Cost per site visit vs cost per lead in real estate

How to calculate cost per site visit

CPSV = marketing spend on a source ÷ completed site visits from that source, over the same period.

Here's why it changes decisions. The two sources below are illustrative, but the pattern is common: the source with the cheaper leads is the more expensive way to get people to the site.

Judged on cost per lead, Source A looks three times cheaper. Judged on CPSV, Source B delivers visits at half the cost, and it gives the sales team 700 fewer leads to chase.

Why cost per lead misleads

• Intent varies by source. A buyer who fills a detailed project enquiry is not the same as one who tapped a pre-filled ad form.
• The same buyer arrives more than once. Buyers enquire on several portals and ads, so raw lead counts overstate how many people you reached.
• Bad contact details look like leads. Wrong numbers and unreachable leads still count towards CPL.
• Leads cost sales time. Every lead that will never visit still takes calls and follow-ups.

Decide what counts as a site visit

CPSV is only useful if everyone counts visits the same way. Write the rules down before you compare sources:

• Count completed visits, not scheduled ones.
• Count a buyer's first visit for CPSV, and track revisits separately as a sign of intent.
• Pick one attribution rule, such as the source of the buyer's first enquiry, and apply it to every source.
• Report visits brought by channel partners separately. Their cost is commission on bookings, not ad spend.

How to track CPSV by source, step by step

1. Tag every lead with its source when it's captured: portal, ad campaign, website form, walk-in or channel partner.
2. Merge duplicates so one buyer is one record, keeping the first source.
3. Log each site visit against the buyer's record, with the date and outcome.
4. Record each source's spend for the month, including portal subscriptions, not just ad spend.
5. Divide spend by completed first visits for each source, and compare sources side by side.
6. Move budget towards the sources with the lowest CPSV, then check again next month.

Compare your own sources side by side with the free cost per site visit calculator.

The next step: cost per booking

Once visits are tracked, cost per booking is spend divided by bookings from a source. Bookings lag visits by weeks or months, so you need a few months of data before it's reliable. Until then, CPSV is the earliest metric that reflects real buyer intent.