What cost per signed case leaves out

We reconcile the expense base before discussing efficiency.

Gadient Consulting separates media-only cost from broader acquisition cost when reviewing a PI firm’s marketing economics. An agency report may count advertising while the firm also pays for production, software, intake, and management. Those views can both be useful, but they cannot share an unlabeled number.

We work with finance to create a cost schedule: included categories, allocation method, accounting period, and source records. We identify shared expenses and document how they are allocated. If an expense is missing, we label the view partial rather than calling it fully loaded.

This produces a repeatable calculation the team can update. A change in cost scope appears as a definition change, not an apparent deterioration in campaign performance.

Document the cost base using the cost-per-signed-case measurement guide.

We show leadership exactly what changes the calculation.

Enter media spend and signed cases from the same cohort, then add the other acquisition expenses included in the review. At inputs of $36,000, 12 cases and $6,000 of additional costs, the calculations are $3,000 media-only and $3,500 with the additional expenses.

We use this kind of reconciliation in the operating review so leadership can see whether a difference comes from outcomes or accounting scope. The $500 difference does not establish that the agency performed worse. It establishes that the second calculation includes more expense.

Neither figure establishes profit. Our reporting keeps acquisition, case servicing, expected fees, and collected cash distinct. Finance and attorneys provide the assumptions relevant to the actual case mix.

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We connect costs to the inquiries they helped acquire.

We maintain a period view for current spending and activity, plus an acquisition-cohort view for how a defined set of inquiries develops. This month’s signatures may come from earlier spending, while this month’s new inquiries may still be open.

Google documents conversion lag in advertising reporting. At the firm level, we label the cohort’s acquisition dates, observation cutoff, pending outcomes, and maturity. We revisit the same cohort instead of repeatedly judging new inquiries before they have had comparable time to progress.

Where source matching is incomplete, we show the unmatched population and investigate material gaps. We do not allocate every unknown matter to the channel that makes the report reconcile most attractively.

Source: Google Ads: conversion lag reporting

See why differences in events and timing cause marketing reports to disagree.

We bring case economics and capacity into the decision.

We segment results by the case groups the firm has approved for analysis. A lower average acquisition cost can conceal a shift toward matters the firm is less equipped to serve. A higher cost can accompany a different mix, but that does not establish that the investment is justified.

We ask legal and financial leaders to identify work requirements, expense exposure, referral arrangements, expected fee timing, and uncertainty. Settlement value is not collected attorney fees, and projected fees are not profit. We preserve those distinctions in the leadership review.

We also connect acquisition to capacity. A firm may be able to fund more inquiries but lack review or onboarding capacity. Our recommendation includes the operating dependency instead of assuming every additional signed matter can be served at the same cost.

We turn the number into a budget action.

When cost changes, we trace the cause through valid inquiries, contact, qualification, signing, expense definitions, and cohort maturity. We then identify the work that fits the evidence: revise targeting, change creative, fix a handoff, adjust staffing, or correct measurement.

We prepare an investment recommendation with its assumptions, exposure, owner, and review condition. If the next increment of spend is untested, we frame it as a controlled decision with a stop or adjustment rule. Historical averages do not guarantee the cost of the next case.

The limitation is that a clean acquisition report still cannot prove mature profitability before fees and expenses resolve. Our fractional CMO and attribution work makes the available evidence usable while keeping that uncertainty visible. Start with the same cohort’s expense ledger and intake outcomes, not two unrelated dashboard totals.

Compare competing uses of a spending increase with our next $25,000 PI marketing investment worksheet.

Discuss the work with Gadient Consulting in a consultation about this workflow.

Before expanding a channel, examine intake capacity and the next marketing investment.