What each channel really costs you
Compare what each marketing channel actually costs you per qualified enquiry and per closed deal, and which one to stop paying for.
Your numbers
| A — per lead / per qualified / per deal | — |
| B — per lead / per qualified / per deal | — |
| C — per lead / per qualified / per deal | — |
| Qualification rate by channelLeads that turn out to be real. The number platforms never show you. | — |
| Brokerage produced | — |
| Total spend | — |
Agents track cost per lead because the platform shows it. Cost per lead is close to useless: ten leads that never answer the phone cost more than two that view.
What matters is cost per qualified enquiry and cost per closed deal. Run three channels side by side on that basis and the answer is usually surprising, and usually says stop paying for one of them.
Three numbers per channel
Cost per lead is what the platform reports. Cost per qualified enquiry — someone with a real budget, a real timeline and a viewing booked — is what tells you whether the leads are real. Cost per closed deal is what tells you whether to keep paying.
The qualification rate is the diagnostic in between, and it is the number no platform will show you.
Worked example
Channel A: ₹25,000 for 40 leads, 8 qualified, 1 deal — ₹625 per lead, ₹3,125 per qualified, ₹25,000 per deal, 20% qualification.
Channel B: ₹8,000 for 22 leads, 7 qualified, 1 deal — ₹364 per lead, ₹1,143 per qualified, ₹8,000 per deal, 32% qualification.
Channel C: nothing spent, 6 leads, 5 qualified, 2 deals — free, 83% qualification.
A costs three times what B does per deal and produces the same result. C is free and produces double. At ₹70,000 a deal, ₹33,000 of spend returned ₹2.8 lakh — about 8.5× — but almost all of the profit came from the channel that cost nothing.
What to do about it
Cut or renegotiate A. Increase B. And spend the time freed up on whatever C actually is — for most agents it is referrals and past clients, which compound and cost nothing but the annual call.
One caution before cutting: response time distorts all of this. If you call portal leads the next morning and referrals within five minutes, you are measuring your own follow-up, not the channel. Fix that first, then measure again.
Questions
Why is cost per lead the wrong metric?
Because it treats a person who never answers the phone the same as one who books a viewing. A channel with a 20% qualification rate needs five times the volume of one at 100% to produce the same business.
How many months of data do I need?
Three at minimum. One month of deal counts is noise — a single closing can make a bad channel look excellent.
Should I cut a channel that produced no deals?
Check response time and qualification first. Portal leads decay extremely fast; if you are not calling within minutes, the channel is being blamed for a follow-up problem you can fix for free.
The number convinces. The reel gets you the call.
Buyers who run these numbers are ready to talk. PropVid turns a listing into a reel in under two minutes — 700+ templates, AI scripts, voiceover, and your logo and phone on every export.
Try PropVid free