CTR (Click through rate)
What is CTR (Click through rate)?
CTR is the acronym for click-through rate (in Spanish it is usually translated as “ratio de click”). It is a metric widely used in digital marketing and bulk email sending that measures the percentage of clicks made on a specific link relative to the number of impressions or views of that link.
CTR takes as a reference the total number of clicks and impressions that a link received; unique users are not taken into account. Therefore, several of the clicks may come from the same user.
1. How do you calculate CTR?
CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks a link has received by the number of times that link has been viewed by users (impressions), and then multiplying the result by 100. The formula for calculating CTR is as follows:
CTR = (clicks / impressions) x 100
Let’s look at an example of CTR: after sending an email marketing campaign, we see that the link we placed in the newsletter got 70 clicks and that the email was opened 2,200 times, so the resulting CTR would be 3.33%.
CTR = (Clicks / Impressions) x 100 = (70 / 2100) x 100 = 3.33%
CTR is a basic metric and one of the most interesting KPIs in digital marketing. You have surely seen it in many places, from Google Ads metrics to Facebook Ads metrics, both of which report CTR data.
2. The importance of CTR
CTR is a very valuable KPI; a high CTR brings you benefits such as:
- It increases web traffic to your pages and landing pages, since the higher your CTR, the more visits your websites will get.
- It makes your advertising campaigns more profitable, since Google Ads and other platforms use the “Quality Score” metric (a measure of how much interest the ad generates among users). The percentage of clicks received is decisive for this score, which improves your ad ranking and makes clicks cheaper. A good CTR makes the same budget more profitable.
- It shows whether your ads are profitable, since clicks are a very clear indicator of the interest your ads generate.
3. Improve your ads’ CTR
There are several key aspects to consider if you want an ever-higher CTR in your ad campaigns. Try the ones that best fit your current marketing plan and measure your CTR as you test them:
– Continuously adjust your bids, regularly reviewing your bid amounts to stay at the top of the search results.
– Place a URL at the bottom of the ad, which will reinforce the weight of the keywords it contains.
– Keywords are everything for ranking, so use your main keywords in the ad title, in the ad body and in the URL that leads to your landing page.
– Use every type of extension available, since using many types of extensions makes your ads more relevant.
– Use irresistible copy, writing your ad so that it is appealing and includes a call to action.
– Keep an eye on the competition. A good way to improve your CTR is to look at your competitors’ best ads and take ideas from them to make your offer more effective.