Lead Cost Calculator

Cheap leads are often the expensive ones

Cost per lead is the metric agencies report because it is easy to improve — broaden the targeting, weaken the qualification, and it falls. What matters is cost per customer, and that depends on how many of those leads your sales process can actually close.

A ₹200 lead that closes at 5% costs ₹4,000 per customer. A ₹600 lead that closes at 30% costs ₹2,000. The expensive lead is half the price.

The formulas

Worked example

Where lead quality actually comes from

• Ask one qualifying question in the form. Budget, timeline or company size removes most of the noise at the cost of a slightly higher CPL.
• Match the offer to intent. A free guide produces cheap leads that are early in the cycle; a pricing enquiry produces expensive leads that are ready.
• Respond faster. Contact within the first hour changes close rates more than almost any targeting change.
• Track the close rate by source. Two channels with identical CPL routinely differ by three times on close rate.

When CAC above customer value is still fine

If customers buy repeatedly, first-purchase value understates what they are worth. Paying ₹2,000 to win a customer who spends ₹12,000 a year for three years is a good trade even though the first order was smaller than the acquisition cost.

Use lifetime value in the customer-value field if you have it — but use a figure you have actually measured, not a hopeful one.

Frequently asked questions