Digital advertising platforms love acronyms, and it’s easy to nod along in a meeting without actually being sure what a term means. Here’s a quick, practical reference for the ones you’ll encounter most often once you start running ads.
CTR — Click-Through Rate
The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked it. A low CTR often signals your ad isn’t relevant or compelling enough for the audience seeing it — it’s usually one of the first things worth checking when a campaign underperforms.
CPC — Cost Per Click
How much you pay, on average, each time someone clicks your ad. CPC varies enormously by industry and competition — a highly competitive keyword can cost many times more per click than a niche, low-competition one.
CPM — Cost Per Mille (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions)
How much you pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown, regardless of clicks. This matters most for awareness-focused campaigns, where the goal is simply to be seen by as many relevant people as possible.
CPA — Cost Per Acquisition
How much you spend, on average, to get one actual conversion — a sale, a lead, a sign-up. This is usually a far more meaningful number than CPC alone, since it connects spend directly to a real business outcome.
ROAS — Return on Ad Spend
Revenue generated for every kyat (or dollar) spent on advertising, usually expressed as a ratio (a ROAS of 4 means 4 units of revenue for every 1 unit spent). This is one of the clearest single numbers for judging whether a campaign is actually profitable.
A/B Test (Split Test)
Running two versions of an ad, page, or email against each other to see which performs better, changing only one variable at a time so you can trust the result actually reflects that specific change.
Impressions vs. Reach
Impressions count every time an ad is shown, including multiple times to the same person. Reach counts unique people who saw it at least once. A campaign can have high impressions but low reach if it’s shown repeatedly to a small audience.
You don’t need to memorize every acronym in digital marketing to use it effectively — but understanding this core set will make ad platform reports, agency conversations, and campaign reviews far less confusing.
