01Definitions
The vocabulary, defined.
Cost per lead in this niche is quoted anywhere from fifteen dollars to seven hundred and fifty. That is not a performance gap. It is several different definitions of one word, priced against each other and reported as though they were comparable.
Below are 20 terms, each on its own page, each with a formula where it has one, an explicit list of what counts and what does not, and a worked example with real arithmetic. These are the definitions our reports are written against.
Read the standard these come from01 The funnel stages
8 terms
Eight stages between a form submission and money in the account. Every reporting argument in this category is really an argument about which of these eight a number was counted at.
Lead
A lead is a form submission or inbound call with a working phone number.
Contacted
Contacted means a two way conversation with a human, not an outbound attempt.
Qualified
Qualified means contacted, in radius, clinically a full arch candidate, and financially screened.
Booked
Booked means a qualified patient is on the schedule with a confirmed date.
Showed
Showed means the patient was physically present at the consultation.
Presented
Presented means the patient received a treatment plan with a fee attached.
Started
Started means the patient signed and paid a deposit, or financing funded.
Collected
Collected means money in the practice account, reconciled against the practice management system.
02 The metrics
7 terms
Seven numbers, each with a formula and a denominator. Quoted without both, any of them can be made to say almost anything.
Cost per seated arch
Cost per seated arch is ad spend divided by arches actually started and paid for.
Cost per lead
Cost per lead is ad spend divided by every form submission and inbound call.
Cost per qualified lead
Cost per qualified lead is ad spend divided by leads that pass clinical and financial screening.
Cost per consult
Cost per consult is ad spend divided by consultations the patient actually showed up to.
Show rate
Show rate is the share of booked consultations where the patient physically attends.
Consult to start rate
Consult to start rate is the share of shown consultations that become started cases.
Return on ad spend
Return on ad spend is collected production divided by ad spend over the same cohort.
03 The concepts
5 terms
Five ideas that decide whether the funnel above works at all. Two are clinical, three are operational.
Full arch
Full arch is the replacement of all teeth in one jaw with an implant supported prosthesis.
All-on-X
All-on-X describes a full arch prosthesis supported by a variable number of dental implants.
Speed to lead
Speed to lead is the elapsed time between a lead arriving and a human speaking to them.
Treatment coordinator
A treatment coordinator is the person who presents the full arch treatment plan, fee and financing.
Offline conversion attribution
Offline conversion attribution sends cases closed outside the browser back to the ad platforms as events.
Check whether your market is open.
One full arch client per metro. Exclusivity covers full arch marketing only. It is not a general territory lock across every kind of dental marketing. If yours is held, we will tell you it is held.