CPL: cost per lead

CPL (Cost per Lead) is advertising spend per lead: an inquiry or contact received before a sale.

Formula

CPL = advertising spend ÷ leads

A lead is not yet a customer. CPL connects to CAC through lead-to-sale conversion: CAC = CPL ÷ CR(lead → sale).

Spend — advertising budget for the period (₽)
Leads — new inquiries or contacts in the same period (items)

Worked example

Advertising budget: 120 000 ₽
Leads: 300

CPL = 120,000 ₽ ÷ 300 leads

Result: 400 ₽ per lead.

How to interpret it

To compare CPL with an affordable CAC, use lead-to-sale conversion. At 20% conversion and CAC of 3,000 ₽, an affordable CPL is 600 ₽.
A higher CPL does not always make the economics worse: more expensive leads can convert better.

Common mistakes

Counting all clicks or impressions as leads.
Comparing channel CPL without accounting for conversion to sale.
Forgetting that seasonality changes both lead cost and lead quality.

Calculate with your own data

Open “Maximum affordable CPL” with an example

The calculation runs in your browser; the example link restores its values in the calculator. Our calculation methodology documents formula versions, units and rounding.

Editorial team: MARKMA Editorial Team. Reviewed: 2026-09-25.