Selecting Your CPA Pricing Model

Today’s digital marketers have more options for user acquisition at their fingertips than ever before. Long gone are the days when you were limited to choosing between paying for views, impressions or clicks, as today’s performance marketing world has evolved into one of endless opportunity.

Which CPA Pricing Model Should You Use?

While in some instances paying for views or impressions is still appropriate, the majority of performance marketers find themselves considering these common pricing models: CPA, CPI, CPE, CPL, CPS and CPC.

CPA - Cost per Action/Acquisition

A style of performance marketing in which marketers or advertisers only pay partners or affiliates when a new user is acquired or a specific action is completed. An action can be anything from a form fill, to a subscription, a download, a purchase, etc., as agreed upon by the marketer.

The CPA pricing model allows advertisers a bit more assurance that what they’re paying for actually ends up as quantifiable consumer engagement. So, in this sense, the advertiser isn’t risking as much with their money – as they know exactly what each action or sale will cost them.

CPA marketing encompasses numerous other customer acquisition pricing models.

CPS - Cost per Sale

A pricing model that pays affiliates when a customer purchases a product or service at full cost, or via cash-on-delivery. With this model, the advertiser only pays when revenue is driven.

This is one of the lowest-risk media buys on the part of the advertiser, making it a highly popular performance marketing model.

CPL - Cost per Lead

This pricing model pays when a user has provided personal details as stipulated by the marketer. Common personal details collected include name, email, and/or zip code. With this model, lead generation is the desired goal.

CPL is common in B2B marketing, where it is unlikely that someone will make a purchase immediately. This model is great for acquiring a database of qualified contacts interested in certain products or services with which the advertiser can interact afterwards.

It is an appropriate model to build lists of powerful records. Or, even, to create member acquisition programs with lead nurturing strategies.

You can use this CPA pricing model when you want to generate leads, like QuoteWizard, who saw a 92,000% increase in leads.

Pro Tip:

CPI - Cost per Install

Specific to mobile apps, this pricing model pays publishers when a user installs and opens an app. It is one of the most widely used models for mobile user acquisition campaigns.

CPE - Cost per Engagement

Across the performance marketing industry, CPE is often used for postinstallation events within mobile apps. At Perform[cb] , this model pays when a user has completed an action within an app after install, which can include events such as a registration or in-app purchase. While some networks will use CPE more broadly, this model is only applicable to app-install offers at Perform[cb] .

Pro Tip:

If you’re looking for CPI or CPE, make sure that you have a mobile attribution platform in place before applying to a network. An attribution platform tracks where your users are coming from and the conversion actions they’ve taken, then aggregates the information.

CPC - Cost per Click

One of the most straightforward pricing models, CPC pays when a user has clicked on an ad and has been redirected to the marketer’s desired landing page.