Cost per enquiry: what your website leads really cost

Key takeaways

Cost per enquiry is what you spend to generate each website enquiry, calculated by dividing marketing spend by enquiries for the same period and channel. It is where website conversion shows up in money: the same ad budget sent to a page that converts twice as well halves the cost of every enquiry.

• Cost per enquiry = channel spend ÷ enquiries from that channel.
• £200 per enquiry at 1% conversion falls to £80 at 2.5%, on £2 clicks.
• Include agency fees and staff time, not just ad spend.
• Track cost per qualified enquiry, not just cost per enquiry.

What is cost per enquiry?

Cost per enquiry is the average amount spent to generate one enquiry from a marketing channel. It includes ad spend and, for a full picture, agency fees, content production and staff time. It is the lead generation equivalent of cost per sale, and it lets you compare channels that work in very different ways.

• The difference between a good website and a high-converting website

How do you calculate cost per enquiry by channel?

Record spend and enquiries for each channel over the same period, using UTM parameters and GA4 key events to attribute enquiries to their source.

• Google Ads: £1,200 spend ÷ 15 enquiries = £80.
• SEO: £600 a month in content and fees ÷ 20 enquiries = £30.
• Social media: £950 a month management ÷ 8 enquiries = £119.
• Website overall: total spend ÷ total enquiries.

• Set up UTM tracking for social media
• Marketing attribution for small businesses, kept simple

How does conversion rate change cost per enquiry?

Cost per enquiry equals cost per visitor divided by conversion rate. That makes the website a direct lever on marketing cost. At £2 a click, a page converting 1% of visitors produces enquiries at £200 each. Improve the page to 2.5% and each enquiry costs £80, with no change to the ads.

• What a low-converting website really costs

What is a good cost per enquiry?

A good cost per enquiry is one your margins can support. Work it out backwards: average job value x gross margin x enquiry-to-sale rate gives the most you can spend per enquiry and break even. A £2,000 job at 40% margin with a 25% close rate can afford up to £200 per enquiry; anything below that is profitable.

• Work out what a website enquiry is worth

When does a low cost per enquiry mislead?

A low cost per enquiry is misleading if the enquiries are poor quality. A channel producing cheap enquiries that never buy can cost more per customer than an expensive channel with good leads. Track cost per qualified enquiry and, where possible, cost per customer.

• Poor quality leads from your website: causes and fixes
• Score website leads so the best get called first

What does this look like in practice?

A UK private tutoring agency believed Google Ads were too expensive and planned to stop them. The ads sent visitors to the homepage. We built subject-specific landing pages with tutor profiles, prices and a short form. Cost per enquiry from ads fell by more than half over the next two months, and the agency kept advertising.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Cost per enquiry checklist

• Tag every campaign link with UTMs.
• Track every enquiry route as a GA4 key event.
• Record full spend per channel, including fees and time.
• Calculate cost per enquiry and cost per qualified enquiry monthly.
• Work out your break-even cost per enquiry.
• Improve landing pages before cutting channels.

Next step

Cost per enquiry shows which channels pay and how much your website is helping or hurting them. We can help you calculate it honestly and find the cheapest way to lower it.