Cost per acquisition is the cost of an activity divided by the acquisitions attributed to it.
A practical example
Advertising spend of 1,000 attributed to 20 completed purchases gives an advertising CPA of 50.
What to watch for
Define acquisition precisely. A lead CPA excludes sales qualification, and platform CPA may exclude agency fees and other acquisition costs.
Related reading
Explore Pay Per Click (PPC) and LTV or Lifetime Value. Try our break-even ROAS calculator for a practical next step. See how this fits into Paid advertising.