The KPIs That Matter
Six metrics tell you almost everything about a campaign's health. Learn what each one means and roughly what “good” looks like, and a wall of numbers turns into a clear story.
By the end of this lesson you'll know
- What CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA, ROAS and frequency mean
- Rough India benchmarks for each
- Why benchmarks are guardrails, not goals
- The one number that beats all the others
The six core metrics
| Metric | What it tells you | Rough India range |
|---|---|---|
| CPM | Cost per 1,000 impressions — how pricey your reach is | ₹50–90 |
| CTR | % who click — how well creative + audience connect | ~1%+ (1.5%+ strong) |
| CPC | Cost per click — price of each visit | ₹8–18 |
| CPA / cost per result | Cost per lead or purchase — the business number | CPL ~₹150–400 |
| ROAS | Revenue per rupee spent (for sales) | 3–5x good; 8x+ excellent |
| Frequency | Avg times one person saw your ad | Keep under ~3 |
These are rough India ranges — they swing enormously by industry, offer and season. India is one of the cheapest Meta markets in the world (often 70–85% below global costs), which is good news for local advertisers.
A benchmark helps you spot a problem early — it doesn't decide success. A ₹300 click that lands a ₹50,000 client is a bargain; a ₹5 click that never converts is expensive noise. Always judge against your margins and customer value, not a chart.
The one number that beats the rest
If you track nothing else, track cost per result against what a result is worth to you. Everything upstream — CPM, CTR, CPC — is a diagnostic on the way to that number. For sellers, the profit-aware version is even better: work out your break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ your profit margin, and aim comfortably above it.
How the metrics relate
They form a chain: CPM sets what reach costs, CTR turns reach into clicks, CPC is the result of those two, and conversion rate turns clicks into results (your CPA). When your cost per result is high, this chain tells you where it broke — which is exactly the next lesson.
Frequency creeping past ~3 is your earliest warning of fatigue — the same people are seeing your ad too often, and CTR will soon fall while costs rise. It's a signal to refresh creative before performance slips.
If you run ads in both India and, say, the US in one ad set, the cheaper market dominates and distorts every average. Split materially different geographies into separate campaigns so each reads cleanly.
Key takeaways
- Six KPIs: CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA/cost per result, ROAS, frequency.
- India is a low-cost market; use the rough ranges as guardrails only.
- Judge by cost per result vs value, and use break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ margin.
- Watch frequency for fatigue and split unlike geographies.