How do you calculate CPC?

Divide the ad spend by the number of clicks it bought. €2,000 for 1,600 clicks is a CPC of €1.25. Google Ads reports the same figure as average CPC.

One below your break-even CPC: your conversion rate times your order value times your gross margin. At 2.5%, €80 and 50%, a click is worth €1.00 of gross profit on average, so €1.25 is too much and €0.80 leaves €0.20 a click. The same CPC can be cheap for one store and ruinous for another.

What is the difference between CPC and CPA?

CPC is what a click costs; CPA is what a conversion costs. The conversion rate links them: CPA equals CPC divided by the conversion rate, so a €1.25 CPC at a 2.5% conversion rate is a €50 CPA.

Which clicks should I divide by?

Clicks that lead to your store. Meta's clicks (all) also counts likes, comments, shares, profile clicks and clicks to expand a photo or video, so a CPC on all clicks looks cheaper than a visit really was. Use link clicks, and remember that some link clicks never become a recorded visit.

How do I make a click worth more?

Three levers, all in the break-even formula: convert more of the clicks, raise the order value, or improve the margin. Bringing the CPC down works on the other side of the same line.

Should I bid up to my break-even CPC?

Not on first orders alone, unless you are knowingly paying for repeat customers. At break-even a click pays for itself and nothing else; your fixed costs and your profit have to come out of the gap below it.

CPC Calculator: Cost Per Click

Result

Fill in ad spend, clicks to see the result.

How it works

Cost per click is the ad spend divided by the clicks it bought. Google Ads calls it average CPC: the total cost of your clicks divided by the number of clicks. It is the price of traffic.

What a click is worth depends on what happens after it. On average a click brings the conversion rate times the order value times the gross margin in gross profit. That is your break-even CPC: pay more and each first order loses money, pay less and it keeps the difference.

CPC = ad spend ÷ clicks

conversion rate per click =
  orders ÷ clicks

cost per order = ad spend ÷ orders

break-even CPC =
  conversion rate
  × average order value
  × gross margin

What each term means

Ad spend: What the ads cost for the clicks you count, over the same period.
Clicks: Link clicks to your store. Meta's clicks (all) also counts likes, comments, shares and profile clicks, which makes a CPC look cheaper than a visit was.
Orders: The purchases those clicks led to, for the same ads and period, from the ad platform or your analytics.
Conversion rate per click: Orders divided by clicks. It is not the store's conversion rate per session, which divides by visits from every source.
Break-even CPC: The gross profit an average click brings on a first order. Shipping, payment fees and returns are not in it and lower it further.

A click is not a visit

The platform counts a click when someone taps the ad. Your analytics counts a session when the page loads and the tag fires. Some clicks never get that far: the page is slow and they leave, they decline analytics cookies, or a redirect drops the tracking tags. So GA4 can show fewer sessions from a campaign than the platform shows clicks. The CTR calculator puts the two side by side.

Worked example

Example numbers, round on purpose. They are not a real store.

Ad spend: €2,000
Clicks: 1,600
Orders from those clicks: 40
Average order value: €80
Gross margin: 50%

1CPC: €2,000 ÷ 1,600 = €1.25
2Clicks per €1,000 spent: 1,600 ÷ €2,000 × 1,000 = 800
3Conversion rate per click: 40 ÷ 1,600 = 2.50%
4Cost per order: €2,000 ÷ 40 = €50.00
5Break-even CPC: 2.50% × €80 × 50% = €1.00

Each click costs €1.25 and brings back €1.00 of gross profit on average, so every click loses €0.25 on a first order. The CPC has to come down, the conversion rate or the order value has to go up, or repeat orders have to make up the difference.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate CPC?
Divide the ad spend by the number of clicks it bought. €2,000 for 1,600 clicks is a CPC of €1.25. Google Ads reports the same figure as average CPC.
What is a good CPC?
One below your break-even CPC: your conversion rate times your order value times your gross margin. At 2.5%, €80 and 50%, a click is worth €1.00 of gross profit on average, so €1.25 is too much and €0.80 leaves €0.20 a click. The same CPC can be cheap for one store and ruinous for another.
What is the difference between CPC and CPA?
CPC is what a click costs; CPA is what a conversion costs. The conversion rate links them: CPA equals CPC divided by the conversion rate, so a €1.25 CPC at a 2.5% conversion rate is a €50 CPA.
Which clicks should I divide by?
Clicks that lead to your store. Meta's clicks (all) also counts likes, comments, shares, profile clicks and clicks to expand a photo or video, so a CPC on all clicks looks cheaper than a visit really was. Use link clicks, and remember that some link clicks never become a recorded visit.
How do I make a click worth more?
Three levers, all in the break-even formula: convert more of the clicks, raise the order value, or improve the margin. Bringing the CPC down works on the other side of the same line.
Should I bid up to my break-even CPC?
Not on first orders alone, unless you are knowingly paying for repeat customers. At break-even a click pays for itself and nothing else; your fixed costs and your profit have to come out of the gap below it.

Related terms: CPC, click-through rate, conversion rate and session.

Next: which clicks became buyers you would not otherwise have had?

A click is worth what it leads to, and that is decided after the click. Your GA4 export already holds how long your buyers take and which channels they touch. First finding free, in your browser; the full read is €99.

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