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What $1,000 of advertising buys
The same $1,000 on every channel, run through the benchmarks this site cites everywhere. Assumes a 2% conversion rate and $50 per sale — change them in the calculator.
| Channel | Clicks | Sales | Cost per sale | Enough to learn from? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Google Ads (search) | 184 | 3.7 | $272 | 184 clicks cannot distinguish a 0.0% conversion rate from a 4.0% one. Any result you get at this budget is mostly noise. |
Meta (Facebook / Instagram) | 899 | 18 | $56 | 899 clicks is enough to place your conversion rate between 1.1% and 2.9%. That is a real reading. |
Display / programmatic Nielsen Norman Group on banner blindness · 2007, re-confirmed since | 62 | 1.2 | $806 | 62 clicks cannot distinguish a 0.0% conversion rate from a 5.5% one. Any result you get at this budget is mostly noise. |
Newsletter sponsorship | 45 | 0.9 | $1,111 | 45 clicks cannot distinguish a 0.0% conversion rate from a 6.1% one. Any result you get at this budget is mostly noise. |
A twelve-hour slot on this board | — | — | — | Ours, so weigh it accordingly. The board is young and small, and the honest limitation is reach rather than price. |
How it works
At $1,000, Meta (Facebook / Instagram) buys enough clicks to read a conversion rate. Everywhere else the result would be mostly noise.
Clicks come from each channel's typical price; impressions-based channels use their published click-through rate. Flat-fee channels buy whole placements, so a budget below one placement buys nothing.