# Case Study: The Channel That Looked Eight Times Cheaper and Was a Third More Expensive | Crank Source: https://wearecrank.com/case-studies/social-impact-software-qualification-2026 Once qualification was traced through, the channel that looked nearly eight times cheaper on the surface turned out to cost more per genuine opportunity than the one it was being compared against. --- Social Impact Software — 2026 # The Channel That Looked Eight Times Cheaper and Was a Third More Expensive Once qualification was traced through, the channel that looked nearly eight times cheaper on the surface turned out to cost more per genuine opportunity than the one it was being compared against. Challenge One channel produced enquiries at £47 against £363 for another — nearly eight times cheaper on the surface — and a third channel took 27 per cent of spend while producing 74 per cent of enquiries, both of which looked like an obvious case for reallocating budget. Approach Trace every enquiry through to sales qualification before acting on cost per enquiry alone, and reconcile what the advertising platforms reported against what the sales system actually held. Outcome Once qualification was traced through, the cheap channel converted at 5.3 per cent against 54.5 for the expensive one — cost per qualified enquiry came out at £901 against £665, meaning the channel that looked eight times cheaper was in fact a third more expensive. 01 ## The cheap channel that was actually the expensive one One channel produced enquiries at £47 and the other at £363 — nearly eight times dearer on the surface. Once qualification was traced through the sales system, the cheap channel qualified 5.3 per cent of its enquiries and the expensive one qualified 54.5 per cent — ten times the rate. Cost per qualified enquiry came out at £901 for the cheap channel against £665 for the expensive one: the channel that looked nearly eight times cheaper was, in reality, a third more expensive. A gated technical document — self-selecting, attracting people who'd chosen the topic and identified themselves by role — did the qualifying before anyone in sales spent time on it; broad search terms did not. The same account showed the same trap from a different angle: one channel took 27 per cent of spend and produced 74 per cent of enquiries, an obvious case for shifting budget toward it — until qualification data showed its enquiries converted at a tenth of the rate. Acting on the obvious move would have made the account rationally, and entirely, worse. 02 ## Sixteen enquiries the platforms never claimed The advertising platforms reported 128 enquiries for the period. The sales system held 144 attributed to paid activity — sixteen people who were influenced by advertising but whose session had been recorded as direct, organic or offline. Twelve per cent of results the platform view alone would have credited elsewhere, or missed entirely. 03 ## Ten weeks to the first real opportunity, and why that's not a failure Across £16,481 of spend, 128 enquiries produced 31 marketing-qualified contacts, of which one reached sales-qualified status — 24 per cent qualifying at the first stage, 3 per cent of those progressing further. A campaign performing well on every platform measure can still be ten weeks from its first real opportunity. Knowing that in advance is what stops it being cancelled at week six for looking like it isn't working. ## What tracing qualification all the way through changed £901 vs £665 Cost per qualified enquiry, cheap channel vs. dear channel 5.3% vs 54.5% Qualification rate, same comparison 16 Enquiries the sales system held that the ad platforms never claimed 1 of 128 Enquiries that reached sales-qualified status within ten weeks Drawn from Crank's account work conducted in 2026 for this social impact software business. Client not named. ## Want to know what this looks like in your own account? These findings came from asking straightforward questions before any budget moved. We're happy to do the same for yours. [ Talk to Wearecrank](https://wa.me/447457416922?text=Help%20my%20business)[Get in touch](/contact) [← Back to all case studies](/case-studies)