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Click Through Rate (CTR)

Metric

Definition

The percentage of people who click on a link, ad, or call-to-action after seeing it.

Related Knowledge

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CTR=ClicksImpressions×100\text{CTR} = \frac{\text{Clicks}}{\text{Impressions}} \times 100

Why CTR matters

  • It dictates your costs
    1. High CTR signals to the platform algorithm that your content is relevant.
    2. Reward: lower CPC (Cost per Click) and lower CPM (Cost per Mille).
    3. Growth impact: better CTR → cheaper traffic → lower CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost).
  • It validates audience–message fit
    1. Low CTR usually means:
      • The creative is not compelling or
      • You are showing a strong ad to the wrong audience.
  • It scales volume
    1. Improving CTR from 1% to 2% effectively doubles your traffic without increasing spend on impressions.

    • Important caveat

    High CTR ≠ high growth
    Always pair CTR analysis with Conversion Rate (CVR).

    A campaign can have great CTR but poor CVR, leading to wasted clicks and higher CAC.

    Typical “good” CTR benchmarks

  • Google Search
    • 3%–5%+, higher for branded keywords.
  • Facebook / Instagram
    • Roughly 0.8%–1.5%.
  • Email marketing
    • Around 2%–5% on average, depending on industry.
  • Display / programmatic
    • Very low by nature: about 0.05%–0.1%.
  • Organic search results
    • Varies strongly by position.
    • Position 1 on Google averages around 27%.
    • Position 10 drops to roughly 2.5%.