Pay for actions, not impressions.
CPA advertising charges you when a defined action is completed and attributed to your campaign. The work is in defining the action and tracking it honestly before you spend.
One definition decides everything.
You pay when someone does the thing you asked them to do — not when the ad is shown, and not when it is clicked.
The action is whatever you define and can measure: a completed sign-up, an order, a submitted enquiry form, a verified registration. It has to be something a success page can confirm, and it has to be worth more to you than the price you set.
CPA is a poor fit if the action happens offline, days later, or in a system that cannot tell us it happened.
Where the action is confirmed.
These are different integrations with different readiness. We are not blending them into one promise.
Your own website
You place a small conversion tracking snippet on the page a customer reaches after completing the action — the thank-you page, the order confirmation, the submitted form.
When that page loads after an ad click, the action is recorded against the campaign. This is the path most advertisers use today.
- You control the success page.
- You can edit the page template.
- One action type per campaign to start.
Native YuSocial destinations
A separate integration is being prepared for campaigns that send people into YuSocial rather than an external website. It uses click attribution plus an authenticated server-to-server postback, so the action is confirmed by YuSocial rather than reported by a browser.
This is not available for general advertiser use yet. Its security review and live conversion validation are still to be completed, so we are not presenting it as production-ready.
From click to recorded action.
Four steps, and only the last one is billable.
- A reader clicks your adThe click is recorded against your campaign and carries a campaign reference through to your page.
- They complete the actionThey submit the form, place the order or sign up. Nothing is counted before this happens.
- Your success page loadsYour tracking code fires once and reports the action against that campaign reference.
- The action is recordedIt appears in campaign reporting as a recorded action. Duplicate reports for the same click are not counted twice.
Nothing on the reader's device decides the charge on its own: the action has to be reported by the tracking you installed and match the click that produced it.
What you need before launch.
Before you build the campaign
- Name the action“Newsletter sign-up” is an action. “Engagement” is not.
- Find the success pageThe page only the completer sees, not the form itself.
- Add the tracking codeYour developer places it in the page template or tag manager.
- Test it onceComplete the action yourself and confirm it appears in reporting before spending.
In plain language
Think of the tracking code as a turnstile at the end of the journey. The ad buys the visit; the turnstile counts the people who actually finished what you asked them to do.
If the turnstile is missing, the visit still happens but the action is never counted, and a CPA campaign will look like it is delivering nothing.
You do not need to understand the code to buy CPA. You do need someone who can add it once, correctly.
Where CPA stops being the answer.
When CPA is the wrong model
- No success page. If you cannot place tracking where the action completes, you cannot run CPA honestly.
- Very few actions a month. Low volume makes optimisation noisy and learning slow; CPC or CPM may buy you more information.
- A long consideration cycle. If the decision takes weeks, the click and the action stop lining up.
- Actions you cannot value. If you do not know what a lead is worth, you cannot set a defensible price.
CPA, answered without the acronyms.
Does CPA guarantee conversions?
No. It changes what you are charged for. Delivery still depends on your creative, audience, bid and the inventory available.
Can I run CPA without a developer?
Only if your site or form tool already exposes a success page and a place to add a tracking snippet. Most advertisers need one small technical step.
What stops a conversion being counted twice?
The action is matched to the click that produced it and recorded once. Duplicate reports for the same click are not charged again.
Can I use CPA for phone calls?
No. A call is not a recorded action on a success page. Use a click or impression model for call-focused campaigns.
Is the YuSocial integration available?
Not yet for general use. It is in controlled preparation and will be announced only after its security review and live validation are complete.
Run a performance campaign.
Define the action, install the tracking, test it once, then set the price you are willing to pay for a completed action.
