Definition
A frequency cap limits how often someone can see your ad in a time window (per day or week) to reduce fatigue and wasted impressions.
How to use it
- Use caps when frequency rises and CTR/CVR decay, especially in small audiences.
- Combine caps with audience expansion and creative refresh to avoid simply throttling delivery.
- Retargeting can tolerate higher frequency than prospecting; cap by funnel stage.
Common mistakes
- Capping too aggressively and starving delivery (performance can look 'stable' but volume collapses).
- Using a cap instead of fixing the root cause (creative/offer mismatch or a too-narrow audience).
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 Cap" 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
- Break-even ROAS Calculator: Estimate the break-even ROAS based on contribution margin assumptions.
- Target ROAS Calculator: Estimate a target ROAS to cover variable costs plus a desired margin buffer.
- Paid Ads Funnel Calculator: Model CPM -> CTR -> CVR to estimate CPC, CPA, ROAS, and profit per 1,000 impressions (with margin and variable costs).
- ROI Calculator: Calculate Return on Investment (ROI) for a campaign or project.
- Incrementality Lift Calculator: Estimate incremental conversions, incremental ROAS, and incremental profit from a holdout test.
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.