Cost per lead definition: cost per lead (CPL) is a form of advertising where brands only pay a platform when they have successfully generated a lead for their business.

Cost per lead is used to generate a list of people a brand can contact; these leads usually fall into one of two categories:

• Marketing leads: where a customer is added to a database to receive marketing communications
• Sales leads: where a customer is added to a list to be contacted by a member of the sales team

For example:

IBM may use cost per lead:

• In their marketing to add business owners to their mailing list.
• In sales to find and pitch to business owners who need their services

Popularity of the term Cost per Lead

Concept related to Cost per Lead

• Cost per action
• Cost per conversion
• Cost per mile

Additional resources about Cost per Lead

• Cost Per Lead (CPL): Getting Started With This Important Metric
• Cost Per Lead: Measure the cost-effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
• Average cost per lead by industry: the final answer from 22 influential articles