The 4 KPIs That Tell You Everything About Your Ads

If you do not know these four numbers inside your ad account, you are burning cash.

Most dashboards are bloated, noisy, and confusing. Franchisees do not have time to study 20 different metrics or guess what matters. The good news is this: if you focus on four core KPIs, you can understand the full story of your ads and know exactly what to fix to lower your cost per lead.

In this guide, I will walk through the four KPIs we track across all our client accounts at 5th Element Media, what they mean, how they work together, and how to improve each one.

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1. The Four KPIs That Tell the Whole Story

You do not need twenty metrics. You need four:

• CTR – Click Through Rate
• CPC – Cost Per Click
• CVR – Conversion Rate
• CPL – Cost Per Lead

If you know these four, you can diagnose almost any performance problem.

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CTR: Click Through Rate

CTR is the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it.

Formula: Clicks ÷ Impressions

If your ad gets 100 impressions and 2 clicks, your CTR is 2 percent.

On Meta, for most franchise and local campaigns, a healthy CTR is usually in the 1 to 2 percent range over time. Higher is better. If CTR is low, people are not interested enough in your ad to even click.

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CPC: Cost Per Click

CPC is how much you pay on average for each click.

Formula: Amount Spent ÷ Clicks

If you spend 100 dollars and get 100 clicks, your CPC is 1 dollar.

For most franchises we work with, a healthy CPC on Meta is usually between 1 and 2 dollars. If CPC is too high, you are paying a premium just to get traffic to your form or landing page.

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CVR: Conversion Rate

Here we are talking about the percentage of clicks that become leads.

Formula: Leads ÷ Clicks

If you get 10 leads from 100 clicks, your CVR is 10 percent.

This metric measures how well your landing page or instant form is doing its job. Is it clear, simple, and convincing enough for someone to fill it out?

Rough ranges we see:

• Around 5 percent is common
• Around 10 percent is strong
• Instant forms often convert higher but may have lower lead quality
• Landing pages often convert lower but can bring stronger intent

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CPL: Cost Per Lead

CPL is the outcome that everyone obsesses over.

Formula: Amount Spent ÷ Leads

If you spend 100 dollars and get 10 leads, your CPL is 10 dollars.

Here is the key idea:
CTR, CPC, and CVR are the levers. CPL is the result.

If CPL is too high, it is almost always because one or more of those three metrics is underperforming.

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2. How These Four Metrics Form a Funnel

Think of the four KPIs as a simple funnel:

1. CTR at the top - How many people move from impression to click.
2. CPC next - How much you pay to get those clicks.
3. CVR next - How many of those clicks actually become leads.
4. CPL at the bottom - The final cost you pay per lead.

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If something breaks at the top, it affects everything below it.

• Low CTR means fewer people even reach your form or landing page
• High CPC means every visit costs too much
• Low CVR means you are wasting good clicks on a weak page or form

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CPL simply reflects how healthy the rest of the funnel is.

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3. How To Improve CTR

CTR is all about how attractive and relevant your ad is to the person scrolling.

Here are concrete ways to improve it:

Run video ads in your lead gen campaigns
Video lets you communicate more context and emotion in the same impression.

Improve your hook
The first 1 to 2 seconds decide everything. Call out your audience, their problem, or a specific benefit right away.

Localize your creative
Add location directly in the creative or script.
Example:
“Salon suites now available in Temecula, California”
“Premier EMS training in Pembroke Pines”

Speak directly to your avatar
Talk the way they talk. Use their language, their goals, and their pain points.

Give a clear call to action
Tell viewers exactly what to do.
Example:
“Tap Learn More to book your tour”
“Click below to claim your first session”

Stronger hooks, local relevance, and crystal clear next steps almost always increase CTR.

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4. How To Improve CPC

CPC is tied closely to CTR, but it is not identical. You can have a decent CTR and still pay too much per click if your CPM is high or your targeting is off.

Here is how to lower CPC:

First, lift CTR
Most of the time, a high CPC is caused by a weak CTR. Higher CTR tells the platform “people like this ad,” and the algorithm rewards you with cheaper clicks.

Tighten audience congruence
Talk specifically to the people you want.
Example: barbers in Austin, postpartum moms in a five mile radius, busy professionals who want faster workouts.

Use a clear call to action
Do not leave people guessing. The more decisive the CTA, the more intentional the clicks.

Check your CPM and frequency

• If CPM is very high, something about the ad or audience is off
• If frequency is extremely high, your audience may be fatigued and you need fresh creative or a new audience

In simple terms: better targeting and more compelling creative usually pull CPC back into a healthy range.

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5. How To Improve CVR

CVR is where a lot of ad accounts quietly fail. You might be getting plenty of clicks, but the page or form is not converting them into leads.

Here are practical ways to improve CVR:

Match the headline to the ad promise
If your ad offers “Move-in ready salon suites in Boca Raton,” your form or page should repeat that clearly at the top.

Use one clear CTA and keep it above the fold
Do not make people scroll to figure out what to do.
Example: simple headline, 2 to 3 bullet benefits, one button or form.

Remove distractions
On landing pages, remove extra navigation, multiple offers, or unnecessary links that pull people away from the form.

Add proof near the form
Short testimonials, screenshots, or simple proof points increase trust.
Example: “Over 70 local professionals have already joined” or a short client quote.

Choose the right destination If you are struggling and just need volume, test instant forms. If you need stronger intent, tune a landing page.

• Instant forms: higher conversion rate, often lower intent
• Landing pages: slightly lower conversion rate, often higher intent

Localize the form or page
Include the city or neighborhood clearly. People want to know it is actually relevant to them.

Ask one medium or high intent qualifying question
Example:
“When are you looking to move in?”
“How long have you been a licensed beauty professional?”
“What is your primary fitness goal?”

This gives your sales team context and can actually increase conversion, because serious leads are comfortable answering simple but meaningful questions.

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6. How To Improve CPL

By now you can see that CPL is not something you directly “fix.”
You improve CPL by:

• Increasing CTR
• Lowering CPC
• Increasing CVR

Here is the order we usually work in:

1. Fix the creative and hook if CTR is low
2. Fix targeting and messaging if CPC is high
3. Fix form or landing page if CVR is low
4. Then evaluate CPL once those three are healthier

A high CPL almost always points back to one of the three levers above underperforming.

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7. How To Track These Four KPIs Without Getting Overwhelmed

You do not need fancy software to start. You just need a consistent place to track your numbers.

You have two simple options:

Option 1: Use Meta Ads Manager

• Go into your Ads Manager
• Click “Columns” and choose “Customize”
• Add these metrics:
  • CTR
  • CPC
  • Results (leads)
  • Cost per result (CPL)
  • Clicks
  • Landing page views or form opens (optional)

Save that as a custom view so you can pull it up every time.

Option 2: Use a Simple Weekly Sheet or Dashboard

At 5th Element Media, we plug numbers into:

• A simple automated report for quick weekly checks
• Dashboards in tools like AgencyAnalytics and Looker Studio for deeper views and franchisor roll ups

You can do a lightweight version:

Once per week, write down:

• Amount spent
• Clicks
• Leads

Then calculate:

• CTR
• CPC
• CVR
• CPL

In one place, week after week. That is all you need to start making smarter decisions.

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Closing And Offer

You do not need to memorize every metric in the ad platform. If you consistently track CTR, CPC, CVR, and CPL, you will understand what is actually happening inside your campaigns and what to fix next.

Recap:

1. CTR tells you how strong your creative and hook are
2. CPC tells you how much traffic costs
3. CVR tells you how well you convert that traffic
4. CPL tells you the final outcome

If one of those is off, you know exactly where to focus.

If you want help, we offer a free Metrics Makeover.

Send us your four KPIs and we will send back a one page action plan that shows you how to lower your CPL and improve performance. From there, you can run with it or bring us in to build the full system.

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