Performance marketing interviews test whether you understand the numbers, can diagnose problems and can allocate budget wisely. Expect metric questions, platform questions, scenario questions and often a take-home case or account audit.
Metrics questions
“What’s the difference between CPA and ROAS?” CPA is cost per acquisition (spend ÷ conversions). ROAS is return on ad spend (revenue ÷ spend). Use CPA for lead goals, ROAS for revenue goals.
“What’s a good ROAS?” It depends on margins. A business with 25% margins needs a higher ROAS to be profitable than one with 70% margins. Always link targets to profitability.
“Explain LTV:CAC.” Customer lifetime value compared with customer acquisition cost; it shows whether acquisition is sustainable.
Platform and campaign questions
- “How would you structure a Google Ads account for an online store?”
- “When would you use broad match with smart bidding?”
- “How do you approach Performance Max and protect brand search?”
- “How would you test creatives on Meta?”
- “How do you build audiences given privacy restrictions?”
Diagnosis scenarios
“CPA rose 40% last week. What do you check?” Tracking issues, budget or bid changes, competition, seasonality, creative fatigue, landing page problems, audience changes and platform updates, then prioritise fixes.
“Conversions dropped but traffic is stable.” Check tracking, landing pages, site speed, checkout issues, offer changes and traffic quality.
Strategy and budget
“You have $50,000 a month. How would you split it?” Start with goals and margins, then allocate to proven channels, reserve a test budget, and plan to rebalance based on marginal returns.
“How do you measure incrementality?” Holdout tests, geo experiments, conversion lift studies and marketing mix modelling.
Behavioural questions
- “Tell me about your best-performing campaign.”
- “Describe a test that failed and what you learned.”
- “How do you report results to non-marketers?”
Take-home cases
Common tasks: audit an ad account, build a media plan or analyse a dataset. Show clear structure, assumptions and next steps.
Related: performance marketing career and performance marketing salary.
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FAQ
Do performance marketing interviews include Excel tests?
Often, especially for analysis-heavy roles.
Which certifications help?
Google Ads and Meta certifications help show platform knowledge.
What do interviewers value most?
Commercial thinking: linking campaign metrics to profit.
