Keyword cost reality
The only defensible bid ceiling is the one you derive backwards from a signed case. Put in what a viable matter is expected to be worth to your firm, your own conversion rates, and your screening cost, and this returns the maximum you can rationally pay per click — before any margin.
The link carries your inputs. Forward it and the recipient sees exactly this result.
Result
- Break-even cost per click
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- Your current cost per click
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- Headroom against the ceiling
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- Clicks per signed case
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- Media cost per signed case at your current price
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- Screening cost per signed case
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- All-in cost per signed case
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- All-in as a share of expected fee
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Show the arithmetic
Why a very expensive click can be rational
| Rate | Movable? | Lever |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page conversion | Yes, substantially | Conversion layer — form length, load speed, stating what happens next |
| Contact rate | Yes, substantially | Speed-to-lead — the 90th percentile, not the median |
| Screen pass rate | Yes, through targeting | Better inquiry mix raises it; cheaper inquiry mix lowers it |
| Records obtained | Yes, through process | The most recoverable loss in the whole funnel and almost never worked on |
| Viability rate | No | A property of the matters. Targeting changes the mix; it does not change the medicine. |
| Signature rate | Partly | Speed, credibility, and whether the firm can answer the family’s questions on the first call |
| If headroom is… | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortably positive | The market price clears your economics. Buy more of it. | Scale until review capacity binds |
| Slightly positive | You are buying at close to break-even. Any conversion slippage puts you underwater. | Fix conversion before adding budget |
| Negative | At your current rates this channel loses money per case at this price. | Improve the movable rates, or move budget to organic and referral |
Provenance
| Input or output | Origin | If it is wrong, what breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Expected fee per signed viable matter | You — from your own resolved matters | The ceiling, proportionally. It is the largest single lever. |
| The six conversion rates | You — from your CRM | Clicks per signed case, which the ceiling divides by. |
| Screening cost per inquiry | You — invoices and reviewer time | The ceiling. Omitting it is why bid ceilings are usually set too high. |
| Your current cost per click | You — from your own ad account | The headroom comparison only. |
| Any market cost-per-click figure | Not present. Published figures for this category are unreliable across markets. | n/a |
No default in this tool is a claim. The starting values exist so the page is not blank on arrival. They are not benchmarks, they are not averages, and they describe no real firm. Replace every one of them with your own before acting on the result. See Methodology.
Other tools
Cost per signed case
Put your real spend through birth injury conversion economics and see the number your reporting is missing.
Screening capacity planner
How many inquiries your team can actually review — and what happens to the queue when you exceed it.
Firm site audit
A scored, sourced, prioritised read of your own site against twenty checks. Full result on screen, no email.
All seven tools → · The publications behind them → · Or have us run it with you →
Authorship & review
- Author
- Kevin Schwaner, Founder; Chief Marketing Officer. Credentials.
- Last reviewed
- Corrections
- Found an error? Tell us and it goes in the dated corrections log, whether or not it flatters us.