Law firms - the long version
What does one signed matter actually cost your firm?
Cost per inquiry is a vendor's number. Cost per signed matter is the firm's.
For attorneys and firm administrators. Injured people should not use this page.
Reading time is about eight minutes. Nothing here quotes a price or promises a result.
The situation
The two are separated by everything the firm controls: answering speed, screening, follow-up discipline, and the standard applied at the door.
Firms that only track the first number end up cancelling sources that were working and renewing ones that were not, because the figure they are reading does not describe what they buy.
The arithmetic is not complicated. It is only ever done with the firm's own figures, which is why no number appears on this page.
Why the wrong number gets used
- Cost per inquiry compares two sources that convert at completely different rates.
- Industry averages describe firms with different criteria, venues and intake.
- Without a contact rate of your own, every projection is somebody else's guess.
- Decisions to cancel or expand get made on the number that was easiest to find.
The four rates that produce the figure
Each one comes from your records. If a rate is unknown, that is the first thing worth fixing.
01 - Contact rate
The share of inquiries you actually reach and speak to.
02 - Consultation rate
The share of those conversations that become a real consultation.
03 - Retention rate
The share of consultations that sign.
04 - Average fee
Your own figure for the matters this criteria set would produce.
05 - The resulting ceiling
What you can pay per qualifying inquiry and still be comfortable, which is the only price question worth asking.
The calculator runs in the browser on your figures. Sending them to our team is optional.
What you keep
What you keep from this exercise
- 01
Your cost per signed matter
Built from your rates, not from an average.
- 02
A price ceiling
The figure above which no source makes sense for you.
- 03
A gap list
The rates you could not supply, which is usually the most useful output.
- 04
A model you can rerun
Change one rate and see what it does, before changing anything in the firm.
Straight answers
The questions firms ask about this
- We do not track these rates. What then?
- Then that is the finding. The calculator still runs on estimates, clearly marked as estimates, and the first pilot produces the real ones.
- Why will you not publish typical figures?
- Because they would be someone else's firm, criteria and venue. A number like that reassures without informing.
- Do our figures go anywhere?
- Only if you press send. The calculation happens in your browser, and nothing is recorded unless you choose to share it.
- Can you guarantee a return?
- No. What is committed is volume, criteria, delivery and review. Anyone promising a return is guessing on your behalf.
Your criteria
Send your figures to our team
Share your criteria and the rates you have. We come back with the economics written out and the gaps named.
What happens next
- 01We reply within one business day and propose a time.
- 02We draft your criteria document and send it back for corrections. Nothing is delivered until you approve it.
- 03If we can meet the standard, we quote per billable inquiry. If we cannot, we say so.
We do not sell or share what you submit here, and we do not use it for anything other than responding to your enquiry.
Or take it to a call
Thirty minutes on criteria and economics
Bring the figures this article asked for. You leave with a draft standard either way.
Criteria and Pricing Call · 30 minutes
Discuss criteria, delivery needs, and pricing for MVA and workers’ compensation inquiries, live phone transfers, signed cases, signed commercial cases, and catastrophic commercial cases. No questionnaire is required before booking.
Book a CallBook within the next four days. The calendar opens in a new tab. Complete your booking to receive your confirmation and calendar invite.
Next step
Set your ceiling before anyone quotes you a price
Forty-five minutes on your rates, the resulting ceiling and the criteria that drive both.