Data That Helps Marketers: The Cost Of Getting a Lead

Companies and marketers across all industries need to know which ad platforms to use, and what type of campaign has the greatest potential. Since data visualizations are far more powerful than reading spreadsheets, we created several powerful visualizations to help you understand several important trends.

Our first visualization helps you easily understand which industries may benefit most from placing ads on Facebook and what click-through, cost, and conversion to aim for. The size of the circle corresponds with the average conversion rate, so larger circles mean more people tended to convert.

Facebook Ads By Industry

We found it particularly interesting that the 4 industries having the lowest cost per click (CPC) also had the lowest conversion rate, whereas many companies with more expensive CPC also had higher conversion rates.

Does your company use LinkedIn more than Facebook? LinkedIn offers a place for many different professional industries to attract leads through their company page and advertisements. LinkedIn ads are more expensive than Facebook ads but work very well for certain industries. Here’s the breakdown of which industries may benefit the most. The size of the circles below correspond with average click-through rate; larger circles have higher click-through rates.

To add an extra layer of complexity, we’ve also included 4 regions: North America, EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa), Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. North America’s cost per lead and engagement are both worse than all the other regions, meaning companies in North America will have a harder time meeting any of these industry averages.

Linkedin Ads by Industry and Region

Retail, with the highest click-through rate, high engagement rate, and relatively low cost per lead is sitting pretty, however you also need to think about the average value of a retail customer. The amount they might spend will likely be much lower than someone purchasing software, financial services, corporate services, etc.

Lastly, what does it cost to get a lead? The left-hand chart below illustrates the average lead costs for different marketing channels. On the right, the bubbles correspond with cost per lead in different industries.

Online retargeting ads (meaning someone who has already been on your website) are some of the most successful, with an average of just $31 per lead. However, they had to find your website in some other way, so retargeting is like a second step after performing other types of campaigns. Combining SEO with online retargeting ads is an excellent low-cost way to obtain leads.

Related: Don’t Try To Be Perfect, Try To Offer Value Instead