Having a calculated cost-per-inquiry (CPI) lets you assess your success.
You will:
Have confidence that you’re driving an appropriate amount of inquiries and yielding the desired results
Evaluate your outcomes against broader industry standards
Judge if the promises from third-party vendors are realistic
The #1 KPI to Drive Marketing Efficiency
Unleash the power of precision in your digital advertising strategy with Search Influence’s Cost Per Inquiry (CPI) Calculator. Created for results-driven marketers like you, this intuitive calculator crunches the numbers associated with the #1 KPI for paid ads — CPI.
At its core, CPI calculates the cost incurred for each inquiry or lead generated from a specific marketing campaign or channel. It’s most frequently tracked as a KPI for individual digital marketing channels (i.e., paid /organic search) and/or spend across all platforms.
By tracking CPI as your top marketing KPI, you will:
- Allocate With Confidence: By understanding efficiency of each campaign, you can allocate marketing resources where they matter most.
- Streamline Your Budget: Once you know your CPI(s), you can identify areas of improvement in your strategy and ensure your dollars are put to best use.
- Drive Customer Growth: Armed with granular data to make strategic decisions, you can better attract prospective customers and boost conversion rates.
Whether you’re tracking this KPI for a current Google paid search campaign or to total your media spend across all platforms, it pays to know what you’re paying. CPI is the most important metric for marketing campaign efficiency — once you know your CPI, you can begin to optimize your efficiency.
How to Calculate Cost Per Inquiry (CPI)
Depending on your marketing mix and tracking capabilities, use our CPI Calculator to assess your standing and factor your:
- Overall Cost Per Inquiry = Marketing Expenses ÷ Total Inquiries (All Sources)
- Digital Advertising Cost Per Inquiry = Digital Advertising Media Spend ÷ # of Inquiries Attributed to Digital Advertising
If you’re a higher education marketer, you can also download our in-depth CPI Worksheet, a Google Sheet with multiple tabs for figuring out your CPI, broken down by campaign type and program type.
Not sure where to begin with your cost per inquiry calculation?
First, start by defining a data range of data you want to look at. This can be over the course of the past month, the entire fiscal year, or your own preferred timeline.
Then, start gathering your data. Some potential sources you can tap into include:
- Marketing reports
- Campaign platforms (Google, Meta/Facebook, etc.)
- Google Analytics
- Agency contracts
- Your team
Once you’ve collected all your information, you’re ready to start working the numbers. Plug your information into the CPI calculator above, sit back, and watch as we take care of the math.
Who Benefits Most From Our CPI Calculator?
We primarily created the Cost Per Inquiry Calculator for higher education marketers looking to understand the cost of attracting prospective students. But, just like all of our services, we’ve designed the CPI Calculator to be applicable and impactful across industries.
Common industries that often find success with the CPI Calculator include:
- Higher Education: for assessing the cost of leads for specific programs
- Travel and Tourism: for assessing the cost of leads for private events, meeting bookings, etc.
- Healthcare and Medical: for assessing the cost of leads for appointment and consultation bookings
As long as you’re a brand receiving inquiries and you’re interested in optimizing your spending — this tool is for you. Make it yours, and adapt it as you see fit.
Take the guesswork out of your exact CPI. Calculate your CPI using our calculator above, and we’ll email you the results and other CPI-related goodies.
Need Expert Help with your Marketing CPI?
Need more help calculating and interpreting your CPI? Get in touch with our analytics experts today — we’re here to help maximize the results you can make possible.
