Working out what one enquiry is worth to you

This single figure settles arguments. Whether a marketing spend is sensible, whether a slow reply matters, whether a website improvement is worth the money: all of it becomes arithmetic once you know what an enquiry is worth.

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Take the enquiries from a representative period, count how many became customers, and total what that work was worth. Divide the total by the number of enquiries, including the ones that never converted. That is your average enquiry value, and it makes most marketing decisions straightforward.

Why this number is worth an afternoon

Without it, every marketing decision is a matter of instinct and every price feels expensive. With it, the questions answer themselves. Is a monthly spend worth it? How many enquiries would it need to produce? Is replying faster worth reorganising for?

It is also the number that makes the case for improving the website, because it converts a vague benefit into a figure you can compare against a quote.

The calculation

Keep it simple and use your own records rather than any industry figure.

  • Choose a period long enough to include a normal mix of work.
  • Count the enquiries received in that period, all of them.
  • Count how many became paying customers.
  • Total the value of the work those customers produced.
  • Divide the total value by the total number of enquiries.

Include the ones that went nowhere

This is the step people skip, and skipping it produces a figure two or three times too high. The average must include every enquiry, including the ones that never replied, were not a fit, or vanished.

The number you want is what a typical enquiry is worth before you know which kind it is, because that is the situation you are in when deciding whether to spend money attracting more of them.

Profit rather than turnover, where you can

Turnover overstates the value of low-margin work and can make your least profitable service look like your best channel. Where you know your margins, use profit.

Where you do not, use turnover consistently and remember that the resulting figure is generous. Both are usable; mixing them between periods is not.

Split it where the difference is real

One average across everything hides useful differences. If enquiries for one service are worth several times another, or if calls convert far better than forms, split the figure accordingly.

Do not split it further than your records support. Three broad groups you can actually populate beat twelve precise ones based on four enquiries each.

  • By service, where values genuinely differ.
  • By channel, if you record source reliably.
  • By type of contact, such as call versus form.
  • Only where you have enough enquiries in each group to mean anything.

Using it

Once you have the figure, most decisions become one line of arithmetic. A proposed spend divided by enquiry value gives the number of extra enquiries it needs to produce. Usually that number is small enough to make the decision obvious in one direction or the other.

It also reframes internal habits. If an enquiry is worth a meaningful sum, then a form field that loses one in ten is not a small thing, and a reply that waits until Thursday is expensive.

How Licheo uses it

We use your figures rather than industry averages, because industry averages are usually somebody else's marketing material and rarely resemble a particular business.

Where a figure is not yet available, we say so plainly instead of borrowing one that sounds plausible.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Revenue per visitor. The other parts:

Questions people ask

How do I calculate what a lead is worth?
Take a representative period, count all enquiries received, total the value of the work that came from them, and divide. Include the enquiries that never converted, since they are part of what a typical enquiry is worth.
Why include enquiries that never converted?
Because when you decide whether to spend money attracting more enquiries, you do not know in advance which kind you are getting. Excluding failures produces a figure two or three times too high.
Should I use turnover or profit?
Profit where you know your margins, since turnover overstates low-margin work and can make your least profitable service look like your best channel. Whichever you use, keep it consistent between periods.
Should I have different values for different services?
Yes, where the difference is real and you have enough enquiries in each group to support it. Three broad groups you can populate are more useful than twelve precise ones based on a handful each.
Can I use an industry average instead?
It will mislead you. Industry averages are usually somebody's marketing material and rarely resemble a particular business. Your own records, however rough, are more accurate than anybody else's benchmark.

Know what an enquiry is worth

We work from your figures rather than industry averages, and we say plainly when something is not yet known.

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