Use one consistent group of leads
A low cost per lead is useful only when the inquiries can become customers at a sustainable cost. This calculator follows one group of leads through qualification and sales, then subtracts the entered marketing costs from the contribution those customers produce.
Choose a lead-acquisition period and an outcomes-as-of date. Include only the inquiries, qualified leads and won customers belonging to that group. Give longer sales cycles enough time to mature. For click-based outputs, use only leads belonging to the entered click population. For a separate call-only or other non-click cohort, leave Paid clicks blank; lead and customer costs will still calculate, while per-click outputs remain unavailable.
Understand the cost of a qualified opportunity
Enter your values or load the clearly fictional example. Calculations stay in this browser.
What the numbers mean
Media CPL is ad spend divided by inquiries. All-in CPL adds the marketing fees you enter. CPQL divides all-in cost by qualified leads, and CAC divides it by acquired customers. Use a consistent definition of a qualified lead before comparing channels. Customer acquisition cost covers only the costs you enter. Put sales labor or commission in other marketing costs or account for it in contribution margin, never both.
Contribution after marketing is customer revenue multiplied by contribution margin, less ad spend and entered marketing fees. Contribution margin should already account for direct delivery costs, but not those same marketing fees. This is not net profit: fixed overhead, taxes and cash timing are outside the calculation.
A worked example
Hypothetical cohort: $3,000 in ads and $1,000 in other marketing costs produce 100 inquiries, 40 qualified leads and 10 customers. Each customer provides $2,000 in revenue at a 40% contribution margin. Media CPL is $30; all-in CPL is $40; CPQL is $100; CAC is $400. The cohort produces $4,000 of contribution after the entered marketing costs.
With 1,000 clicks, the modeled break-even all-in cost per click is $8. After allocating $1 of other marketing cost per click, the media-only ceiling is $7. Retaining 25% of contribution before marketing lowers that modeled media ceiling to $5. Neither figure is an instruction to change an ad-platform bid.
Compare assumptions without turning them into forecasts
Observed cohort describes the entered cohort. Planning scenario lets you change qualification and qualified-lead close rates. The low, base and high cases are assumptions you choose; they do not have assigned probabilities and do not predict performance.
Keep revenue and delivery costs on the same horizon. Do not combine lifetime customer revenue with the cost of only the first job. If a value is unknown, leave it blank and resolve it before relying on an affected result. Zero wins make acquisition cost unavailable; they do not prove that future leads have zero value.
Use the result to choose a next check
If qualified leads are scarce, review inquiry quality before chasing cheaper clicks. If qualified leads do not close, examine fit, sales-cycle maturity and follow-up. If the inputs are uncertain, use the lead-delivery verification kit before treating the calculator as a budget decision.
The calculator runs in your browser. It does not connect to your advertising accounts, submit your inputs, or change bids. You control whether to export or share your results.
Take the worksheet with you
Use the blank worksheet for your own review. Any completed examples are clearly labeled as fictional.