What is cost per signed case?

Marketing spend divided by cases actually signed from that spend. Not cost per lead. If a channel costs $15,000, brings 200 leads, and signs 2 cases, the cost per signed case is $7,500 — not $75.

Why can’t my agency tell me which ads brought signed cases?

Because the agency sees leads, not retainers. Signing happens in your intake and practice-management tools, which the agency doesn’t read. The gap is plumbing, not honesty.

How many signed cases can most firms trace to a source?

Fewer than half. Public benchmarks put untraceable signed PI cases at 30–55%, and most firms say they can’t attribute the majority of signed matters. “How did you hear about us?” is the usual system.

What do I need to trace a case back to an ad?

Four things: a tracking number or UTM on every source, a contact record for every inquiry, a source ID that travels to the matter, and one monthly join of fees to source. That is the Signed-Case Loop.

Do I have to replace CallRail or Clio to do this?

No. ShiFt reads from the tools you already run — call tracking, intake, CRM, practice management — and writes one report. Keep your tools. Run the system.

What is a good cost per signed case?

It depends on fee. Public 2026 benchmarks show around $468 per signed case at a 7% lead-to-case rate across a large PI sample. Judge it against your average fee, not against another firm.

How do I get my number today?

Use the Cost-per-Signed-Case Calculator. Enter spend, leads, and signed cases by channel. It shows cost per case, how many cases you can’t trace, and the revenue that represents. Runs on your device.

Cost per signed case

Which ads brought signed cases?

Q: Why should the report come from outside the agency?

Because the agency is being graded. A neutral scorekeeper reports cost per signed case by source, weekly, with the method disclosed. ShiFt never touches the ad account.

Your agency counts leads. Your partner counts cases. This is the page in between.

Find my cost per signed case Get the worksheet

$75 a lead. $7,500 a case.

One channel, one month. Same spend, two very different numbers.

$15,000

Spend

200

Leads

Signed cases

Cost per lead

$75

$15,000 ÷ 200 leads

Cost per signed case

$7,500

$15,000 ÷ 2 signed cases

Illustrative example on a public benchmark, not a client result. Claim disclosures.

Four tools. Four numbers. No one reconciles.

Ads platform

Counts clicks and platform conversions. It never sees a retainer.

Call tracking

Counts calls and sources. It stops at the conversation.

Intake / CRM

Counts leads and dispositions. Source often arrives blank.

Practice management

Counts signed matters and fees. It rarely carries the source.

Platform conversions and CRM leads routinely disagree by 2×. The gap is infrastructure, not effort. Methodology.

Six links. Find the broken one.

The Signed-Case Loop™ runs from the ad click to the collected fee. Every case that signs travels all six. Wherever the chain breaks is where your attribution goes dark.

01
Source
What made them reach out?
Recorded by Ads platform, call tracking
Usually breaks: Number pool too small; forms without UTMs; “Direct” catch-all
Fix: Dynamic numbers on every page; UTM on every link; source stamped at first contact
02
Contact
Did anyone actually speak to them?
Recorded by Phone system, intake tool
Usually breaks: Missed calls have no record; after-hours calls vanish
Fix: Every inquiry gets a timestamped contact event
03
Qualified
Was it a case we want?
Recorded by Intake notes, CRM
Usually breaks: Qualification happens at the consult, not first contact
Fix: Disposition at first contact; one field, five values
04
Consult
Did they show?
Recorded by Calendar
Usually breaks: Booked ≠ held; no-shows counted as leads
Fix: Held flag from calendar; confirmation sequence
05
Signed
Did they retain?
Recorded by Practice management
Usually breaks: Matter opened without source carried over
Fix: Source ID travels to the matter record
06
Fee
What did it pay?
Recorded by Billing
Usually breaks: Nobody joins fee to source
Fix: Monthly join: fee collected ↔ source ID

Keep CallRail. Keep Clio. Keep the agency.

ShiFt reads from the tools you already run and writes one report: cost per signed case by source, every week, with the method disclosed. Cross-system, vendor-neutral. Nothing to rip out.

Google Ads & LSA
CallRail & call tracking
Clio & intake/CRM
Practice management
Billing

The agency can’t grade its own homework.

What ShiFt reports

Cost per signed case by source, weekly, with the method disclosed. A neutral scorekeeper that sits outside the spend.

What ShiFt never touches

The ad account. ShiFt does not buy media, manage campaigns, or compete with your agency. It grades the result.

The same firm should not both spend the money and score the money. That is why the report comes from outside it — the way the Supervised Intake Standard keeps intake honest.

We publish what we can prove.

2,847: leads traced
$3.4M: revenue traced to source
36: months matched, lead to invoice

One contractor client, 36 months, every lead and dollar traced. Roofing, not law. Single dataset. The first law-firm receipt publishes here.

Titan Restoration & Construction. Modeled where labeled; measured where stated. See the receipt.

Build your first closed-loop report by hand.

The Attribution Worksheet is the Signed-Case Loop as a spreadsheet — Google Sheet and .xlsx. Fill in the numbers you already have and you have cost per signed case by source this month.

Run your numbers. Two minutes.

Find my cost per signed case Book the free scan

Summarizes public guidance for planning. Not legal advice. Claim disclosures · Methodology