Cost per lead is the number every broker compares and the least informative one available. Rep hours cost the same whichever list they dial, so a cheap lead that takes four times the attempts has moved the cost from the lead line to payroll rather than removing it. This works out the number that actually decides whether an order was worth buying.
Ours is $60. Exclusive verified runs $65–120; shared and aged run far less and convert far less.
Share you actually reach. This is where lead quality shows up first.
Of those contacted, the share that becomes a file.
Of approvals, the share that funds rather than shopping the offer.
The only lead metric that means anything. Cost per lead is an input to it, not a substitute for it.
One deal per 25 leads.
At these rates you could pay up to $246 a lead and still break even. That number is the reason cheap leads are rarely the saving they look like — halving the contact rate costs far more than halving the lead price saves.
Fifty leads at $60 with a 60% contact rate, 40% submitted, 50% approved and 33% closed produces two funded deals at about $1,515 each — and at those rates you could pay $246 a lead and still break even.
It only means anything against your commission. At a $62,000 average advance and 10 points, a funded deal is worth about $6,200 — so $1,500 to acquire one is a four-times return and $4,000 is still profitable. The number to watch is the trend across orders, not the absolute.
Because it ignores everything that happens after delivery. A $20 lead reaching a fifth of the people a $60 lead reaches is more expensive per conversation, before you count the rep hours spent on the difference. Run both through this and compare the funded-deal number.
Higher than from shared or aged data, but the variable that moves it most is not the lead — it is how fast you call. Shops calling within five minutes report contact rates several times those of shops calling the next morning, on identical leads.
On our own benchmark, an order of 50 produces two to four funded deals — so roughly 12 to 25 leads per deal. The worst recorded outcome was zero, and every time it came down to how the leads were worked rather than the leads.
Cost per funded deal
Total acquisition spend divided by the number of deals that actually funded from it.
Cost per lead
The price paid to acquire a single lead record, before any consideration of whether it converts.
Contact rate
The share of purchased leads that reach an actual conversation with the merchant.
Close rate
The share of qualified merchants who accept an offer and fund.
Speed to lead
The elapsed time between a lead being generated and the first outbound contact attempt.
Exclusive leads
Lead records sold to a single buyer, ideally with no expiry on that exclusivity.
We will tell you straight up if we cannot help you. No commission deals, no free trials, no chasing you for three weeks.