What is CTR (Click-Through-Rate)?

The click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of the number of people who click on a specific link or call to action (also known as CTA, for example the 'Learn More' text on an email marketing campaign) to the number of times the link has been displayed to them (aka the number of impressions).

Let's break this down.

CTR = (click-throughs / impressions) x 100

For example, if 100 people see an online ad and 5 people click to learn more about the product, that ad has a CTR of 5%.

The CTR can be used to determine the success of pay-per-click search results, CTAs on landing pages, or hyperlinks in blog posts and emails.

Why CTR is important?

The CTR is a crucial metric for understanding your customers. Ultimately, it is one of the best indicators of what works (and what doesn’t work) when trying to reach your target audience.

A low CTR may indicate that you're not targeting the right audience or that your copy is not persuading them to click the link.

Tracking your CTR allows you to gain insight into the effectiveness of paid search, display and email marketing campaigns and can indicate the performance of ad copy, subject lines, and metadata (titles and descriptions).

What is a good CTR?

CTR varies between industries.

To determine your business's optimal click-through rate, you can research the average click-through rate for your industry. Knowing existing benchmarks and industry averages will help you take steps to improve CTR and reach your business's goals.