CPC vs CPM Tester
CPC vs CPM Tester
CPC campaigns are an effective and easy to understand method to drive traffic to a webpage. Once you know where to find clicks, however, CPM campaigns can often become a more cost-effective solution. The trick is finding this tipping point where running a CPM campaign will get you the same/more clicks for less money than a CPC campaign.
Our CPC vs CPM tester does just that. Enter the statistics of your campaign below to see if you should switch to a CPM campaign or keep going with a CPC campaign.
CPC vs CPM Tester
Enter your stats in all three of the below boxes – get these stats from your campaign management platform.
Notes:
- I would not recommend consider switching to CPC until you have run at least 10,000 ad impressions, or the results might not be stable yet.
The “When to switch from CPC to CPM” Equation
To do this is simple. First, multiply your CTR by 10 then multiple it by your average CPC. The amount that comes out is the amount you are effectively paying in CPM terms (or your eCPM). If you can get CPM advertising at a rate below that, then you should try it out.
Here’s the maths bit:
Switch to a CPM campaign if you can pay a lower CPM than your CPC x CTR x10
WARNING: CPM advertising is mainly used for brand campaigns (and not performance advertising), so this may not work out for you. This is because on a CPC campaign, whoever you are advertising with will focus on delivering clicks. This means that it is in their interest to deliver the clicks that you booked, and so they will optimise at their end towards clicks.
With a CPM campaign, there is no guarantee of clicks. There is no guarantee of anything, in fact, so your campaign may not be optimised at all. However, whoever you are advertising with will want to get repeat business from you, so it is likely they will try to ensure at least reasonable performance.
If you have a relationship with your salesperson you should tell them your CTR goal (which is your current CTR or better), and make them promise to hit it. Their promise won’t mean much contractually, but you will be able to complain to them if they don’t hit it, which in turn will make them do something about it (probably).
If you are using an ad platform where you have no personal relationship with the company running your ad, simply keep a close eye on it. Perhaps start running a CPM campaign alongside your CPC campaign and see how it does. Whatever you do, make sure you keep optimising your campaigns.
