conversion and the platform's AI adjusts bids to hit it, using its conversion data.