CPC, CPM, CTR… the advertising business has no shortage of acronyms. In this article, we’ll clarify the jargon and explain how understanding these key metrics helps business owners evaluate marketing performance and identify opportunities.
The eight metrics we break down below are ones every legal marketer should know. We’ll also introduce lesser-known metrics that can have a big impact on lead generation. Here it goes, starting with our favorites: quality leads, return on ad spend, cost per lead, and the two conversion ratios.
Leads may sound simple, but they’re one of the most debated metrics. Every law firm wants more leads, but what counts as a lead can vary from campaign to campaign.
In the purest sense, a lead is anyone who contacts your firm or leaves their information asking for follow-up. This includes someone who calls your office, fills out a “Contact Us” form, or hands you a business card requesting a call. By contrast, someone who clicks your ad, visits your website, and leaves without asking to be contacted is not a lead. You have no way of identifying or reaching back out to them unless you use tools like remarketing.
There’s a big difference between low-quality and high-quality leads. A low-quality lead is unlikely to become a client. Maybe they were looking for a family lawyer but you handle criminal defense. Maybe the contact info they provided doesn’t work. Either way, they drain your intake team’s time and attention.
High-quality leads, on the other hand, show intent. These individuals researched attorneys and took the time to reach out. In campaigns we’ve reviewed, pressure to deliver numbers has sometimes led agencies to inflate lead counts. For example:
A caller who hangs up after three seconds is counted as a lead.
A prospect misled by an ad promoting pro bono services is added to the list.
A click from California is counted for a firm that only serves Kansas.
Combine that with ad fraud, bots, competitors clicking your ads, and salespeople clicking to pitch you services, and it’s clear why filtering for high-quality leads can be an uphill battle.
That’s why it’s important to align with your marketing team or agency early on to define what qualifies as a lead. We suggest discussing:
When should a call count as a lead? Most call tracking software records call length, so you can filter out wrong numbers by only counting calls that last at least 90 seconds.
When should a form submission count as a lead? Decide whether all forms on your website count or just specific ones.
How will leads be tracked and attributed? If you’re paying per lead, you need to make sure you’re not paying for referrals or organic leads that would come in anyway. Confirm you can tie each lead back to the campaign that brought it in.
And if your agency changes the subject and talks about clicks and impressions instead, walk away.
Return on ad spend (ROAS) shows how much revenue is generated for each dollar spent on advertising. A ROAS of 300% means you’re getting $3 in revenue for every $1 spent.
To calculate ROAS, divide the revenue attributed to your campaigns by your total ad spend for the same period. While ad spend is easy to pull from platforms like Google Ads, the revenue side requires more work and good analytics.
One method is to estimate revenue based on the average value of a client. Let’s say that’s $10,000. Then estimate your average conversion rate from lead to client—say 5%. Multiply those, and you get $500 in revenue per lead. If your campaign generated 100 leads, your projected revenue is $50,000. If you spent $10,000 to get those leads, your ROAS is 500%.
You can refine this further by calculating different values and conversion rates for each case type. If a slip-and-fall case nets $5,000 with a 20% conversion rate, but a medical malpractice case nets $100,000 with a 5% rate, you’ll want to adjust your strategy accordingly.
In the malpractice example, the lead brings in 60% more revenue than the slip-and-fall case. If the cost to acquire that malpractice lead is no more than 10 times the cost of a slip-and-fall lead, it’s worth it. Even if the cost per lead is three times higher, it can still be a good investment.
While ROAS is a great overall metric, it can be slow to respond to day-to-day changes. For that, cost per lead (CPL) is a more immediate and actionable metric.
CPL tells you how much, on average, you’re spending to get one lead. To calculate it, divide your ad spend by the number of leads generated. If you spent $5,000 in one month and brought in 40 leads, your CPL is $125.
This number helps you:
Track improvements. If a new ad group brings your CPL down to $100 from $125, you know it’s working.
Watch for diminishing returns. If you increase ad spend and your CPL rises, you may be reaching saturation.
Compare channels. If Google Ads has a lower CPL than Facebook, it might be time to shift budget.
CPL is also useful when evaluating agencies or hires. Ask them not only how they define a lead, but how they plan to track and improve CPL.
In some practice areas, you can generate leads at a fraction of the cost compared to Google keyword bidding, but those leads might convert at a lower rate. If your intake team can handle the volume and you’re tracking ROI properly, lower-quality leads can still be worth it.
Conversion ratios help you understand two things: whether you’re attracting the right audience and whether your message is effective.
The first is the leads-to-clicks ratio. This tells you how many clicks it takes to generate a lead. If you get 5 leads from 50 clicks, that’s a 10% conversion rate. We typically aim for 10–15%, but it can vary depending on your practice area and strategy.
A low conversion rate might mean:
You’re attracting the wrong audience.
The messaging on your landing page isn’t clear or compelling.
Your calls to action aren’t strong enough.
We once audited a law firm with a sitewide conversion rate of 6.5%. After reviewing traffic, we found that a large portion was landing on informational content like “how to install a car seat.” These visitors had no intent to hire an attorney. For organic traffic, this content might still serve a purpose, but for paid ads, those keywords should be excluded or paired with different offers.
The second is the clients-to-leads ratio, which tells you how many leads convert into signed clients. If you sign 1 out of every 10 leads, your conversion rate is 10%.
This ratio is harder to benchmark. Some firms intentionally take fewer cases. But tracking this number is essential—especially if you rely on a call center or have multiple intake staff. It can help identify performance gaps and guide training or resource allocation.
When you combine these two ratios, you can work backward from your goals. If you want 200 signed clients and have a 10% lead-to-click rate and a 25% client-to-lead rate, you’ll need about 8,000 clicks to hit your target.
If you’ve been pitched marketing services, you’ve likely heard about impression share, average position, click-through rate, and other metrics that sound impressive but don’t tell you much about your bottom line. Some agencies will send a 10-page report filled with charts that ultimately boil down to “you’re getting traffic.” But traffic without leads, or leads without clients, doesn’t help your practice grow.
That’s not to say these metrics are useless. They’re diagnostic tools. For example:
Click-through rate (CTR): If your ads are getting very low CTR, your copy may need improvement.
Impression share: If your impression share is low but your ads convert well, increasing budget may make sense.
Average position or ad rank: Helps determine how often you’re showing above competitors and what you’re paying for that visibility.
Use these to improve performance, but don’t mistake them for outcomes.
When we manage or audit marketing for law firms, we track a few extra metrics that often explain why a campaign is working—or not.
We track how many calls last more than 90 seconds or meet a set of qualifying rules. This filters out spam, wrong numbers, and misdials, giving us a more accurate picture of performance.
How long does it take your team to respond to a lead? Response time has a huge impact on conversion. If someone fills out your form and gets a call back within 5 minutes, your chances of signing them go up significantly.
How many people who filled out a contact form actually pick up the phone when your team calls? If this number drops, it may point to spam or low intent.
This helps you understand how well your intake team closes signed retainers. Are prospects ghosting you after an initial conversation, or are they coming back with questions? Small tweaks to follow-up emails or your intake script can improve this.
If you’re able to track it, this is the best metric of all. Knowing exactly how much it costs to get one signed case gives you full visibility into campaign profitability.
The most successful firms we work with treat marketing like a business function, not a gamble. They define success in advance, track the right numbers, and adjust based on results.
Understanding these metrics lets you ask smarter questions and hold your marketing team accountable. It also helps you identify what’s working so you can do more of it—and what’s not, so you can cut waste quickly.
If you want help tracking or improving any of the metrics in this article, let’s talk. We’re happy to take a look at your current performance and suggest next steps.
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