Cost Per Lead & Marketing ROI
Work out what each property enquiry and each closed deal actually costs you across portals, ads and referrals, and which channel is genuinely paying its way.
Agents often know what they spend on ads and roughly how many enquiries arrive, but not what a closed deal costs them. That figure — cost per deal — is the one that decides whether a channel is worth keeping.
Enter your spend and conversion rates to see cost per lead, cost per deal, return on ad spend, and how many deals you need just to break even.
The four numbers that matter
Cost per lead = spend ÷ leads
Cost per qualified lead = spend ÷ (leads × qualification rate)
Cost per deal = spend ÷ (qualified leads × close rate)
ROAS = commission earned ÷ spend
A worked example
₹30,000 a month producing 100 leads is ₹300 per lead. If 30% are genuinely qualified that is ₹1,000 per qualified lead, and at a 10% close rate you get 3 deals — ₹10,000 per deal. At ₹80,000 commission each, that is ₹2,40,000 of revenue on ₹30,000 of spend: a ROAS of 8×. You would break even at roughly 13 leads a month.
Reading the result honestly
- Cost per lead is the vanity metric. Cheap leads that never qualify cost more per deal than expensive ones that do.
- Track by channel. Portal, Facebook, Instagram, referrals and walk-ins convert very differently; a blended number hides the channel that is losing money.
- Attribute properly. Deals often close months after the first enquiry, so a single month's spend against that month's deals understates a slow channel.
- Response time beats budget. Improving lead-to-qualified from 30% to 40% does more for cost per deal than a 30% budget increase.
Put your number on the page that answers the question
Buyers remember whoever gave them the answer. A property page of your own carries this calculator, your listings and a WhatsApp button, so the next question comes to you.
Create your free property pageFrequently asked questions
What is a good cost per lead in Indian real estate?
Very broadly ₹150–₹600 for social ads and ₹400–₹1,500 for portal enquiries, varying widely by city and ticket size. Judge on cost per closed deal instead — that is what actually constrains profit.
What ROAS should I aim for?
Marketing that returns less than 3× struggles to cover the time spent servicing the leads. Well-run agent campaigns commonly land at 5–10×.
Why is my cost per deal so much higher than cost per lead?
Because only a fraction of leads qualify and only a fraction of those close. At 30% qualification and 10% close, one deal consumes about 33 leads — so cost per deal is roughly 33× cost per lead.
How do I lower cost per deal?
Respond faster, qualify harder before spending time on viewings, and cut the channels with poor qualification rates. Those move the number more reliably than reducing spend.
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