Conversion Rate Optimization Glossary

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Cost Per Acquisition

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is a metric used in online advertising and marketing to measure the cost of acquiring a new customer or client through a specific marketing campaign or channel.

CPA is an important metric for businesses and marketers to track because it allows them to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

By calculating the CPA, businesses and marketers can determine whether a campaign generates a positive return on investment (ROI) and whether it is worth continuing or expanding.

Cost Per Acquisition is calculated by dividing the total cost of the marketing campaign by the number of new customers or clients acquired through that campaign.

Cost Per Acquisition = Total Advertising Cost / Total Number of Acquired Customers

For example, if a company spends $100 on a Google ad campaign and acquires 100 new customers through that campaign, the CPA would be $10. This means that it costs the company $10 to acquire each new customer through the ad campaign.

Importance of Measuring CPA

Tips To Optimize Cost Per Acquisition

The lower your cost per acquisition, the better it is for your business. Here are some of the best practices to optimize your cost per acquisition.

  1. Optimize your campaign landing pages if you’re using one.
  2. Review and update your marketing copies and design
  3. Run targeting campaigns for different site visitors to get potential leads
  4. Use retargeting campaigns for visitors with cart abandonment.

Cost per acquisition vs. customer acquisition cost

Cost per acquisition (CPA) and customer acquisition cost (CAC) are metrics often used to measure the effectiveness of a company’s marketing and sales efforts.

Both metrics provide information about the cost of acquiring new customers, but they differ in how they are calculated and what they measure.

CPA is a performance-based metric that measures the cost of acquiring a customer through a specific marketing action or campaign.

Conversely, CAC is a broader metric that measures the total cost of acquiring a customer, including all marketing and sales expenses. This means that it takes into account the costs of all marketing campaigns, as well as the costs of sales efforts such as salaries and commissions.

CAC is calculated by dividing the total cost of acquiring a customer by the number of customers acquired.

CAC = total cost of acquiring a customer / total number of customers acquired

Both metrics are important for evaluating the effectiveness of a company’s marketing and sales efforts and can help businesses make informed decisions about where to allocate their resources.