Campaign performance calculator: questions and guides

Each guide here answers one question with a practical example, then takes you to the tool to try it yourself. Guides: 19.

Questions

How to calculate CTR, CPC and CPA for your campaignWhat click-through rate, cost per click and cost per acquisition mean, how to work them out from your ad report, and when the cheapest click is really the most expensive.
The calculator warns that my clicks are higher than my impressions: did I copy the report wrong?The clicks-over-impressions warning almost always means the two figures came from different rows or date ranges. Find the mistake and see which metrics it broke.
Why is my conversion rate above 100% when conversions are higher than clicks?View-through and repeat conversions can push conversions above clicks. What a conversion rate over 100% means, and which figure to use for cost per order.
My Snapchat campaign is for reach, not sales: how do I calculate CPM and compare two creatives on it?When a campaign is about reach, not sales, CPM is the fair yardstick. A worked example comparing two Snapchat creatives that ran on the same budget.
Why is my conversion rate here different from the one Shopify analytics shows?The calculator divides conversions by ad clicks; store analytics usually divide orders by sessions. See the gap in a worked example and learn to compare like with like.
My campaign brought no orders: why is cost per conversion shown as undefined and not zero?With zero conversions, spend cannot be divided by them, and a zero would suggest free orders. What still gets calculated, and how to report a campaign that sold nothing.
My Instagram ads report shows both link clicks and all clicks: which one should I enter?All clicks include profile taps, photo opens and 'see more'; only link clicks reach your store. See how the choice moves CTR, CPC and conversion rate.
One ad has double the click-through rate of another but both brought the same number of orders: which is actually better?Two ads with the same spend and orders, one with twice the click-through rate. A worked example shows why their CPA is identical and what CTR is really telling you.
My ad opens a WhatsApp chat: how do I work out the cost per conversation and the cost per real order?The platform only sees a chat starting; the sale happens inside WhatsApp. Work out cost per conversation, cost per order and how many chats close, with real numbers.
What is the highest cost per order from ads I can afford before I start losing money?Your CPA ceiling is your profit per order before advertising. Work it out, check your real CPA against it, and see how many orders get you under.
My ad gets plenty of clicks but hardly anyone buys: what do the numbers reveal about where the problem is?A strong CTR next to a weak conversion rate usually means the problem is after the click, not in the ad. How to read both figures and what to check on your page.
My Meta ad account bills in USD but I think in AED: which currency should the spend be in?CPC, CPM and CPA inherit the spend's currency; CTR and conversion rate have none. Why mixing USD spend with AED prices makes your CPA look impossibly cheap.
Google Ads shows fractional conversions like 12.4: why does the calculator ask for whole numbers?Some attribution models split one sale across several ads, giving fractional conversions. What to enter in the calculator, and how far rounding moves CPA on small counts.
My TikTok campaign goal is store visits: which of the five metrics should I watch, CPM, CPC or CPA?Judge a campaign by what its objective pays for: reach by CPM, traffic by CPC and CTR, sales by CPA. A worked example from a TikTok traffic campaign.
I manage ads for clients: is it safe to put their campaign numbers into this calculator?For freelancers and agencies: no ad-account connection, no upload, calculated in your browser. What you actually enter, and what stays your responsibility to the client.
I averaged the CTRs of my two ad sets, so why does it not match the campaign's overall CTR?A simple average gives a small ad set the same weight as a large one. Add up the raw totals first, then calculate: a worked example for CTR, CPC and CPA.
I tested an ad with a small budget and got only 3 clicks: why should I not trust the rates from such small numbers?With tiny counts, one click or one order swings every rate. A worked example shows CTR and CPA flipping on a single event, and what to do before judging the ad.
My report shows both reach and impressions: which goes in the impressions field, and what changes if I use reach?Reach counts people; impressions count views. Enter reach instead and CTR and CPM both rise by roughly the frequency. A worked example with the same campaign.
As a freelance marketer, how do I produce a clean monthly metrics summary for a client from raw platform totals?For freelance marketers: turn four raw platform totals into five consistently defined metrics, formulas included, with month-on-month comparison and warnings kept in.