One enquiry is worth roughly the profit from an average customer multiplied by the share of enquiries that become customers. If an average customer brings you £300 of profit over the time they stay with you, and one in four enquiries becomes a customer, each enquiry is worth about £75. That number tells you two things at once: the most you can sensibly pay an ad platform for a lead, and roughly what you lose every time an enquiry goes unanswered.
The five-minute calculation
| Step | Question | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What does an average customer spend per visit or job? | Your till, invoices or booking system |
| 2 | What share of that is profit after materials and staff time? | Your own margins; a rough figure is fine |
| 3 | How many times does an average customer come back? | Repeat bookings over a year or two |
| 4 | What share of enquiries become customers? | Count a month of enquiries and bookings |
| 5 | Multiply: spend × margin × repeat visits × conversion share | That is your value per enquiry |
Be conservative. Use the profit, not the price, and count only the repeat visits you are confident about. A rough honest number is far more useful than a precise wishful one.
Three illustrative examples
These are made-up businesses with round numbers, to show the method. Your own figures will differ.
| Salon (UK) | Tutor (India) | AC servicing (UAE) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average spend per visit | £50 | ₹4,000 a month | AED 300 |
| Profit share | 50% | 70% | 40% |
| Visits or months per customer | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| Profit per customer | £150 | ₹22,400 | AED 360 |
| Enquiries that become customers | 1 in 3 | 1 in 4 | 1 in 5 |
| Value per enquiry | about £50 | about ₹5,600 | about AED 72 |
What the number tells you about ads
If an enquiry is worth £50 and your ads bring enquiries at £10 each, you have a lot of room to spend more. If they cost £60, each one loses money unless something else improves, such as conversion or repeat visits.
It also explains why the cheapest leads are not always the best. A campaign bringing £8 enquiries that convert one in ten produces customers at £80. A campaign bringing £20 enquiries that convert one in two produces customers at £40. The second is twice as good, even though its reports look worse.
💡 Judge a campaign by cost per customer, then compare that with profit per customer. Cost per lead is only a step on the way.
The hidden cost of slow replies
Every enquiry you miss or answer too late loses most of its value, because the person often books elsewhere. You paid for that enquiry with ad spend, so the loss is double: the money already spent, and the profit you did not earn.
Try this for one week. Count the enquiries that waited more than a few hours for a useful reply, and those that were never answered at all. Multiply by your value per enquiry. For many small businesses the weekly figure is a surprise, and it is the honest budget for fixing the problem.
- 1Unanswered enquiries: count × full value per enquiry.
- 2Slow replies: assume you lose a meaningful share of them, and be honest about how many of those people later booked.
- 3Weekends and evenings: check separately; that is often where the losses gather.
What to do with the answer
| If you find… | Then consider… |
|---|---|
| High value per enquiry, few enquiries | More ad budget, or a new channel such as Google Search |
| Many enquiries lost to slow replies | A shared inbox, set reply times, or an assistant before more ads |
| Low conversion share | Better replies: price with context, a question, a specific next step |
| Low profit per customer | Repeat visits, packages or memberships before scaling ads |
Where Adyft fits in this sum
Adyft Ads shows spend, leads and cost per lead for each campaign in Reports, and scores every lead in the Leads inbox, so you can work out cost per customer once you mark who booked. Plans start at £39, $49, AED 129 or ₹1,999 a month, and 0% of ad spend.
If the sum says replies are your leak, Adyft Reply’s Free plan, a shared inbox for website chat and Telegram, is open now. WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and the paid AI plans, are opening soon after Meta’s approval.
Questions about the value of a lead
How do I calculate what a lead is worth?
Multiply profit per customer, including repeat visits, by the share of enquiries that become customers. That gives the average value of one enquiry.
What is the most I should pay per lead?
Comfortably less than your value per enquiry, so there is room left for profit. Many owners aim well below it while testing.
Should I use revenue or profit?
Profit. Using revenue makes every lead look more valuable than it is and leads to overspending on ads.
How do I know my conversion share?
Count enquiries and the bookings that came from them for a month. Asking new customers how they found you makes the count more accurate.
Is a missed enquiry really a full loss?
Not always; some people try again. But many book with whoever answered first, so treat a missed enquiry as most of its value lost.
See what your enquiries cost
Adyft Ads reports spend and cost per lead for every campaign, in your own ad account. 14-day free trial, no card.