Today, we’re going to make it extremely easy for you to understand exactly what is CTR, or also known as click-through rate.
But that’s not all.
We’re also going to teach you why CTR is important, what CTR average you should aim for at a minimum.
And at the end of this post, a few easy-to-implement tips and tricks we use to skyrocket our CTR on Google Ads and Facebook Ads, regardless of industry, such as:
Example 1:
More than double the industry average CTR – meaning more than double as many clicks than the competition.
Example 2:
More than 3 times the industry average CTR meaning 3x more clicks than the competition.
So you definitely want to read until the end of this post.
And if you’re asking, “What if I’m new to marketing and advertising? Is this too advanced for me?”
The best part is that ANYONE CAN LEARN THIS. You don’t need to be a marketing guru to understand and master CTR to get more clicks on your ads.
Takeaways
- CTR is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks you received by the number of times your ad was shown.
- The average click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads across all industries is 0.90%.
- You never know what will work and what won’t work in your ads until you try it – so test everything.
Why is CTR important? Here are 3 big reasons!
- Having a high CTR is important to all businesses because you want to get potential customers from seeing your ad to actually making a purchase. The more clicks you get, the higher your chances of making a sale.
- CTR is important because it directly impacts your performance and costs on advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google. When running ads on Facebook and Google, the higher your CTR, the cheaper your clicks. And who doesn’t like cheap clicks? Just like us, we know you do.
- Last but not least, CTR is important because it is a reflection of your Google or Facebook advertising strategy.
If your CTR is low, your ads are simply not relevant to your target audience.
BUT, don’t worry. We’re going to uncover a few proven strategies to help you increase your CTR by the end of this post.
If you are not actively monitoring your CTR, you are missing the opportunity to measure and analyze your ads and audience…
…to be more effective at moving potential customers from simply being aware of your brand to actually clicking and engaging.
What is CTR?
So, what is CTR or click-through rate? It is simply the percentage of people who clicked your ad after seeing it.
CTR is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks you received by the number of times you ad was shown.
Example #1: If your ad reached 1000 people (impressions) and 20 people clicked, you would have a CTR of 2%.
In other words, CTR is a measure of how helpful and relevant your ads are….
…and as mentioned earlier, we’re going to share some game changing tips to help you skyrocket your CTR. More on that later.
When running ads on Google, each of your ads and keywords will have their own CTRs that you can measure.
On Facebook, each Ad that you run will have it’s own CTR as well.
Example #2: Two businesses put up an ad.
Which ad is performing better in terms of CTR?
1. Business ABC
- 1500 Impression
- 4% CTR
2. Business xyz
- 2800 impressions
- 2% CTR
If you guessed business ABC, you are correct.
You see, even though more people saw Business XYZ’s Ads, Business ABC actually had a higher CTR meaning they got more clicks, FOR A CHEAPER PRICE than Business B.
What Averages to Aim For?
CTR is like a credit score.
With a credit score, the higher your score, the more money you can get at a cheaper cost.
The same is true for CTR, the higher your CTR, the more clicks you can get at a cheaper cost.
In addition, like a credit score, it is a good practice to have a relative CTR benchmark so you know if you are average, below average, or above average.
So, we took a look at the average click-through rates on Facebook and Google Ads to get an idea of what average is as you look across different industries.
Facebook Ads Average CTR
Let’s look at Facebook first.
What we notice is that the average click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads across all industries is 0.90%.
This means that for every 101 people that see your ad, roughly 1 person clicks.
Based on data, the industries with the highest average CTRs are:
- Legal
- Retail
- Beauty
- Apparel
Legal is a surprise to us but Retail, Beauty, and Apparel makes sense as they are very aesthetically appealing and sales driven industries.
The lowest average CTRs are associated with the:
- Employment & Job Training
- Finance & Insurance
- B2B industries
Some might call these industries “boring” which may be the reason for the low CTR for these industries.
Nonetheless, use these numbers as a benchmark on Facebook to gauge your performance against others in your same industry.
INDUSTRY | AVERAGE CTR |
Apparel | 1.24% |
Auto | 0.80% |
B2B | 0.78% |
Beauty | 1.16% |
Consumer Services | 0.62% |
Education | 0.73% |
Employment & Job Training | 0.47% |
Finance & Insurance | 0.56% |
Fitness | 1.01% |
Home Improvement | 0.70% |
Healthcare | 0.83% |
Industrial Services | 0.71% |
Legal | 1.61% |
Real Estate | 0.99% |
Retail | 1.59% |
Technology | 1.04% |
Travel & Hospitality | 0.90% |
Google Ads Average CTR
Now, let’s take a look at the average CTRs on Google Ads, formerly Google AdWords:
Immediately you will notice that these CTR averages are higher than Facebook with a 3.17% average click-through rate across all industries for Google Search Ads.
This makes perfect sense as Google Ads are driven by search intent which means users are actively searching for something.
On the other hand, Facebook is more of a pattern interrupt…
… where the ads are attempting to convince users that they need something they were likely not thinking about at the moment while scrolling on Facebook.
Industries that see high clickthrough rates on Google Search Ads include:
- Dating
- Advocacy
- Auto
- Travel
All these industries are driven by emotion.
In contrast:
- Technology
- B2B
- Consumer services
…have some of the lowest CTR rates on Google Search ads – once again likely due to their stigma of not being sexy or exciting industries.
We would like to mention that whether your industry average is high or low relative to other industries is not what is important.
The key here is to use the data to benchmark for your own ad CTR to understand how your performance stacks up against your competition.
INDUSTRY | AVERAGE CTR (Search) | AVERAGE CTR (GDN) |
Advocacy | 4.41% | 0.59% |
Auto | 4.00% | 0.60% |
B2B | 2.41% | 0.46% |
Consumer Services | 2.41% | 0.51% |
Dating & Personals | 6.05% | 0.72% |
E-commerce | 2.69% | 0.51% |
Education | 3.78% | 0.53% |
Employment Services | 2.42% | 0.59% |
Finance & Insurance | 2.91% | 0.52% |
Health & Medical | 3.27% | 0.59% |
Home Goods | 2.44% | 0.49% |
Industrial Services | 2.61% | 0.50% |
Legal | 2.93% | 0.59% |
Real Estate | 3.71% | 1.08% |
Technology | 2.09% | 0.39% |
Travel & Hospitality | 4.68% | 0.47% |
While average is… well average. Here at LYFE, we actually have set our benchmarks CTR above average, regardless of industry.
Take a look at our CTR minimums here:
- Facebook Ads CTR: 2% or higher
- Google Search Ads CTR: 4%or higher
In most cases, we blow our own internal averages out of the water as we have a few CTR tips and tricks up our marketing sleeves that help to make our Ads irresistible.
And as promised, let’s talk about those easy-to-implement tips & tricks to skyrocket your own click-through rates
Easy To Implement Tips & Tricks To Skyrocket Your CTRs
There are a ton of ways to increase your CTRs but the ones we are going to tell you are the high-level tips that will help move the needle for you in terms of your CTRs.
Let’s dive in.
1. Use the G&P Method for Higher CTRs
A trap that many businesses fall in when writing ad copy is the trap of talking about themselves.
They do this because they want to build trust with their audience by telling their brand story, and listing accolades.
We get it.
While trust is important, what your audience cares about first and foremost is finding a solution to their problem.
Therefore, when writing ad copy, FIRST speak to what we call your audience’s G&P:
Goals and Pain Points, if you want to increase your CTR.
A goal is something that your audience wants to accomplish.
A pain point is the troubling issues/challenges that motivate your audience to seek a solution.
Let’s use a not-so-sexy industry and see how we can use the G&P method to pull out goals and pain points to use in your Ads to increase your CTRs.
Let’s use Car Insurance.
The goals of someone looking for car insurance might be the following:
- A quick quote and setup process if I decide to become a customer
- Support incase I need to submit a claim
- Cheaper price than my current insurance
Pain points of someone looking for car insurance might be:
- Having to call, wait, and speak to someone over the phone
- Feeling like I am overcharged
- Fears of my rate increasing just because
- Signing up for more than I need
Now that we have our list, we would sprinkle some or all of these in our ad copy so it speaks directly to our audience’s needs.
A company who does this well is Root Car Insurance.
Their Facebook ad actually touches on every G&P we mentioned above. Take a look at their Ad here:
It’s clear that they know how to relate to their customers and get clicks.
2. Use Power Words for Higher CTRs
Believe it or not, there are certain words in the English language, that when used help to drive action.
In fact, according to studies, these are the top 5:
- You
- Because
- Instantly
- New
- And our favorite: Free
And frankly, we can see why!
The word “You” makes the ad personal.
The word Because gives a reason for something.
The word Instantly satisfies our need for instant gratification.
The word New gives off the feeling that it is also better.
And the word Free… Well who doesn’t like free things?
When writing your ad copy, feel free to use these power words, when applicable of course, to get higher CTRs and more clicks on your ads.
A quick note that while “You” is a power word, Facebook doesn’t like it so much and typically rejects ads that use it! So, use “You” on Google Ads.
3. Test Many Different Ad Variations for Higher CTRS
Ever heard of the term, “don’t knock it until you try it?” The premise here is that you don’t know what is good and what is bad until you give it a chance.
The same is true for your ads. You never know what will work and what won’t work in your ads until you try it – so test everything.
Test videos vs still images.
Test long copy vs short copy.
Test appealing to different emotions such as fear vs joy.
Test different extensions and call-to-actions.
Test one audience against another.
TEST. TEST. TEST… and then TEST some more.
Sales people say Never Stop Closing. Those who get high CTRs say Never Stop Testing.
Conclusion
In summary, CTR is a measure of how helpful and relevant your ads are…
…and is something worth tracking and optimizing for to help get more clicks on your ads and ultimately more sales.
With the steps mentioned, you are well on your way to above-average CTRs.
But if you want guaranteed, positive results from your Ads- whether they are on Facebook or Google Ads, our team of experts will help you out. Contact us today.