The enrollment marketing glossary

The metrics that run enrollment marketing, defined in plain English — including the fine print that decides whether a number can be trusted.

Cost per lead (CPL)

What you pay, on average, for each lead a paid channel produces.

What you pay, on average, for each enrolled student a paid channel produces.

The percentage of leads that eventually become enrolled students.

Tracking the leads acquired in a window forward to today, however long conversion takes.

Counting everything that happened between two dates.

Comparing budget consumed, cycle elapsed, and funnel produced — continuously.

What you paid including agency fees, versus what the ad platforms charged.

A lead attributed to a channel you pay for — the only kind that belongs in cost math.

The share of admitted (or applied) students who actually enroll.

What you pay for each prospective-student inquiry from a paid channel.

The rawest expression of interest — and why the inquiry/lead distinction changes every metric built on it.

One number averaged across things that behave differently — the most common way reports flatter themselves.

How far along a cohort is in its conversion lifecycle — and the projection that says where it will finish.

Assigning credit for a lead or enrollment to the marketing that produced it.