Enter impressions, clicks, spend and conversions to get every standard advertising metric at once. Useful for checking a platform report, comparing two campaigns on the same basis, or working out a missing figure from the ones you have.
What each metric actually tells you
- CTR measures whether your creative and targeting match. A low CTR usually means the ad is reaching people it should not, rather than that the ad is bad.
- CPC is what the auction charges you per visitor. It is driven by competition and by your relevance scores.
- CPM is the cost of a thousand impressions. Useful for brand campaigns and for comparing placements where clicks are not the goal.
- CPA is cost per acquisition, and it is the metric that decides profitability. It combines everything upstream into one number.
- Conversion rate isolates the landing page. If CTR is strong and conversion rate is weak, the problem is after the click, not in the ad.
Diagnosing from the pattern
The combination of metrics tells you more than any one alone, and it points at what to fix.
- Low CTR, good conversion rate. The offer works for the right people, but you are showing it to the wrong audience. Tighten targeting.
- High CTR, low conversion rate. The ad promises something the landing page does not deliver. Usually a message-match problem.
- Good CTR and conversion, high CPA. Your click costs are too high for the economics. Either the auction is competitive or your order value is too low to support it.
- Everything acceptable, no profit. Check margin rather than the campaign. A profitable-looking ROAS can still lose money on a thin margin.
To test that last case properly, the ROAS simulator compares your return against the break-even point your margin sets.
A caution on attribution
Conversions reported by an ad platform are usually higher than conversions reported by your own analytics, because platforms count view-through conversions and attribute generously to themselves. Two platforms will often both claim the same sale.
Use one source of truth for the conversion figure, preferably your own backend, and compare campaigns on that basis rather than on platform-reported numbers.