cost per acquisition

Beginner 📣 Marketing / Advertising

Definition

The total marketing spend divided by the number of customers acquired, revealing exactly how much you paid to convince each person to care about your product. Also known as CPA, or 'the number that makes CFOs wince.'

Example Usage

Our CPA jumped to $450 after iOS 14, so now we're pivoting to strategies that don't rely on stalking people across the internet.

Origin

Direct response marketing terminology from the 1980s

Fun Fact

In the early days of internet marketing, CPAs were often under $1; now some B2B SaaS companies happily pay $1,000+ per acquisition because that customer might be worth $100,000 lifetime value.

Source: Direct response and performance marketing terminology

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