Cost Per Acquisition

What is a Cost per acquisition?

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) is a metric that measures the average cost of acquiring a new customer through marketing efforts. It directly impacts profitability by determining the efficiency of customer acquisition campaigns. By analyzing CPA, you can identify which channels, campaigns, or strategies are the most cost-effective in acquiring customers to allocate budgets more efficiently and optimize marketing spend. Optimizing CPA involves testing different channels, refining targeting criteria, and improving conversion rates to reduce acquisition costs while maximizing the number of acquired customers. Ultimately, mastering CPA leads to higher return on investment (ROI), improved marketing efficiency, and sustainable business growth.

How to calculate Cost per acquisition?

Calculate cost per acquisition by dividing the total cost of acquiring customers (marketing expenses) by the total number of customers acquired within a specific period.

Total Marketing Expenses / Total Number of Customers Acquired

What is bad Cost per acquisition?

A bad cost per acquisition metric indicates high customer acquisition costs relative to the value generated. Factors include exceeding industry benchmarks, low conversion rates, and inefficient marketing strategies. Benchmarks vary: a CPA exceeding $100 for e-commerce or a CPA to CLV ratio below 1:1 for SaaS may indicate inefficiency. However, benchmarks should be contextualized within business models, target markets, and campaign goals.

What is good Cost per acquisition?

A good cost per acquisition metric signifies efficient customer acquisition at a reasonable cost. Factors defining it include industry benchmarks, profit margins, and customer lifetime value. Regarding benchmarks, e-commerce typically aims for a CPA below $50, while SaaS might target a CPA to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) ratio of 1:3 or higher. These benchmarks should be evaluated in context, considering business models, target markets, and campaign objectives.

Our key templates to track Cost per acquisition

PPC multi-channel dashboard in Looker Studio

Get a comprehensive PPC reporting tool to track the performance of your campaigns launched at multiple advertising platforms.

Web analytics dashboard in Looker Studio

Use the insights based on the data from GA4 to monitor your website traffic and discover which pages resonate most with your audience.

All-in-one marketing dashboard in Looker Studio

Monitor all your marketing channels with an all-in-one dashboard providing performance overviews of web analytics, ad campaigns, SEO, social media, and emails.

See all dashboards

How to improve Cost per acquisition?

Optimize Ad Targeting

Refine audience targeting to reach potential customers more likely to convert, reducing wasted ad spend and lowering CPA.

Improve Landing Page Conversion

Enhance landing page design and messaging to increase conversion rates, ensuring more visitors become paying customers and lowering CPA.

Test and Iterate Campaigns

Continuously test and optimize marketing campaigns, experimenting with different ad creatives, targeting options, and messaging to improve performance and reduce CPA over time.