Free tool

Lead Value Calculator: Estimate What Each Lead Is Worth

Seed Light built this free lead value calculator to show what one lead is worth in gross profit. It also shows the theoretical ceiling above what you can sensibly pay to win that lead.

See what one lead is worth in gross profit, and the ceiling that sets on what you can spend.

Your sales numbers

What a customer pays on an average sale

One job, one order or one booking.

Out of every 100 leads, how many buy

Your close rate. Count the whole year, not your best month.

How many times a customer buys in a year

Put 1 if people buy from you once and stop.

Out of every 100 in sales, how much do you keep

Your gross margin, after the cost of the product or the job.

Your result

Enter your numbers and your result will appear here. The calculation runs in your browser.

Talk through your result

Book a free 15-minute call and we will help you read the numbers and decide what is worth improving first.

We record the result band you reach, not the numbers you enter.

Free to use, with no sign up. The calculation runs in your browser, so the values you enter are not sent to our server or stored.

The maths

How this calculator works

01
What one customer is worth in a year
Your average sale multiplied by how many times someone buys in a year. That is what one customer is worth in sales over twelve months.
02
Take your margin off
A sale is not money in your pocket until the direct cost of the job comes off. Your margin turns customer sales into customer gross profit, which is the honest number.
03
Most leads do not buy
Multiply that gross profit by your close rate. If two in ten leads buy, one lead is worth a fifth of one customer, because the other eight cost you time and pay you nothing.
04
Leave room below the ceiling
The gross profit a lead carries is a theoretical acquisition ceiling before overhead, sales costs and risk. In practice you need room below it, which is why the tool also shows a target well under the ceiling.

A worked example

A dental clinic works out what one lead is worth. Two in every ten leads book, patients come back twice a year, and the clinic keeps sixty in every hundred. Example only. Replace these assumptions with your own numbers.

Average sale value: 1 unit
Times a customer buys a year: 2
Customer value in a year: 2 units
Margin kept: 60 in 100
Gross profit per customer: 1.2 units
Leads that buy: 20 in 100
What one lead is worth: 0.24 units

See how we win leads from search

Straight answers

Common questions

Common questions about the calculation and how to use the result.

Lead value shows what a lead is worth after close rate and sale value are considered. Cost per lead alone cannot tell you whether the campaign makes money.

Lead value should use a full year of profit when customers return during that period. Using one sale would leave out the profit from repeat purchases, so choose the period that reflects the value those customers actually bring to the business.

Use a close rate calculated from your own records. Count leads and paying customers over the same period, then divide customers by leads. Remove test submissions and obvious spam before calculating, and use a longer period when monthly numbers vary sharply.

Your actual spend should stay below the lead value ceiling, with the gap set through your own judgement. The ceiling counts gross profit only, so consider overhead, the time spent chasing leads and refunds before deciding how much of that value you can afford to spend.

No, and that is worth knowing. A lead from someone searching for your service by name closes far more often than one from a cold advert, so it is worth more.

Keep going