Money view
Cost per booked job, explained: what it is & how to work it out
Cost per booked job is what you spent on a channel divided by the number of jobs it actually booked, not the number of leads. As an example, $1,500 of ad spend that produced 60 leads & 20 booked jobs is $25 a lead but $75 per booked job. The second number is the one that matches what you earn.
How do you calculate cost per booked job?
Cost per booked job = spend on the channel / jobs booked from that channel. Example, labelled as an example: $1,500 / 20 = $75. The hard part is the denominator: the ad platform sees the lead, & your booking tool sees the job. The two have to be joined by customer, & that join is what Attribute does.
Why is cost per lead the wrong number to steer by?
Because leads are not jobs. In the example, two thirds of the leads never booked, so a cost per lead of $25 hides a real cost of $75. Two campaigns can show the same cost per lead & very different cost per booked job, because one gets answered fast & the other gets a voicemail. See speed to lead.
What do you compare it with?
With what a booked job earns you, & with what the customer is worth over time. A $75 cost per booked job is cheap against a $310 ticket, & cheaper against a customer worth $1,240. The same $75 is expensive for a job that earns $90. All of those are examples; use your own tickets.
How does Foreman show it?
Foreman reads the ad spend from the ad account & the booked jobs & payments from your booking & payment tools, joins them by customer, & shows cost per booked job by channel, in the dashboard & as a line in the Monday report. If an ad tool is not connected yet, it shows what it can & says what is missing. The ads page covers what Foreman does with it.
Questions owners ask
What else do owners ask about cost per booked job?
What is cost per booked job?
Cost per booked job is what you spent to win customers divided by the number of those customers who actually booked. As an example, $1,500 of ad spend that ends in 20 booked jobs costs $75 per booked job.
How is it different from cost per lead?
Cost per lead stops at the form fill or the call. Cost per booked job counts only the leads that became work. In the example, the cost per lead is $25 & looks cheap, while the cost per booked job is $75, the figure that matches what you earn.
What should I include in the cost?
At minimum the ad spend for the period. If you pay an agency, a platform or a tracking number, add it in & say you did. Keep the period the same on both sides, so spend in March is set against jobs booked from March leads.
What counts as booked?
A job with a date on the calendar, or a deposit or payment, not a quote & not a callback request. Decide this once & use the same rule on every channel.
What is a good cost per booked job?
There is no single good number. It is good if it sits well below the gross profit the average job earns, & better if you compare it with the value of the customer over time. See what customer value is for the other half of the comparison.