When a marketing report says “your leads cost $40,” it sounds good. But a lead is just a name and a phone number. What you really care about is how many turn into estimates and jobs.
The three numbers to track
- Cost per lead = marketing spend ÷ leads
- Cost per booked estimate = marketing spend ÷ estimates actually booked
- Cost per sold job = marketing spend ÷ jobs won
An example (made-up numbers)
| Campaign A | Campaign B | |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Leads | 80 | 40 |
| Estimates booked | 12 | 16 |
| Jobs won | 3 | 6 |
| Cost per lead | $25 | $50 |
| Cost per sold job | $667 | $333 |
Campaign A looks cheaper per lead. Campaign B costs half as much per sold job. The cheaper-looking leads were the worse ones. (These numbers are illustrative only.)
What you need to measure it
- A source on every lead (search, maps, ads, referral)
- A pipeline that marks estimates booked and jobs won
- A monthly review that connects spend to those stages
That’s why we connect your site, ads and CRM. See complete marketing systems.
