Cost Per Qualified Enquiry (CPQE)
Harsh Kyada, Founder · Reference
The stricter version of cost per enquiry: only enquiries that pass a real filter, like a stated budget range or purchase timeline, count.
Cost per qualified enquiry (CPQE) is cost per enquiry, but counting only the enquiries that actually pass a real filter, most often a stated budget range and purchase timeline, before they're counted. A form that only asks for a name and phone number produces volume; a form or scripted WhatsApp flow that asks budget and timeline filters out browsers before they ever reach a salesperson.
Why it usually costs more per enquiry, but less per sale
Adding a qualification step typically raises the raw cost-per-enquiry slightly, since fewer people bother finishing a form that asks real questions. But it lowers cost-per-sale by a lot, since the enquiries that remain are the ones actually worth a salesperson's time. CPQE is the metric that reflects that trade-off honestly; raw CPE doesn't.
A real example
Envision Realtors' CPQE dropped from ₹560 to ₹184 in the first 90 days, a fraction of the ₹500-₹2,000 industry-typical range for qualified real estate leads in India (see cost per lead benchmarks). That number is comparable across campaigns precisely because it's already filtered for real intent.
How we report it
For builder and developer clients, CPQE is the headline number in every monthly report, not reach or cost-per-click. See our lead generation service for how the qualification step actually gets built into a campaign.
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