What does click thru rate mean? Understanding CTR for PPC ads

Takeaways:

• Click Thru Rate (CTR) is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks on an ad by the total number of impressions the ad gets.
• The average CTR varies by ad platform and industry.
• You can use conversion copywriting techniques to improve your CTR and the performance of your ads.

When it comes to marketing, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are important.

Without KPIs, it’s difficult to know if our marketing methods are working. Are they actually yielding the desired results?

Without KPIs, everything becomes a guessing game.

One essential KPI for conversion copywriters is Click Thru Rate (CTR).

When marketers use the term Click Thru Rate (CTR), they’re often talking about CTR for PPC (pay-per-click) ads.

In this post, we’ll be focusing on CTR for ads.

You can read this post if you want to learn more about email CTR.

How is Click Thru Rate calculated?

Click Thru Rate is usually written as a percentage.

There’s an easy way to calculate the Click Thru Rate for an ad or web page.

The CTR is calculated by taking the total number of clicks on an ad, dividing it by the total number of impressions of the ad, then multiplying that number by 100.

Here’s an example for you.

Let’s say an ad gets 1,200 views (impressions), and 100 people click the CTA in the ad.

To calculate the CTR for that ad, we would divide 20 by 1,200, then multiply by 100.

(100 clicks / 1,200 impressions ) x 100 = 8.3%

8.3% would be a ridiculously impressive CTR, by the way! But we’ll talk more about average CTR and normal CTRs later.

Why is it important to pay attention to your Click Thru Rate?

As I mentioned earlier, the CTR is an important KPI when assessing the effectiveness of an ad.

The goal of an ad is to get the viewer to click, so if you have a low CTR, your ad is not achieving its objective.

But, Anna, how do we determine if a CTR is low?

That’s a great question. And the answer is ‘averages.’

While averages don’t apply to everyone, they often give us an idea of what is standard or acceptable.

For comparison, it’s good to know what the CTR averages are by ad type and industry.

So let’s dive in.

Based on data what is an average CTR?

There’s no such thing as a single average CTR.

The number will vary by ad type and by industry.

Here’s some insight into CTR averages based on a few popular PPC ad types.

CTR average for Google Ads

When it comes to Google ads, search ads consistently have higher CTR averages than Google Display Network (GDN) ads.

“Across all industries, the average CTR for a [Google] search ad is 1.91% and 0.35% for a [Google] display ad.”

Hubspot blog

The Dating and Personals category enjoys the highest average CTR for Google search ads — 3.40% — while Industrial Services has the lowest at 1.40%.

CTR average for Facebook ads

The Pets and Animals category enjoys the highest CTR average for Facebook ads — 1.68%, while Science has the lowest at 0.45%. The overall average CTR across industries for Facebook ads is 0.89%.

CTR average for Amazon ads

Amazon is an eCommerce marketplace, so the CTR data available for the platform is specific to that industry.

Based on data from AdBadger, an Amazon PPC ad management software company, Amazon’s CTR average is 0.41%.

How can you improve a low Click Thru Rate?

There may be several reasons why an ad performs poorly and has a low CTR. And it’s not always about the copy.

Three of the most common reasons for a low CTR are:

• Poor image choice (The wrong images or graphics can impact the performance of your ad)
• Poorly written copy (Your ad copy isn’t connecting with your reader)
• Poor targeting (Your ad isn’t being shown to the right audience, or you selected the wrong keywords)
• Poor placement (Your ad is placed somewhere on the screen where viewers don’t usually look or click)

Since we’re copywriters, the advice we share in this post will focus on improving your ad copy to improve your CTR.

Effective conversion copywriting can go a long way in improving the CTR of your PPC ad campaign.

Two quick tips to improve your CTR with conversion copywriting

1. Know your target audience

This is rule number one for conversion copywriting. And it’s critical for creating ads that convert.

Knowing your target audience — their challenges, desires, fears, and wants — makes it easier to write copy that connects. And the best way to do this is to do your research before you start writing.

2. Be clear over clever

Clarity is important, especially with PPC ad copy.

You only have a limited time to grab your prospects’ attention and convince them to click your ad. So aim for clarity.

Here are a few tips from Joanna Wiebe on how to improve clarity:

• One adjective to describe something
• One benefit per sentence
• One takeaway for the whole ad

This Tutorial Tuesday training gives some easy-to-action tips. Implement them to improve your ad copy and increase your CTR.

Armed with these 2 tips, you’re ready to work on improving your ad copy.

And better ad copy can go a long way in improving your CTR.

The Conversion Copywriting 101 course from Copyhackers is a solid introduction to conversion copywriting. There’s also a lesson on writing ads, so it’s a great resource to help improve your ad copy.

Sign up here to get started for free.