CPC (Cost Per Click)

What is CPC?

CPC is the average cost of a single ad click (ad spend ÷ clicks), and in health it is best read as a diagnostic rather than a target, because the cheapest click is often the most expensive one once it fails to start intake.

The formula and a worked example

CPC = ad spend ÷ clicks. It is really CPM and click-through rolled together, since CPC ≈ CPM ÷ (1,000 × CTR), which is why reading it next to CPM tells you far more than the number alone. Work an example with round, illustrative numbers. An ad set spends $2,000 for 1,540 clicks, so CPC is about $1.30. Hold spend and reach steady but let click-through slip, and the same $2,000 buys fewer clicks, pushing CPC up even though the auction never got more expensive.

Read CPC against CPM to find the cause

That split is why CPC is a symptom to interpret, not a dial to force down: the same rising CPC calls for opposite responses depending on what CPM is doing underneath it.

The CTR bar that keeps CPC workable

Across AdBoost Health partner accounts, cold-traffic outbound CTR above roughly 1.2% is the bar that keeps CPCs workable in the restricted health auctions, where thin creative volume and claims limits already push costs up. Below that, you are paying for reach the creative never turns into clicks, and CPC climbs as the platform charges more to place an ad people scroll past. Because CTR is the lever, the durable fix for a bad CPC is almost always a stronger hook rate and better creative, not a lower bid.

Why it matters for health and DTC brands

A cheap click that never starts intake is the most expensive click in health, so CPC only means something next to what happens after the click. Per industry benchmark data, Meta health CPCs run about $1.30 while Google health and fitness CPCs sit near $5.00, yet a $5 Google click on a high-intent prescription search can still beat a $1.30 Meta click on CAC, because intent, not click price, decides how many clicks reach a completed intake. Judge CPC by the CAC and conversion rate it ultimately produces, and read it beside CPM to separate the cost of reach from the cost of a click. Model how click cost flows through to acquisition cost with the CAC calculator.

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