Patient acquisition cost calculator
Patient acquisition cost is a period's advertising and marketing spend divided by the number of new patients treated in that period. Enter your monthly spend, your enquiries and the rates from enquiry to consultation, consultation to quote and quote to treatment, and the calculator shows the cost per enquiry and per patient, the revenue, how many times over the spend comes back, and the stage where you lose most people.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Nothing is stored
Work it out
The example figures only show how the tool works; they are not averages or targets.
Result
Fill in the fields to see the result.
The sums are done in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or stored anywhere; it is gone when you close the page.
How it works
- Consultations = enquiries × the enquiry-to-consultation rate; quotes = consultations × the consultation-to-quote rate; treated patients = quotes × the quote-to-treatment rate.
- Cost per enquiry = monthly spend ÷ enquiries. The cost per consultation, per quote and per treated patient is the same spend divided by the number at that stage.
- Revenue = treated patients × average treatment value. Return on spend is revenue ÷ spend: 4× means £4 of revenue for every £1 spent.
- The stage that loses most is the one with the lowest rate: the biggest share of the people who reach it go no further.
Using the result
Compare the cost per patient with the profit a treatment leaves you. Even when revenue is several times the spend, little may be left after the doctor, materials, accommodation and transfers are paid for.
Look at the weakest stage first. If few enquiries become consultations, the problem may be how fast and how often you reply; if few consultations become quotes, missing information at the assessment; if few quotes become treatments, the price, trust or how you follow up the quote.
Work the figures out for each channel separately: patients from ads, social media, partners and referrals can cost very different amounts and convert very differently.
If patients take weeks or months to decide, comparing a month's spend with the same month's treatments misleads. Use three- or six-month totals instead.
Klinikbook
Stop counting the funnel by hand
In Klinikbook, the lead form on your website records every enquiry with its source (UTM parameters, referrer and landing page) and opens a case. The case moves through your pipeline's stages from first contact to evaluation, quote, booking and treatment, and because each stage is tied to a fixed milestone such as "quote sent" or "treated", you don't have to count the funnel by hand.
The dashboard shows the funnel by stage, and reports show how far cases got by source, country, service and owner. Klinikbook doesn't hold your ad spend: you work out the cost here, with the spend from your ads account.
Related pages
- GuidesHow to respond to patient enquiries quickly and consistentlyThe first reply, a follow-up rhythm and what to measure.
- TemplatesPatient tracker spreadsheet (Excel)A free spreadsheet that works out your conversion rate by stage, source and treatment.
- GlossaryConversion rateThe share of people who move from one stage to the next, and how to work it out.
- GlossaryAttributionRecording which channel a patient came from.
Frequently asked questions
What is patient acquisition cost?
It is what you spend on advertising and marketing to bring one new patient through to treatment: the period's spend divided by the number of new patients treated in the same period.
What is the difference between cost per enquiry and cost per patient?
Cost per enquiry is what you spend to receive one enquiry. Cost per patient is what you spend for each patient who is treated; it is always higher, because some enquiries never become treatments.
What should I count as spend?
Your ad budget, agency and freelancer fees, the cost of promotional content and the software you use for marketing. If you want to include coordinators' salaries, do it the same way every month so the months stay comparable.
Where do I find my rates?
If you keep your enquiries in a spreadsheet or a CRM with their stages, count how many of a month's enquiries reached a consultation, a quote and treatment. If you don't yet, our free patient tracker spreadsheet is a place to start.
Is return on spend the same as profit?
No. It divides revenue by spend, with none of the treatment's costs taken off. A 3× return means £3 of revenue for every £1 spent; profit is what is left after the treatment's costs.
Why are treated patients shown with decimals?
The rates are averages, so the result is an average too. 2.4 patients a month means that, in similar months, between two and three patients are treated on average.
More free tools
- Treatment package calculatorWork out a package total, deposit and balance from treatments, hotel, transfers and discount, and copy a summary for the patient.Open the tool
- No-show cost calculatorSee what no-shows cost you each month and year, and what you gain if the rate falls.Open the tool
- Aftercare schedule generatorTurn a treatment date into follow-up dates and add them to your calendar as an .ics file.Open the tool
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