The only metric you need to track in advertising

When it comes to advertising, most business owners get caught up in too many numbers, reach, impressions, CTR, CPC. None of these really matter.

If you’re running a business that books calls or appointments and sells directly on those calls, there’s only one metric you should be tracking:

Cost Per Qualified Call.

Here’s why:

• Cost per lead can be misleading. If you only operate on leads (calling them directly), then yes, you need to track cost per qualified lead. But the true measure of whether your ad spend is working comes down to what it costs you to get someone on a qualified call.

• Example: Let’s say you sell a $5,000 service. You’re fine paying $250–$400 per qualified call because every call has the potential to bring in $5,000. Even if you only close 1 in 5, you’re still in profit.

• On the flip side, you could have the best CTR, tons of impressions, and a low CPC, but if your cost per qualified call is $800, the campaign isn’t working.

The math is simple:

• $5,000 offer.

• $250 per qualified call.

• Even with a modest close rate, you’re profitable.

That’s why cost per call is the only metric that matters 99% of the time. Everything else is secondary.

So keep it simple, track cost per qualified call, and let that decide whether you keep scaling or shut down a campaign.

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