# How do you know if a lead campaign is actually working?

URL: https://gogodigital.co.il/en/how-do-you-know-if-a-lead-campaign-is-actually-working/

The short answer

By the money that comes in from closed deals, compared to what went out on advertising. Not by the number of leads, and not by cost per lead. I call it the revenue KPI (key performance indicator), and my target is that every dollar spent on ads comes back as 8 to 12 dollars in real revenue. A campaign that brings in lots of cheap leads and zero deals fails this test, even if the report looks great.

## What is the revenue KPI?

One question: how much money came into the business because of the campaign, and how much went out on it? Divide the revenue from closed deals by the ad spend, and you get a metric called Revenue on Ad Spend (ROAS). My target is between 800% and 1200%.

Sounds obvious, but in practice most reports business owners get talk about something else: how many leads came in, what each lead cost, how many people saw the ad. Couldn’t close the sale? Your problem! Those numbers help run the campaign, but they don’t answer the question the business owner is really asking: is the advertising making me money?

An example from a campaign I inherited from a previous agency, in industrial lighting: 142 leads at a very low cost per lead. In the report, that looked great. In the revenue KPI, the result was 0%, because not a single deal closed. With a similar budget, I brought in just ten leads, but their potential is roughly 50 times what was spent. It’s too early to know how much of that will close, but it’s clear which number to track. I wrote about this case in detail in the [post on a campaign that brings lots of leads and no sales](/many-leads-no-sales/).

## Why isn’t it enough to look at what Google and Meta report?

Because with leads, the platforms only know about the moment someone submitted their details or performed any other kind of conversion. What happens next, on the phone, in the meeting, when the agreement is signed, happens at your business, and they can’t see it.

That means when the report in Meta shows “30 conversions,” it’s counting 30 forms that were filled out, not 30 customers. And sometimes Google and Meta both report the same lead because the user saw an ad on both platforms.

You can narrow the gap. In Google Ads, for example, you can import phone calls that actually happened back into the platform so the system can learn from them. But in the end, the only source that knows whether a deal closed is the business itself.

And you can go one step further. If the business uploads to Google Ads a list of people who left their details and also actually bought, Google can learn what characterizes real buyers, not just people who fill out forms. This is done in two ways: importing the deals as conversions, so bidding targets people who buy, and building an audience from the customer list (Customer Match).

For a large insurance agency that closes hundreds of policies a month, this is a powerful tool. It has enough buyers for the system to learn from, and the list updates fast.

But a business that sells a few high-value deals gets stuck here. A customer-list audience requires at least 1000 active users that Google can match, and bidding needs a steady stream of conversions to learn. Someone who closes ten deals a year won’t get there. In that case, this data works for the business owner and whoever runs their ads, not for the algorithm. That’s one more reason the revenue test is done mostly outside the platform.

## Over what period do you measure?

Not one month. With an expensive product or service, the deal usually closes some time after the lead comes in. A lead that arrives in January can become a deal in April. Anyone who measures a single month might think a campaign failed when, in fact, its deals just haven’t arrived yet.

I measure over the whole period. After three months, I start tracking the metric month by month and keep the data in a chart like the example below

From a client’s ROAS report · August 2025 to August 2026

Anyone judging this campaign by a single month would have seen a sharp drop in December 2025 after three strong months. Throughout the period, not a single month fell below target. Looking over time can also point to seasonality in the business, not necessarily a problem on the digital marketing side

The rule I work by: the measurement period should be longer than the time it takes the business to close a deal once a lead comes in. A business that closes within a week can measure every month. A business that closes after three months needs patience. And I wrote about how to set a budget based on deal value in the [post on advertising budget](/ad-budget-for-expensive-product/).

## Why do I need to share sales data with whoever runs my ads?

Because without it, whoever manages the campaign can only improve what they can see: number of leads and cost per lead. And that’s exactly where campaigns start serving the report instead of the business.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple update once a month is enough: which leads made it to a meeting, which closed, and roughly for how much. With that information, you can see which ad, which platform, and which audience actually bring in money, and move the budget there.

It’s also a matter of trust. Someone who’s willing to be measured by the money that comes in, not by numbers that look good in a report, is probably looking at the same bottom line you are.

## Frequently asked questions

  Isn’t cost per lead a good metric?

It’s a good metric for running a campaign, not for judging it. A cheap lead that doesn’t buy costs more than an expensive lead that does. I wrote about this in the [post on cost of sale](/high-cost-of-sale/).

   What do you do when there are no closed deals yet?

Look at the stage before: how many leads made it to a meeting, and what their potential is. That’s still not the revenue test, but it’s a better sign than the number of leads.

   And what if the deal closed thanks to the salesperson, not the campaign?

Both need to work. The campaign brings the right person to the conversation, and the salesperson closes. I advertise, the client sells. The revenue test checks the whole chain, and that’s exactly the point.

   Is 800% a reasonable target for every business?

Not necessarily. It’s my target, for businesses that sell expensive products or services. In a low-margin business, even 800% might not be enough. In a business with customers who come back year after year, you can settle for less on the first deal.