Looking for maximum efficiency from your advertising campaign?

It probably goes without saying that digital advertising is an extremely competitive field. You know this very well, as well as the fact that to stay on top, you need to make the most of all the tools at your disposal and constantly improve them. By choosing to cooperate with the AdSEO team, you can be sure that the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns will be taken care of.

Even after creating the best strategy, you should not rest on your laurels - in order for it to work, you need to constantly monitor and analyze data. One of the most important tools to help you determine the effectiveness of your strategy is the CPM calculator. Find out what it is and how it can serve your marketing goals.

What is CPM?

Like most digital marketing terms, CPM is short for cost per mille or cost per thousand. This is a pricing term that refers to the cost per thousand ad impressions. At this point, it's important to pause and remember that impressions count every time we see advertising online, not when we click on it. So, CPM describes the price you pay when 1000 users see your ad.

CPM is calculated quite simply. You just need to know the cost of the campaign, divide it by the number of views and multiply by 1000 - or in other words, by the number of impressions, the price of which we are trying to find out. Imagine that you invested 10 euros and received 10 impressions, then we will calculate CPM according to the formula:

10/10000×1000= CPM 1 euro

Although CPM is not the most important indicator of a successful campaign, and your main goal remains conversions, analyzing it will help you allocate your budget more appropriately and optimize your campaign. A basic understanding of CPM will help you reach your target audience significantly cheaper, so understanding the dynamics behind this number will give you a huge advantage. 

What determines CPM?

Precisely because of its clarity and simplicity, CPM is a fairly common model for charging digital advertising. However, like all good things, it has its drawbacks. One of them is the volatility of this indicator, so for a more accurate interpretation of the data, it is necessary to understand what factors can lead to CPM fluctuations.

  • Holidays (not only major holidays like Christmas or Easter, but also Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc.)
  • Seasonality (end of financial year, big sales, January lull, etc.)
  • Political and social current affairs (which the pandemic has already perfectly demonstrated to us)

Don't be surprised to see CPMs shoot to record highs in December when the holiday shopping marathon kicks in, and then come January, when most go into savings mode, and they can drop off quite precipitously and remain in the shallows for a while.

We discussed changes in CPM caused by external factors. And what are your choices that contribute to good CPM calculator results?

  • Different channels (Google, Facebook, Instagram will offer different rates).
  • Target audience (the smaller the segment, the higher the CPM). Also, the demand and response of your audience plays an important role.
  • Impression frequency (how many times it is shown to the same audience).
  • Advertising quality and relevance, inclusiveness.
  • Advertising position (placement).

How to get the best CPM result?

If your CPM is higher than your competitors, it means you are paying more to reach the same audience. Such news is not really encouraging, but there are ways to change this situation.

1. Invest more in advertising quality

Although there are no magic recipes, believe me - if you pay more attention to ad design, content and other factors that promote engagement, you will soon notice results not only in CPM, but also in other indicators. Try different ad types and/or formats - maybe they will bring more interest.

2. Refine your audience

Choosing the right target audience is an important task for every campaign. If you can't achieve the desired result, test advertising with separate segments and you will find out the most effective combination.

3. Monitor impression frequency

High frequency indicators signal that the ad is not relevant, so its price rises. Your goal should be to constantly update your audience and leave only the unconverted part of it. Keep the impression frequency to 3 and don't forget to change the ad or audience when this number starts to rise.

What is a good CPM?

From what we discussed earlier, it is clear that CPM helps to measure the effectiveness of a campaign. It is always a good idea to preliminarily calculate the ideal CPM before the start of the campaign - then you will have a clear indicator to manage your budget, and you will also know how much money will be needed for testing. You'll track your numbers once your campaign starts, but you need to benchmark them against something to understand how effective they are. Therefore, a preliminary average of different channels will be useful for you:

  • Facebook News Feed Avg. 7.77 dollars
  • Marketplace $3,39
  • Right Hand placement $2,28
  • Audience Network $7,84
  • Messenger $7,15
  • Google Search Ads 38 dollars
  • Display Ads $2,40

There are cases when the CPM can be even higher, which means that your ad is working extremely well. It is imperative to test different platforms and hosting methods to find what works best for you.

How can a CPM calculator help us?

It would seem that calculating CPM is quite simple. So why is the online CPM calculator so popular? Because they make your life much easier! On the Internet, you can calculate the CPM of a single campaign or compare the effectiveness of several options, as well as derive one indicator from another, with lightning speed and accuracy. Some of the most popular CPM calculators are Omni Calculator, Click Z, WebFX - try them or find the best option for you.

Well of Impressions

Cost to the Advertiser

CPM