{ "$schema": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/data/index.json", "slug": "cost-per-lead-calculator", "name": "Cost per lead calculator", "category": "Cost per lead", "url": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-lead-calculator", "dataUrl": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/data/cost-per-lead-calculator.json", "currency": "AUD", "updated": "2026-08", "summary": "Work out your cost per click, conversion rate and cost per lead, then compare them against a published US benchmark and the $8.70–$220.59 range we have measured across 36 Australian accounts.", "whatItDoes": [ "Turns three numbers off your ad account into the three that actually describe it: what a click cost, how many clicks became an enquiry, and what an enquiry cost.", "Then it does the part most calculators skip. It shows you a real published benchmark with its market and year stated, and it shows you the spread we have measured across our own accounts in the same trade, with a link to each one.", "There is no Australian cost-per-lead benchmark from any source with a published method. Anything claiming otherwise is a US figure with an Australian flag on it. This tool does not do that." ], "howToUse": [ "Open your Google Ads account and pick a period with enough volume to mean something. A month is usually the shortest sensible window.", "Enter the spend, the clicks and the conversions for that period. Use the conversion action that represents a real enquiry, not every button press on the site.", "Choose the closest trade so the comparison uses the right accounts.", "Read the three results, then read the comparison table underneath before you decide anything." ], "formula": [ "Cost per click = spend ÷ clicks", "Conversion rate = enquiries ÷ clicks × 100", "Cost per lead = spend ÷ enquiries" ], "interpret": [ "A high cost per lead with a healthy conversion rate is an auction problem. You are paying too much for the click, usually because the account is bidding on searches with wide intent.", "A low cost per click with a poor conversion rate is a relevance problem. Cheap clicks are cheap for a reason, and the landing page is usually the second half of it.", "Neither number means anything on its own until you know what a job is worth. Run the break-even calculator next and you will know whether the cost per lead you have is affordable rather than merely average." ], "limitation": "The benchmark is United States data and it aggregates several trades into one category. Our own figures are a range from selected work on accounts we run, not a market rate. Treat both as context, not as a target.", "inputs": [ { "key": "spend", "label": "Ad spend for the period", "kind": "currency", "default": 3000, "min": 0, "max": 2000000, "unit": "AUD", "help": "Total spend on the campaigns you are judging, in Australian dollars.", "sourceId": null, "sourceNote": null, "options": null }, { "key": "clicks", "label": "Clicks", "kind": "number", "default": 400, "min": 1, "max": 5000000, "unit": "count", "help": "Clicks over the same period, from the same campaigns.", "sourceId": null, "sourceNote": null, "options": null }, { "key": "leads", "label": "Enquiries", "kind": "number", "default": 40, "min": 1, "max": 500000, "unit": "count", "help": "Calls and form submissions you would count as a real enquiry. Not clicks on a phone number that never connected.", "sourceId": null, "sourceNote": null, "options": null }, { "key": "trade", "label": "Closest trade", "kind": "select", "default": 0, "min": 0, "max": 12, "unit": "count", "help": "Sets which of our published accounts you are compared against.", "sourceId": "soudcoh-case-studies", "sourceNote": null, "options": [ { "label": "Plumbing and drainage", "value": 0 }, { "label": "Electrical", "value": 1 }, { "label": "Residential cleaning, carpet and end of lease", "value": 2 }, { "label": "Commercial cleaning and facilities", "value": 3 }, { "label": "Roofing and roof restoration", "value": 4 }, { "label": "Air conditioning and heating", "value": 5 }, { "label": "Property maintenance, lawn and pool care", "value": 6 }, { "label": "Painting", "value": 7 }, { "label": "Rubbish removal and scrap metal", "value": 8 }, { "label": "Security systems and CCTV", "value": 9 }, { "label": "Towing, detailing and accident management", "value": 10 }, { "label": "Health and beauty clinic", "value": 11 }, { "label": "Legal", "value": 12 } ] } ], "defaults": { "spend": 3000, "clicks": 400, "leads": 40, "trade": 0 }, "exampleResult": { "headline": { "label": "Cost per lead", "value": "$75.00", "note": "40 enquiries from $3,000.00 of spend" }, "outputs": [ { "label": "Cost per click", "value": "$7.50", "note": "400 clicks" }, { "label": "Conversion rate", "value": "10%", "note": "Clicks that became an enquiry" }, { "label": "Where it sits in our range", "value": "Inside our range", "note": "$57.21 to $176.78 across 10 accounts" }, { "label": "Spent on clicks that did not enquire", "value": "$2,700.00", "note": "360 clicks left without making contact, at $7.50 each" } ], "workings": [ { "label": "Cost per click", "expression": "$3,000.00 ÷ 400 clicks = $7.50" }, { "label": "Conversion rate", "expression": "40 ÷ 400 × 100 = 10%" }, { "label": "Cost per lead", "expression": "$3,000.00 ÷ 40 enquiries = $75.00" }, { "label": "Spend on clicks that did not enquire", "expression": "360 × $7.50 = $2,700.00" } ] }, "shareableExample": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-lead-calculator?spend=3000&clicks=400&leads=40", "faqs": [ { "question": "What is a good cost per lead for a tradie in Australia?", "answer": "There is no published Australian benchmark to answer that with, and any site quoting one is either not citing a source or is quoting United States data. What we can tell you is what we have measured. Across ten plumbing accounts we run, the published cost per enquiry ranges from $57.21 to $176.78, with a median of $112.56. Across four electrical accounts it runs $65.01 to $138.74. Residential cleaning sits far lower at $25.02 to $40.69. Those are Australian dollars, from measured periods in 2026, and they are a range from selected work rather than a market rate." }, { "question": "Why do you show a United States benchmark instead of an Australian one?", "answer": "Because it is the only one with a published method. The WordStream 2026 dataset covers 13,474 search campaigns over twelve months and states that it is United States data. Every Australian benchmark page we checked either published no methodology at all or admitted its numbers were US figures adjusted by feel. Relabelling a US number as Australian would be inventing a figure, so we show it as what it is and let you weigh it." }, { "question": "Why is my cost per lead so much higher than the benchmark?", "answer": "Usually because the account is buying searches that were never going to become a job. Emergency trades are the clearest case: a plumbing account pays emergency prices for the person with water on the floor and the same prices for the tenant checking whether the landlord has to pay. Start by reading what people actually searched before they clicked. Cutting budget lowers the bill without changing the ratio." }, { "question": "Should I count phone calls as leads?", "answer": "Yes, if they connected and lasted long enough to be a conversation. Counting every tap on a phone number inflates the lead count and flatters cost per lead. In our own accounts calls are a large share of enquiries — 231 of 985 on one Sydney plumbing account — so leaving them out understates the channel just as badly." }, { "question": "How long a period should I measure?", "answer": "Long enough to clear thirty enquiries if you can. Below about fifteen the figure moves several dollars on one odd week, which is how businesses end up rebuilding an account that was working. Our own case studies report windows of ten to thirty-one days and state the length rather than the month, precisely because a short window needs to be read as a short window." } ], "sources": [ { "id": "soudcoh-case-studies", "label": "SoudCoh, 36 published client case studies", "publisher": "SoudCoh", "year": "2026", "market": "AU/UK", "method": "Cost per enquiry taken from the headline figure published on each case study, for a measured period in 2026. Australian dollars.", "confidence": "high", "caution": "A range from selected work on accounts we run, not a market average and not a forecast. Read the individual case studies before using any figure from it.", "url": "https://soudcoh.com/case-study" }, { "id": "wordstream-google-2026", "label": "WordStream / LocaliQ, Google Ads Benchmarks 2026", "publisher": "WordStream (LocaliQ)", "year": "2026", "market": "US", "method": "13,474 United States search campaigns, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Figures are medians.", "confidence": "high", "caution": "United States data. Australian auction prices are widely believed to differ, and no published Australian dataset measures by how much.", "url": "https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2026-google-ads-benchmarks" } ], "relatedTools": [ "https://soudcoh.com/tools/break-even-roas-calculator", "https://soudcoh.com/tools/google-ads-budget-forecaster", "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-booked-job-calculator" ], "licence": { "terms": "Free to reuse with attribution to SoudCoh and a link to the page it came from. Third-party figures remain the property of the publisher named on each row and must keep their market and year attached.", "attribution": "SoudCoh — https://soudcoh.com/tools" } }