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Metrics

CPA

Updated 20 August 2026

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the average advertising cost of one conversion, calculated by dividing ad spend by the number of conversions recorded in the same period.

Key facts about CPA

Abbreviation
CPA
Also known as
Cost per acquisition, Cost per action, Cost per result
Formula
CPA = ad spend ÷ conversions in the same period
Category
Metrics
Last updated
20 August 2026

In AdOps

How does CPA work inside AdOps?

AdOps has no metric labelled CPA. It names the cost of each specific conversion instead — Cost per Purchase (`cost_per_action_type.omni_purchase`), Cost per lead, Cost per add to cart and six more — among the 15 metrics in its cost_efficiency category.

The AdOps metric picker open over a condition row: a panel with Meta Ads and Custom metrics tabs, a search box, and a scrolling list of metrics with Spend selected. Sample data
Forty-five Meta metrics and your own sheet columns in the same list, each carrying a reporting period and any of six operators. Read the details

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is what one conversion costs on average: total ad spend divided by the conversions counted in the same period. AdOps does not use the label CPA. Its rule builder names the cost of each specific conversion instead, such as Cost per Purchase, Cost per lead and Cost per add to cart.

How is CPA calculated?

Divide spend by conversions over the same window. A campaign that spent Rp 15,000,000 in the last 7 days and recorded 250 purchases has a CPA of Rp 60,000. If gross margin on an order is Rp 75,000, that campaign clears Rp 15,000 per order. At 180 purchases the CPA rises to Rp 83,333 and every order loses money.

When is CPA a better threshold than ROAS?

CPA is an absolute amount, so it maps straight onto unit economics: a margin of Rp 75,000 per order gives a hard ceiling of Rp 75,000. ROAS is a ratio and travels better across campaigns with different order values. Writing both into one AND group means a campaign has to fail on cost and on return before it is paused.

Which cost metrics does AdOps offer?

The cost_efficiency category holds 15 of the 45 rule metrics, including Cost per Purchase, Cost per Website Purchase, Cost per lead, Cost per add to cart, Cost per checkout initiated, Cost per content view, Cost per landing page view and Cost per registration completed. Each accepts any of the 11 reporting periods and all 6 comparison operators.

Glossary

The terms an advertiser usually reads in the same sitting.

ROAS
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue attributed to a set of ads divided by the amount spent on those ads, expressed as a ratio such as 3.5x.
Cost per lead CPL
Cost per lead is the average advertising cost of acquiring one lead, calculated by dividing ad spend by the number of leads recorded in the same period.
CPC
Cost per click (CPC) is the average amount paid for one click on an ad, calculated by dividing ad spend by the number of clicks recorded in the same period.
All glossary terms

Turn this metric into a rule that watches it.

Pick the metric, pick one of the 11 reporting periods, set the threshold, and choose what happens when it is crossed. Nothing runs on your campaigns until you set the rule live.

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Inside the product

What the screens actually look like

Nine screens from the working dashboard — the rule builder, the metric picker, the dayparting grid and the log that records what happened. Scroll the strip.

  • The AdOps Performance Dashboard showing a Purchase ROAS card at 2.380x and an Aggregated ROAS card at 2.088x, both badged Profitable, a Monthly Budget card at Rp 155jt, and a Spend Breakdown ranking the top five ad accounts against a budget utilisation bar at 45.5 per cent.
    Performance Dashboard. Two ROAS figures to three decimals, a budget meter, and spend ranked by ad account — over Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days or This month.
  • The AdOps rule list showing twelve automation rules, each with an on/off toggle, the ad accounts it manages, and when it last triggered — some minutes ago, others on a dated timestamp.
    Rule List. Every rule, what it manages and when it last fired. The toggle is the only thing between draft and live.
  • The AdOps condition builder showing a task with time-of-day conditions across seven day tags, a nested AND group holding a lifetime spend condition under 400,000, and a second task with four stacked metric conditions.
    Conditions. Metric, period, operator, value — joined with AND or OR, and nestable, so a rule can say something a dropdown cannot.
  • The AdOps metric picker open over a condition row: a panel with Meta Ads and Custom metrics tabs, a search box, and a scrolling list of metrics with Spend selected.
    Metric picker. Forty-five Meta metrics and your own sheet columns in the same list, each carrying a reporting period and any of six operators.
  • The AdOps dayparting timetable: a grid of hours against the seven days of the week, with the daytime hours filled navy for every day and the night hours and weekend evenings left empty.
    Dayparting grid. Or draw the hours instead. Anything outside the shape you fill in simply does not run.
  • An AdOps execution log detail: one campaign, two action panels badged Not Executed, each listing the action parameters and every condition evaluated with its actual value, its expected value and a Pass or Fail badge.
    Rule Log detail. Why a rule did nothing is recorded as carefully as why it did something — actual against expected, condition by condition.
  • The AdOps activity log listing budget increases and campaign renames, each row naming the affected campaign by id, the rule that caused it and how long ago it happened.
    Activity Log. One row per change AdOps made in your account, naming the campaign and the rule responsible.
  • The AdOps ad account list: eighteen Meta ad accounts with on/off toggles, account ids, Active or Inactive badges and this month’s spend in rupiah.
    Ad Accounts. Accounts discovered from Meta arrive switched off. Nothing is read, and nothing is changed, until you turn one on.
  • The AdOps custom metric editor mapping a Google Spreadsheet: a spreadsheet id, a sheet name, a column to match campaigns on and a column holding the values.
    Custom metric. Point AdOps at a sheet, name the matching column and the value column, and your own number joins the metric list.

Every figure is rebuilt from the product’s own interface and filled with invented data — no customer name, ad account or spend figure appears anywhere on this site. See how a run works