Insights
Cost Per Lead Is A Vanity Number
By Michael Sasu, [NEEDS REAL DATA: date]
You celebrate a low cost per lead. Half those leads were never going to buy. The number is vanity until you pair it with what happens after the lead arrives.
The number that actually matters
Cost per qualified lead. A lead that asked for a price to compare with three competitors is not a qualified lead. A lead that asked about your specific offer and left details is. Track the second, not the first.
How to get there
Tighten the audience so the ad reaches the buyer, not the market. Match the ad to the offer so the lead was always going to be interested. Then the cost per lead you measure is the cost of a real lead, not a price check.
What it changes
When you measure cost per qualified lead, you stop paying for noise. The ad budget goes further because the leads it buys are worth following up. The whole funnel gets cheaper, not because you spent less, but because you stopped wasting what you spent.
What most people get wrong about this
Most people try to lower cost per lead by broadening the audience. That makes the number look better and the funnel worse. The fix is the opposite. Tighten the audience until every lead is one you would actually call.
The Demand Loop, by email