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What is the average cost of a qualified lead?
What metrics are used to determine how much a lead costs your company? Has this changed with the advent of inbound marketing trends over the past couple years?
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2 Answers
Don:
There is no set standard for the cost of a qualified lead as it will vary by organization and by vertical. We have seen clients who are spending $75 per qualified lead and those who are spending over $1000.
A few thing you must keep in mind in terms of qualified leads and the cost:
1. Ensure that marketing and sales agree on the definition of a qualified lead and furthermore agree to the definitions along every stage of the buying journey. If marketing is producing what they think are qualified leads and sales does not agree, there is a big problem and your investment will go to waste.
2. A cost per lead calculation should be done in a comparative analysis to your average sales price (ASP). What is your cost ratio? If you have an ASP of $2,500 is it acceptable to spend $1000 to get a highly qualified lead to sales? - I would say no. However, if your ASP is $250,000 you may very well need to spend that and it would be acceptable to do so. A CPL calculation holds some weight when you know your ASP and can justify it.
3. Be sure you measure your cost for every stage of the funnel. Know your costs per response, MQL, SAL, SQL and close. Knowing this will provide a more accurate picture and allow you to have a better ROI calculation.
Carlos Hidalgo
@cahidalgo
Hello Don,
I agree with Carlos but wanted to add one more point of advice. You also should try to be as consistent as possible when doing the actual math. Especially when you are relying on a mix of outsourced and in-sourced tactics, and trying to compare CPL rates. We see that labor costs and also certain relevant indirect costs are not always fully taken into account when calculating CPL for leads that were generated in-house (typically inbound), whereas they typically are when you are paying for leads that were executed outhouse (typically more outbound e.g. telemarketing center)
What we advice is to create a rate card with "standard costs" (/hr / task) for your internal resources and add them to the math
Koen
@kdewitte27
@leadfabric
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