Lead source yield refers to the productivity of a lead source. This can be measured and reported as the number of leads received per dollar spent for a single lead source. It can also be measured by the reciprocal, cost per lead.
As an example, let us assume that we are using seven different lead sources to drive sales, and that the marketing spend and leads received for the year by lead source is as shown in the table following.
| PPC Ad Leads | Facebook Ad Leads | LinkedIn Ads Leads | Sales Farming Leads | Nurturing Leads | Organic Search Leads | Free Trial Leads | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Leads | 10666 | 1818 | 946 | 572 | 208 | 12564 | 305 | 27079 |
| Total Spend | 62000 | 14300 | 10400 | 8100 | 1380 | 9000 | 7625 | 112805 |
| Leads / Dollar Spend | 0.172 | 0.1271 | 0.091 | 0.0706 | 0.1507 | 1.396 | 0.04 | 0.2401 |
| Cost Per Lead | 5.8129 | 7.8658 | 10.9937 | 14.1608 | 6.6346 | 0.7163 | 25 | 4.1658 |
We can chart this data to reveal our lead yield (leads per dollar) and the inverse, cost per lead. This data gives us some insight into where we might want to direct our marketing spend in the coming months.
This analysis can be greatly improved by tracking and filtering down to those leads that result in sales, so that we can calculate the customer acquisition cost by lead source, and even better statistic to use for planning marketing spend or for improving the marketing process.
Get the Free Model
You can get an example leads pipeline model referenced here, and a PDF copy of “Guide to Leads Pipelines for the CMO”, by downloading the model (in Excel spreadsheet form) and guide from the landing page at here.
With the Excel spreadsheet, you can follow the example data shown here. You can also plug in your own data to build your own pipeline model and forecast your sales in any future month.
