Everything You Need to Know About Cost Per Acquisition

Cost Per Acquisition, also known in some marketing circles as Cost Per Action, is a measure of a marketer’s cost per conversion with consumers. This tracks the total cost for each consumer conversion from start to finish, putting a number to the customer journey from search engine research to visitor on a website to paying customer. Using Cost Per Acquisition to your advantage is key to lowering costs for advertising and marketing in campaigns such as Pay Per Call. When you better understand your CPA, you can lower overall costs and improve ROI as a result.

How Cost Per Acquisition is Measured

The math behind CPA is simple in Pay Per Call and other marketing verticals. You simply need to divide the amount of money spent on advertising to acquire more customers by the number of customers converted into buyers. Cost Per Acquisition can vary with time though, for example when a company expands into a new region, but overall the simple math mentioned here applies to most marketing efforts.

See More: Webinar: Traditional CPA and Pay Per Call

What Cost Per Acquisition Reveals about Pay Per Call Channels

CPA numbers offer your brand vital insight into the various channels through which your Pay Per Call campaigns operate. You can find Cost Per Acquisition numbers for each of the verticals you utilize in Pay Per Call, from direct mailers and email marketing to social media and search engine ads. The verticals that have the highest CPA are ineffective at generating high-value leads for your business, while the verticals with lower CPA figures are generating more phone calls that result in conversions for the business.

As a result, CPA figures not only show you which marketing verticals are performing the best in terms of actually reaching your target consumers, but are also showing you which verticals are generating the best ROI for the business. Low CPA figures for a particular vertical mean the brand is spending money more effectively while generating more revenue compared to verticals with higher acquisition costs.

Cost Per Acquisition is Subject to SEO Practices

Pay Per Call campaigns in general are subject to SEO practices. Poor keyword choice and bland content, for example, make it harder for your brand to increase its visibility in search engines. The end result is fewer consumers seeing your ads. As such, CPA also provides you with insight on the SEO practices of your advertising and marketing efforts. When your Pay Per Call content is properly optimized for the web, it gains greater visibility in search engines and your Cost Per Acquisition figures go down.

Read More: 3 Simple SEO Tips to Revive Your Pay Per Call Campaign

Cost Per Acquisition is a Guide

Last but not least, realize that CPA is a guide. Like many other data points you collect from your Pay Per Call campaigns, CPA shows you how effective your current marketing spend is at generating calls and revenue for the business. You can use that as a guide to tweak or abandon verticals with higher CPA figures, and also focus more resources (time and money) on the verticals with low CPA figures. Consistently monitoring your CPA enables you to stay on top of marketing spend and ensure you’re paying as little as possible to convert callers into buyers.