Ever heard of cost per lead? Learn how to calculate right now!

Before understanding how to calculate a cost per lead, it is necessary to know what a lead is and why it "costs something".

Well, "lead" is the nomenclature we give to our potential customers, in the case of educational institutions, potential students or future enrollees. And how do you find out who your leads are? A good marketing strategy helps you define this.

Personas, campaigns and actions marketing digital are some examples of how you can find out who your potential students are and who your qualified leads will be. Who engages more? Who is most like the person that you set? Your target audience is the reference for your lead search.

Now that you already know what is a lead For educational institutions, it's time to take a step further in your learning journey.

What we will learn in the post:

• After all, what is the cost per lead?
• Why measure the cost per lead in educational institutions?
• Other metrics that contribute to your lead spend calculation
• Cost per click
• Lead per sale
• Cost per sale
• How to spend less on your leads?
• persona maintenance
• Engaging Content
• Good Digital Marketing Strategy

In today's post, we're going to find out what cost per lead is and how to calculate it. We will also leave a plus, which are the advantages of following this metric in capturing leads for educational institutions. Come with us?

After all, what is the cost per lead?

When you create your marketing plan, you set a budget, correct? This is the total cost you are investing to attract more students to your institution. The total budget is divided between campaigns and actions, thus facilitating the measurement of results later.

Very good!! From the start of a campaign to the end, let's say you've spent $100,000 of your marketing budget.

During this period, your educational institution generated 20,000 leads (potential future students). Your cost per lead was how much? That's right, 5 reais.

There is no secret, the cost per lead or CPL calculation is:

CPL = TOTAL INVESTED / TOTAL LEADS GENERATED

It’s important to note that cost per lead can vary significantly across industries and marketing strategies. Regularly monitoring this metric allows you to identify which channels are bringing in the most qualified leads at the most cost-effective rate.

Why measure the cost per lead in educational institutions?

First, to find out how much your HEI invests financially to have a qualified lead enter the sales funnel. This data allows you to know the level of effectiveness of your educational marketing strategies: the lower the cost per lead, the more effective your campaigns are and the greater the institution's profitability.

Knowing the CPL by marketing action, you are able to identify which ones are generating the highest return for the educational institution. For example: you have a cost per lead of 5 reais on social networks and only 3 reais on sponsored links.

Furthermore, understanding CPL helps to optimize the marketing budget, allowing investments to be reallocated to the most effective strategies and, thus, increasing the conversion rate of leads into registrations.

Thus, it is easy to prioritize actions and adjust your marketing budget so that it brings more results with the same amount invested.

It is also possible to identify flaws in your process of attracting and converting leads, based on the CPL. A high cost per lead can mean poor segmentation of your educational marketing strategies, investment in the wrong communication channels or even difficulties in defining exactly who your audience is.

A common problem that affects most educational institutions is thousands of applicants, hundreds of university entrance exams and dozens of enrolled students. Did you feel the values ​​decaying? This happens because we are not always able to identify at first who our real students are.

A university whose monthly fee is 2500 reais must target a different public than the one that offers a graduation for 600 reais a month. And this must be taken into account when drawing up your lead capture strategy for educational institutions.

A strong indicator that something is wrong is precisely the CPL. The more work you have to convert a lead, the greater the sign that something is escaping your view when creating your campaigns.

Read too:

• Prospect ou lead: compreendendo a diferença
• What are leads for educational institutions?
• How to capture qualified leads in a digital marketing campaign?

Other metrics that contribute to your lead spend calculation

1. Cost per click;
2. Lead per sale;
3. Cost per sale.

1. Cost per click

When using digital marketing strategies in your educational institution, other metrics end up being useful to help you with the right indicators to find your potential students. The CPC (cost per click) works in the same logic as the CPL, CPC = TOTAL INVESTED / NºOF CLICKS IN YOUR AD.

When you decide to create sponsored ads on search engines and social networks, you increase your range of possibilities for capturing leads. Calculating other costs and making this investment is a good idea to be more assertive in relation to your target audience.

2. Lead per sale

Another very important metric to further understand your CPL is the Lead per Sale (LPV). Basically here, you will be calculating how many leads it takes to actually close a deal.

For example, if you need 100 leads to guarantee enrollment, your LPV is 100 to 1. The LPV is a very important indicator when you adjust your marketing strategies to improve your results.

3. Cost per sale

Where will you invest more? On your social media? Inbound Marketing? Content production? The CPL, together with the LPV, can guide and answer these questions.

And this calculation is exactly your Cost Per Sale (COGS). Leaving aside team additions (seller costs, for example), the CPV is nothing more than understanding how much you are spending on strategies and actions to close an enrollment.

How to spend less on your leads?

The easiest way to know how much you can spend on your leads is to understand the following: your investment needs to be enough to reach the highest amount of leads.

However, this investment cannot or should not exceed your company's needs. This expense must be defined based on the size of the Institution, metrics and previous reports of enrollment numbers and, of course, available budget.

Some of the strategies mentioned at the beginning of this article on how to identify your leads are also triggers to lower your CPL. 3 of them may be essential:

• persona maintenance

Building a persona for identifying your target audience and looking for leads is paramount. However, it's not healthy to create your persona and "never" look at it again. Constant verification of personas helps recreate and restructure marketing strategies.

It is up to your institution to define the best time for this maintenance, but a practical and less bureaucratic way to choose possible dates is the intake changes. For example, if your institution receives students every six months, ideally twice a year, if annually, once. And successively.

• Engaging Content

E-books are great content for you to capture leads organically. As well as blog posts, videos on social networks and application of SEO techniques. 

Making the algorithms "work in your favor" and creating space for your leads to register (forms, landing pages, newsletter) are good techniques for you to increase your organic traffic and lower your cost per lead.

• Good Digital Marketing Strategy

Implementing marketing automation tools can reduce the cost per lead, as they allow you to better segment your audience and personalize your campaigns, increasing the efficiency of your actions.

Investing in Inbound Marketing and automating your processes also helps to reduce yourCost per Lead (and its personnel cost).

Mapping the influence of your educational institution (georeferencing), customizing your target audience, strategic budget definition, setting deadlines and goals, are some of the techniques you can use to improve your CPL.

Did you like to know more about cost per lead? And how about learning how to attract and convert more students to your educational institution? Contact us!

Cost per Lead (CPL): Key Questions and Answers for Educational Institutions

What is a lead and why does it have a cost?

Lead is a potential student who has shown interest in your institution — whether by filling out a form, downloading an e-book, or visiting your landing page. Leads have a cost because your institution invests time and money in marketing to attract them.

What is Cost per Lead (CPL)?

CPL is the average amount you spend to generate a single lead. The formula is simple:

CPL = Total marketing investment / Number of leads generated

Why is it important to calculate CPL in educational institutions?

Because it helps you:

• Understand the effectiveness of your marketing efforts;

• Identify which channels bring qualified leads at lower costs;

• Optimize your budget to invest in what works best;

• Detect issues in your lead capture strategy, such as poor targeting or wrong audience fit.

What’s considered a “good” CPL?

It depends on your target audience, tuition price, and enrollment goals. A CPL is considered good when the return on investment (ROI) is positive and aligned with your institution’s financial goals.

What can cause a high CPL?

• Poor audience segmentation;

• Ineffective or generic marketing campaigns;

• Investment in the wrong channels;

• Mismatch between your offer and your actual student profile.

What are other metrics that help evaluate CPL more accurately?

• Cost per Click (CPC): How much you pay per click on your ads.

• Lead per Sale (LPV): How many leads you need to convert one student.

• Cost per Sale (CPS): Total cost to acquire one paying student.

What’s the difference between CPL and CPC?

CPC is how much you pay per click on your ad. CPL is how much you pay per lead generated. CPL takes into account the full journey from the first interaction to actual lead conversion.

What is Lead per Sale (LPV) and why does it matter?

LPV tells you how many leads you need to make one enrollment. For example, if you need 100 leads to enroll 1 student, your LPV is 100:1. It helps assess the quality of your leads and the efficiency of your sales process.

What is Cost per Sale (CPS)?

CPS is how much you spend to enroll one student, based on your marketing efforts. It’s calculated by combining CPL with LPV. A high CPS may indicate inefficiencies in converting leads into enrollments.

How can I reduce my CPL?

Here are 3 strategies that make a big difference:

1. Persona Maintenance
   Keep your student personas updated! Your ideal student profile may change with time, and marketing strategies need to reflect that — especially between intakes.

2. Create Engaging Content
   Use blog posts, e-books, videos, and SEO to attract leads organically. The more relevant and helpful your content, the more qualified leads you’ll generate at a lower cost.

3. Invest in a Strong Digital Marketing Strategy
   Use marketing automation and Inbound Marketing to personalize your communication, increase campaign efficiency, and streamline your lead generation process.

How often should I review my personas?

At least once per intake. If your institution has biannual intakes, review every 6 months. If it’s yearly, a review once a year is ideal.

Can marketing automation help lower CPL?

Absolutely. Automation tools let you segment your audience better, create personalized campaigns, and reduce manual workload — all of which help you get better results with less effort.

What should I do if my CPL is too high?

First, evaluate your segmentation and campaign channels. Then:

• Refine your audience;

• Optimize your ad spend;

• Improve your content strategy;

• Review your landing pages and CTAs;

• And of course, analyze your Lead per Sale to check conversion efficiency.