Definition
Frequency is the average number of times a person sees your ad in a period. High frequency can cause fatigue.
Formula
Frequency = impressions / reach
How to use it
- Watch frequency and CTR together; rising frequency with falling CTR can signal fatigue.
- Optimal frequency depends on offer, audience size, and creative variety.
Why this matters
This term matters because it affects how you interpret performance and make budget decisions. If you use inconsistent definitions or windows, ROAS/CPA can look "better" while profit gets worse.
Practical checklist
- Write a 1-line definition for "Frequency" that your team will use consistently.
- Keep the time window consistent (weekly/monthly/quarterly) when comparing trends.
- Segment results (channel/plan/cohort) before drawing big conclusions from blended averages.
- Sanity-check with a related calculator from the same category on MetricKit.
- Read the related guide (e.g., Frequency and creative fatigue: diagnose performance decay and fix it) for context and common pitfalls.
Where to use this on MetricKit
Calculators
- A/B Test Sample Size Calculator: Estimate sample size per variant for a conversion rate A/B test given baseline CVR, MDE, significance, and power.
- CPL to CAC Calculator: Convert cost per lead (CPL) into CAC using lead-to-customer rate (and compute targets).
- Break-even CVR Calculator: Compute the CVR required to break even (and hit a target) given CPM, CTR, AOV, and contribution margin.
- Click-through Conversion Rate Calculator: Calculate click-through conversion rate (click-to-conversion CVR) and estimate required clicks for target conversions.
- ROAS Calculator: Calculate Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and estimate contribution profit after ad spend.
Guides
- Frequency and creative fatigue: diagnose performance decay and fix it: Learn how frequency, reach, and impressions interact with CTR/CVR, when to cap frequency, and how to refresh creatives without tanking learning.
- Creative + landing page playbook: diagnose CTR/CVR, then set break-even targets: A practical playbook for improving paid ads performance: use CTR/CVR diagnosis, set break-even CTR/CVR/CPM targets from your economics, and fix the biggest lever first.