My Cost Per Lead Is Too Damn High! Consider These Options

January 30, 2016

Esther Lee

Why is my Cost Per Lead so high? How many leads can I get for $500? Have you found yourself asking these types of questions? Focusing too much on cost per lead is a common digital marketing mistake made by many real estate professionals.

It doesn’t matter if you have the lowest possible CPL if you also have the lowest possible conversion rate. But of course, having a lower CPL doesn’t hurt! Focus on your conversion rate generate a higher ROI. In the meantime, here are some quick wins for you to lower your CPL to maximize your budget and generate more leads.

Think Broader

There is a huge focus on thinking hyperlocal in real estate, so you may be surprised to find that one easy way to lower your CPL is to think broader. Instead of bidding on keywords for small boroughs and city pockets, go for the larger metro areas.

I know what you’re thinking. “But that’s not my farm area!” Maybe not, but think about it–relocators are likely to start their searches more broadly, typing in “San Francisco homes” vs “Daly City homes.” The business of real estate may be hyperlocal, but real estate search typically is not.

Searches for larger metro areas have more traffic, less competition, and lower Cost-Per-Lead. A broader pool gets you in front of more people earlier, and for cheaper. Sure, you may catch a few leads searching in an area you don’t service or focus on, but you can capture a larger audience at the beginning of their search, then nurture them down to a smaller focus on a specific area.

Remarketing

Remarketing - 2

Remarketing is an easy way to reach visitors who abandoned the page without registering on your site. For example, let’s say Bob found your website through organic search (which was free, by the way!), and looks around, but ultimately leaves your site without converting. With remarketing, Bob will see ads for your home search site while he is browsing other websites, or even on Facebook. Because it can blur the lines between different channels and platforms, it can be harder to track the true cost per lead for remarketing campaigns. However, remarketing is a proven method of re-engaging leads at a low cost, to bring them back to your website and drive more closed deals.

Diversify Your Lead Sources

Everyone is a potential homebuyer. But not everyone is actively searching for a home. If you are investing money only towards Pay-Per-Click campaigns, you are simply fulfilling the demand that’s out there. But only 20% time spent online is spent actually searching for a home. By diversifying your sources, you are can reach the thousands of others who are not actively searching for homes, thereby generating potential demand.

For instance, there are some people who will never click on Adwords links, but are more likely to click ads on Facebook. BoomTown’s team of Search Engine Marketing experts can work to maximize your spend. They monitor our clients’ ad performance and shuffle budgets toward channels that are performing better than others, effectively lowering CPL. Our Paid Lead Generation Services have decreased our client’s CPL by an average of 20%. Spreading your budget throughout multiple channels places you in front of a greater number of people, and also improves your chance of conversion.