Does click-through rate actually matter?

Like, what does it tell you, and what does it get you?

Nielsen studied nearly 500 global campaigns and found… nada. Zip. Zilch.

Did CTR correlate with ad recall? Nope. Less than 1%, in fact.

How about brand awareness? Nope. Or purchase intent? Nope nope. Both less than 1%.

But surely ROI? Ha. ROI had a -0.07%correlation with CTR. 😂😂😂

Even Facebook knows this.

Yes this data is “old.” But things haven’t changed much.

In fact, the main thing that’s changed in 10 years is now upwards of 70%-80% of clicks are FRAUDULENT: bots or other “creative accounting.”

SO SOME LESSONS:

1. Don’t use CTR as a proxy for any other brand or sales metrics.

2. Maybe don’t buy online media based on the CTR.

3. Do the hard math to find out what makes ads effective for _your_ brand.