Glossary

CPA

Cost Per Acquisition — total spend divided by attributed conversions.

Also known as: Cost Per Acquisition · CAC

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) divides total creator-program spend by the number of attributed conversions. It is the metric performance marketers reach for first when evaluating a new channel against existing acquisition channels.

Computing it for creator commerce

Numerator — fixed fees + rev-share payouts + seeded-product cost (at COGS) + platform fees.
Denominator — attributed first-order conversions per creator.

Why it can mislead in creator commerce

Creator commerce drives cohort behavior, not just first orders. A program with a slightly worse CPA can produce dramatically better LTV cohorts. Report CPA next to 30/60/90- day repeat behavior per cluster — never alone.

Attribution
Revenue share
GMV