Getting to the heart of lead cost is not easy.
There is a multitude of factors to consider. For example, should you factor in nurturing into the costs? Even then, how much?
In today’s B2B Lead Roundtable Blog post, I wanted to explore cost per lead by sharing a few tips and insights from the panel of industry experts that spoke on the subject at MarketingSherpa Lead Gen Summit 2013.
Tip #1. Clearly define what a lead is for your organization
Before you can even get close to what your lead costs are, you first have to define what a lead is to your organization, or as Atri Chatterjee, CMO, Act-on Software, said: “Just because you have a name, it doesn’t mean you have a lead.”
The panel rightfully pointed out that the idea of a lead can mean a lot of different things to many different people.
So the first step on your path to determining lead costs is to cut through the confusion by creating a universal lead definition that the key stakeholders in your organization can all agree upon.
Tip #2. Move toward thinking of lead cost in aggregate
So what should you factor into your lead cost?
This can get tricky, but let’s consider, for example, that you can buy a list of 2,000 leads from a broker for $20.
Does each lead cost only a penny?
Not so much.
I say this because when you factor the associative costs to create content, market, and solicit to those leads, the true price is likely much higher.
One recommendation the panel had was to uncover some of the factors you might overlook and consider them in your cost.
When you look at the price from an aggregated perspective, you’re probably a lot closer to a true lead cost.
This notion was also shared by Erik Matlik, CEO, Madison Logic, who summed up the factors to consider in your cost per lead.
“I would put everything literally into your cost per lead,” Erik said.
To learn more tips on lead cost, you can watch the MarketingSherpa on-demand replay of “How Much Should Leads Cost? Tips for different channels, industries, and deal sizes.”
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