Click-through rate is the percentage of people who click a link out of those who saw it. You divide clicks by impressions and multiply by 100. CTR measures how compelling an ad, email, or search result is at earning the click, but not what happens after.

CTR tells you if your message earns attention, nothing more. A high CTR with low conversion means you are attracting clicks, but the wrong people, or the page does not deliver on the promise. Useful as an early diagnostic, useless as a success metric. Clicks do not pay invoices; customers do.

Example:

 An ad is shown 10,000 times and gets 200 clicks. CTR is 200 / 10,000 = 2%.

What is a good click-through rate?

 It varies widely by channel. Search ads might see 2 to 5%, display ads under 1%, and email campaigns 2 to 3%. Benchmark against your own channel history.

Does a high CTR mean a campaign is working?

 Not on its own. A high CTR that does not convert into customers signals a mismatch between the ad and the offer or audience.