Don't bid your way out of rising cost per acquisition. Build your way out.

"Many of the largest drivers of CPA sit upstream or downstream of media: the strength of the offer, the quality of the creative, and the effectiveness of the conversion journey."

"A CPA problem is often a conversion problem in disguise. The ad is doing its job, getting people to the site. What's failing is everything that happens after the click."

"The first things to audit are your product feed and your offer. If that data is incomplete or poorly structured, performance will suffer regardless of how well you bid."

"Bid strategy sits at the end of that list. It's a useful tool for extracting efficiency from a program that's already working, but it can't create efficiency where the fundamentals aren't."

Retail media ad spend in the U.S. is expected to reach $69.33 billion by 2026, yet brands are experiencing rising cost per acquisition (CPA). Many mistakenly focus on ad account adjustments, assuming inefficiencies lie within. However, key factors affecting CPA include the strength of the offer, quality of creative, and effectiveness of the conversion journey. A CPA issue often indicates a conversion problem, necessitating audits of product feeds and offers before adjusting bid strategies, which should only be used to enhance already effective programs.

Read at Miami Herald