Cost per Trial Activated: Engaged Trial Acquisition Cost

Cost per Trial Activated measures the average advertising spend required to acquire one trial user who completes activation milestones.

Formula

Cost per Trial Activated = Channel Spend ÷ Trial Activated

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
Channel Spend	Total advertising spend across all channels
Trial Activated	Count of trial activation events

Metadata
Type	Currency
Data Source	Upstack Pixel
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your SaaS company spent $30,000 on acquisition in July, generating 1,200 activated trials.

Channel	Spend	Activated Trials	Cost/Activated
Google Ads	$12,000	560	$21.43
Meta	$10,000	400	$25.00
LinkedIn	$5,000	160	$31.25
Partnerships	$3,000	80	$37.50
Total	$30,000	1,200	$25.00

How It Works

The metric divides total advertising spend by the number of trial activation events tracked by the Upstack Pixel. This metric is more predictive of conversions than Cost per Trial Started because activated users have demonstrated genuine product engagement.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Measure acquisition quality	Compare to Cost per Trial Started
Optimize for engagement	Focus on channels with lower activated costs
Predict CAC	Activated trial cost × inverse conversion rate
Budget planning	Target activated trials, not just starts

Metric	Relationship
Trial Activated	The denominator in this calculation
Trial Activated Value	Revenue to compare against cost
Cost per Trial Started	Top-of-funnel cost comparison

See all Funnel Conversion metrics →