Cheap clicks can still produce expensive inquiries
Evaluate click cost and lead cost together rather than treating cheaper clicks as the final goal. A high-cost relevant visit can be more useful than a cheap visit with no plausible path to an inquiry.
Cost per click describes traffic acquisition cost; cost per lead requires a qualifying lead definition and count. Neither establishes customer acquisition cost without downstream outcomes and the relevant full cost base.
A worked example
In a hypothetical campaign, $1,000 buys 500 clicks and five verified leads. CPC is $2 and CPL is $200. Another buys 100 clicks for the same cost and ten verified leads: CPC is $10 but CPL is $100. The cheaper click is not the cheaper inquiry.
How to apply it
- Use the same period and eligible campaign spend in each calculation.
- Define and deduplicate qualifying inquiries before calculating CPL.
- Review suitability and later outcomes instead of optimizing only the cheapest rate.
What the result can establish
Keep illustrative calculations separate from client claims. Costs may omit creative, tools and labor unless explicitly included. State that scope before describing profitability or acquisition efficiency.
Reference: Google Ads: conversion measurement.
Supporting documentation
Google Ads: conversion measurementGoogle Ads: conversion tracking