What is the difference between cost per lead and cost per acquisition?
Cost per lead is your marketing spend divided by the number of leads generated. Cost per acquisition is that spend divided by the number of jobs actually sold. The gap between them is your close rate — which is why a cheap lead source can be the most expensive channel you run.
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Why does cost per lead vs cost per acquisition matter for a contractor?
Contractors are usually quoted cost per lead because it is the flattering number. A shared-lead platform selling the same enquiry to four companies produces a low cost per lead and a poor close rate. An exclusive lead costs more up front and often costs far less per job won.
What does it cost to ignore it?
Optimising for cost per lead reliably drives budget toward the channels with the worst close rates, because low cost per lead and low quality tend to travel together.
Which engine fixes this?
Cost Per Lead vs Cost Per Acquisition is addressed inside The Predictability Engine.
See what The Predictability Engine includesCommon questions
Which number should I actually track?
Cost per acquisition, and ideally revenue per acquisition alongside it. Cost per lead is useful only for comparing channels of identical quality, which is rare. The moment you compare an exclusive lead against a shared one, cost per lead stops being a fair comparison and starts being a misleading one.
What is a good cost per acquisition for a contractor?
It depends entirely on your average job value and margin, so any universal figure is a red flag. The useful test is the ratio: what you spend to win a job against what that job is worth. We publish sourced, trade-specific benchmarks rather than a single number, because a number without your job value attached cannot tell you anything.
Ryan Goering
CEO & Founder, BaaDigi
U.S. military veteran and digital marketing strategist who built BaaDigi to help contractors generate predictable leads and revenue. 15+ years in SEO, PPC, and AI-powered marketing automation.