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Cost Per Sale (CPS)

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The cost incurred per completed purchase.

Definition of Cost Per Sale (CPS)

Cost Per Sale (CPS), also known as Cost Per Purchase, is a performance-based pricing model where advertisers pay a publisher, affiliate, or ad network only when an advertisement directly results in a completed sale.

Unlike top-of-funnel metrics that charge for impressions or clicks, CPS guarantees that advertising budget is only spent on guaranteed revenue-generating actions. This makes it an incredibly low-risk, high-reward acquisition model for m-commerce apps, subscription services, and high-ticket mobile applications.

How to Calculate CPS

Calculating your Cost Per Sale determines exactly how much advertising spend is required to acquire one paying customer.

The CPS Formula:

CPS = Total Campaign Cost / Total Number of Sales Generated

Example: If a mobile retailer spends $5,000 on a Facebook ad campaign and it generates 200 completed purchases within the app, the calculation is: $5,000 / 200 = $25 CPS

CPS vs. CPI vs. CPA

While similar, these pricing models track completely different stages of the mobile marketing funnel.

Metric What it Stands For When is the Advertiser Charged? Best Used For
CPI Cost Per Install When a user downloads and opens the app for the first time. Growing a user base rapidly.
CPA Cost Per Action When a user completes a predefined post-install event (e.g., registration). Driving specific user engagement.
CPS Cost Per Sale Only when a financial transaction is completed. E-commerce and direct revenue generation.

Why CPS Matters for Mobile E-Commerce

For advertisers running e-commerce platforms or subscription-based apps, CPS is the ultimate indicator of profitability.

  • Guaranteed ROI: Because you only pay when a sale occurs, the risk of wasting budget on high-click, low-conversion traffic is entirely eliminated.
  • Affiliate Marketing: CPS is the backbone of affiliate marketing. Publishers are incentivized to send high-quality, high-intent traffic to your app because they only earn a commission if the user buys something.
  • Predictable Margins: As long as your CPS remains lower than your Average Order Value (AOV) minus your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), the campaign is profitable.

How Affise MMP Powers CPS Campaigns

Running a successful CPS campaign requires flawless tracking—publishers will not run your ads if they do not trust that their sales are being correctly attributed to them. Affise MMP is critical for this ecosystem:

  • Accurate Attribution: Affise deterministically links the final in-app purchase back to the exact affiliate link or ad click that drove the user to the app.
  • Deep Linking: Affise provides deep links that send users directly from an ad to the specific product page within the app, minimizing friction and maximizing the chance of a sale.
  • Fraud Prevention: Fraudsters often try to claim credit for organic sales using tactics like click spamming or cookie stuffing. Affise MMP’s anti-fraud tools block these attempts, ensuring you only pay out CPS commissions for genuinely driven sales.