Lead Generation: Tracking Your Results

Yesterday we discussed budgeting for lead generation.  Related to your budget is keeping records that allow you analyze your marketing costs. 

Keeping marketing records is critical.  If you want to increase your net income, work smarter, not harder. Be prepared to make changes in the way you do business.  The wisdom is: If you want different results, stop doing what you’re doing and reinvest your money in new approaches, techniques and processes.

Continuous tracking of marketing expenses along with your marketing success rate is essential.  Peter Drucker once said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” 

The six most important things you must track (and improve) about your e-marketing program 

1. Cost per acquisition (CPA) of e-mail addresses, website inquiries, or appointments (Example: $500 generated 10 appointments = $50 per appointment CPA).
2. Cost per sale (CPS).  Determine your CPS as a dollar amount by dividing your marketing expense by your total transaction sides.
3. Return on Investment (ROI).  Divide gross commission income by your marketing cost to determine how successful your marketing was in terms of sales compared to money spent (Example: $100,000 GCI by $12,000 marketing = 8.3% ROI).
4. Pay per sale (PPS) measures the average price paid for referral fees for closed transactions. (Divide total fees received by total referrals closed.)
5. Cost per click (CPC) evaluates cost per click-through prospect from pay-per-click search marketing investment. (Divide total click-through prospects captured by total paid for pay-per-click marketing.)
6. Cost per thousand (CPM) will tell you the price you paid for one thousand ad views or “impressions” for banner ads or print ads (circulation) (Example: 24,000 unique monthly visitors for $500 ads = $20.83 CPM) .

How have you gotten a handle on your marketing expenses?  How do you know what marketing is working and what isn’t?  Share your experiences with us. We would love to interview you for an upcoming post.