Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA (Cost per Acquisition) is the average amount invested in media to generate a conversion — a lead, a purchase, a sign-up. It is the metric that tells whether the campaign fits the business financial model. Acceptable CPA always depends on the average ticket and the margin of the product or service sold.
What is CPA?
CPA (Cost per Acquisition) is how much you spend, on average, to win a conversion. Unlike CPC, the cost of a click, CPA measures the cost of the final result that matters to the business.
The "acquisition" can be:
- Completed purchase (e-commerce)
- Qualified lead (B2B, services)
- App sign-up
- Newsletter subscription
- Demo booking
- App install
How to calculate
CPA = Total spend / Conversions
If you spent R$ 12,000 and generated 240 sales, CPA is R$ 50.
What CPA is good?
It depends on LTV (lifetime value) and margin.
General rule:
- CPA < 25% of average ticket: very healthy
- CPA 25 to 40% of average ticket: acceptable
- CPA > 50% of average ticket: review urgently
In SaaS the criterion changes: CPA must be repaid within 12 months by LTV/MRR.
Practical example
Electronics store with average ticket R$ 380 and 28% margin:
- Gross margin per sale: R$ 106
- Break-even CPA: R$ 106
- Healthy CPA target: R$ 60 to R$ 80 (leaving room for fixed costs)
Real campaign results:
- Spent: R$ 18,500
- Sales: 260
- CPA: R$ 71 (within target)
- Gross margin generated: R$ 27,560
- Net margin after media: R$ 9,060
How to reduce CPA
- Increase site conversion rate (CRO)
- Improve creatives to raise CTR
- Refine targeting (more qualified audience)
- Work retargeting (cheaper than top of funnel)
- Increase average ticket (upsell, kits, free shipping above X)
- Optimize for the Purchase event with Pixel + CAPI
CPA by channel — Brazil 2026 benchmarks
- Meta Ads e-commerce fashion: R$ 35 to R$ 95
- Meta Ads e-commerce electronics: R$ 60 to R$ 160
- Google Search e-commerce: R$ 40 to R$ 120
- Google Performance Max: R$ 30 to R$ 90
- LinkedIn B2B lead: R$ 90 to R$ 320
- TikTok Ads: R$ 25 to R$ 80
Common mistakes
- Looking only at CPA without crossing it with average ticket and margin
- Comparing CPA across funnel stages (top is always more expensive)
- Cutting top-of-funnel campaigns because "CPA is high", breaking retargeting later
- Trusting platform CPA 100% without comparing with real sales
Related terms
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