Enter Campaign Economics
Example Data Table
| Metric | Example Value |
|---|---|
| Average Order Value | $120.00 |
| Upsell Revenue | $15.00 |
| Repeat Purchase Value | $25.00 |
| Gross Margin | 62% |
| Refund Rate | 8% |
| Total Non-Ad Costs | $26.72 |
| Attribution-Adjusted Contribution | $58.09 |
| Break-Even CPA | $49.09 |
Formula Used
Gross Revenue = Average Order Value + Upsell Revenue + Repeat Purchase Value
Net Revenue After Refunds = Gross Revenue × (1 − Refund Rate)
Gross Profit = Net Revenue After Refunds × Gross Margin
Payment Fees = (Net Revenue After Refunds × Payment Fee %) + Payment Fixed Fee
Contribution Before Target = Gross Profit − Payment Fees − Fulfillment Cost − Support Cost − Creative Cost
Attribution-Adjusted Contribution = Contribution Before Target × Attribution Confidence
Break-Even CPA = Attribution-Adjusted Contribution − Target Profit per Sale
Break-Even CPC = Break-Even CPA × Conversion Rate
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your average order value and any extra revenue from upsells or repeat purchases.
- Add your gross margin percentage so the calculator uses profit, not raw sales value.
- Enter refund rate, payment costs, fulfillment cost, support cost, and creative cost.
- Set a target profit per sale if you want a margin cushion above pure break-even.
- Adjust attribution confidence to reflect how certain you are about reported performance.
- Enter conversion rate to estimate the highest CPC your campaign can support.
- Add your current CPA and expected acquisition volume to compare real performance.
- Submit the form to view the result summary, Plotly graph, and export-ready table.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is break-even CPA?
Break-even CPA is the highest acquisition cost you can pay for one conversion without dropping below your chosen profit target. It turns campaign economics into a spending ceiling.
2. Why does the calculator use gross margin instead of revenue?
Revenue alone can overstate what you can safely spend. Gross margin isolates the portion of revenue that remains after product or service delivery costs, making CPA targets more realistic.
3. How do refunds change the result?
Refunds reduce the revenue that actually stays in the business. A higher refund rate lowers net revenue, shrinks contribution, and pushes your safe CPA lower.
4. What does attribution confidence mean?
Attribution confidence discounts your contribution estimate to reflect tracking uncertainty. Lower confidence creates a more conservative CPA threshold, which helps protect budget decisions when reporting is imperfect.
5. Should repeat purchase value be included?
Include repeat purchase value only when it is predictable and closely tied to the acquired customer. Inflated assumptions can make the break-even CPA look safer than it really is.
6. What if the break-even CPA is negative?
A negative result means the business model does not cover non-ad costs and target profit before acquisition spend. Improve pricing, margin, retention, or operational costs first.
7. Why is break-even CPC also shown?
Break-even CPC converts the CPA limit into a click-based bidding ceiling using your conversion rate. It helps when managing social ads with manual CPC or traffic-focused objectives.
8. Can this calculator work for different social platforms?
Yes. The math is platform-agnostic. You can use it for campaigns from Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, or any channel where you can estimate revenue, margin, and acquisition cost.