Why Cost per Acquisition Is the Only Metric That Really Matters

There’s no denying it. You cannot consider yourself a great ad person unless you know your numbers. At SME Digital (the agency arm of Social Media Explorer), we’re all about garnering results that are measurable. After all, you aren’t an effective marketer if you aren’t tracking the numbers. Even more, you aren’t a top-notch marketer if you’re not tracking the one metric that matters above all others: Cost per Acquisition (CPA).

Now don’t get me wrong, all those other metrics are important too. Metrics like:

  • Click-Thru-Rate
  • Cost per Click
  • Cost per Conversion

Just to name a few.

But, while these metrics are important to any well run campaign. They don’t hold a candle to the Holy Grail of marketing metrics: Cost per Acquisition. In other words, how much do I have to spend in marketing dollars to get a paying customer?

So why is Cost per Acquisition so important? Simple, it’s the quintessential metric for determining true return on investment. It doesn’t matter how many clicks or eyeballs a campaign receives, if it’s not generating revenue, it’s not successful.

Case in point, I was working for an agency charged with managing a company’s PPC account. My team’s ads were performing well above average (on paper). Through …read more

Source: Social Media Explorer