Work backwards from your spend to see what each enquiry, and each placed participant, really costs you. Results update as you type.
Enter your monthly marketing spend, the enquiries it produces, and how many turn into participants.
Cost per participant is the figure that tells you whether marketing is working. Compare it to what a participant is worth: if a participant is worth tens of thousands of dollars and costs you a few hundred to win, the maths is strongly in your favour.
The fastest lever is conversion. Lifting your enquiry-to-participant rate (faster responses, a clearer website, better follow-up) lowers cost per participant without spending another dollar. After that, shift budget to the channels with the lowest cost per enquiry.
It depends on participant value, but most providers are comfortable when cost per participant is a small fraction of a participant’s annual funding. SIL providers can justify far higher acquisition costs than community-supports providers.
Divide your monthly marketing spend by the number of qualified enquiries it produces. This calculator does it for you and then factors in your conversion rate.
Improve conversion: respond to enquiries the same day, make your website clear and accessible, and follow up consistently. Small conversion gains lower your cost per participant immediately.
These tools show the gaps. Our retainers close them. Get a free growth plan and we will map where your next participants come from.
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