What care directories actually cost per enquiry

Most care homes know the directory invoice and nothing else. The number that matters is cost per admission, not cost per enquiry, because a directory listing that produces no admissions is an overhead, not a marketing channel. 

This article works through a clearly illustrative example, then runs the same sum for Google Ads and for your own website, so all three channels sit on one scale.

Keep reading and get all the numbers

How do you work out cost per enquiry from a directory invoice?

You need three numbers: annual directory spend, enquiries traced to that directory, and admissions from those enquiries. Nothing else. Take an illustrative example: £4,000 a year, 40 enquiries, 4 admissions. That is £100 per enquiry and £1,000 per admission.

The invoice feels smaller than it is once you divide it by outcomes. Most owners have never done that division. They renew the listing because it has always been there, not because it earns its place. A £4,000 invoice is easy to absorb. A £1,000 cost per admission is a commercial decision.

The trap is counting the same enquiry twice. A family finds you in a directory, then searches your name on Google before phoning. The call gets logged as a Google enquiry. The directory claims credit too. Neither number is clean unless you ask the family where they first heard of you. The CQC publishes a directory of care services that families use as a starting point, but the journey rarely ends there.

How do you tag an enquiry when the family phones instead of filling in a form?

Most care enquiries arrive by phone, so form-based tracking misses the majority and flatters whichever channel gets the credit. The fix is one question at first contact: "Where did you hear about us?" Log the answer in the same place every time, with a fixed list of source options. No free text.

Call tracking numbers per channel record the source whether or not the caller remembers. A directory listing gets one number. Your website gets another. Google Ads gets a third. The phone rings, the number tells you the source, and the family never has to recall anything.

Untagged enquiries default to word of mouth in the retelling. A daughter says "my mum's neighbour mentioned you" and the directory listing that actually started the search disappears from the record. 

That makes directories look better than they are, because the enquiries they generate get attributed to reputation. The CQC's care services directory is one of several places families begin, but without source tagging you will never know which one worked.

Why does cost per admission matter more than cost per enquiry?

All enquiries are not equal. A self-funding dementia enquiry and a council-funded respite enquiry are different assets. One can be worth £1,499 a week. The other might be below cost. Cost per enquiry treats them the same, which is why it flatters cheap channels that produce low-value leads.

Continue the worked example. At £1,000 per admission, compare that with the value of one private resident over an average stay. Published 2026 averages put residential care at £1,406 a week, nursing care at £1,558, and dementia care at £1,499, according to My Home Touch. One private admission at those rates covers the directory cost many times over.

The fee mix point is blunt. One private admission at £1,406 a week can outweigh several local authority placements at lower rates (we know the local authourity only pay on average 80-85% of your weekly fees). 

Rank channels by the admissions they actually produce, not the enquiries they claim. Paying for Care reports average residential fees of £57,200 a year in England, rising to over £75,244 with nursing care. A channel that produces one private admission a year is not a cost. It is revenue.

How do you run the same sum for Google Ads?

Same three numbers, different invoice: ad spend, enquiries, admissions, with spend visible monthly rather than annually. An illustrative example: £1,500 a month, 30 enquiries, 3 admissions. That is £50 per enquiry and £500 per admission, before any organic work.

The honest caveat is that paid ads stop when you stop paying, you are renting the ad-space and when you stop the rent, your ads are no longer visible. 

The comparison is cost per admission while the campaign runs, not a like-for-like annual figure. A directory invoice recurs annually. Ad spend recurs monthly. The maths works either way, but you must compare the same period.

TRG Digital runs paid campaigns measured on enquiries and admissions rather than clicks. Spend can be switched on when beds are empty and off when you are full. The value side of the sum stays the same: one private admission at the 2026 average residential fee of £1,406 a week covers a £500 acquisition cost within days. The Paying for Care figures show why the admission, not the click, is the only metric worth paying for.

Why does your own website look free when it is not?

The website has a cost too: build, hosting, content updates, and the staff time spent chasing enquiries it does not generate. Annualise the build over three years, add hosting and maintenance, then divide by traced enquiries and admissions.

An illustrative example: £6,000 build over three years plus £600 a year running costs, 60 enquiries, 6 admissions. That is roughly £43 per enquiry and £430 per admission. The website is usually the cheapest channel per admission, once it works.

The catch is that a slow site, unclear on fees or silent on funding routes, produces nothing to count. Those enquiries never appear, and the channel looks free because there is no invoice and no outcome. The 2026 care cost data shows families are comparing fees carefully. If your site does not answer the fee question, they move on. Paying for Care reports the same pressure: families need funding clarity before they enquire.

What does a simple spreadsheet for this look like?

One row per channel, one column each for annual cost, enquiries, admissions, cost per enquiry and cost per admission. Add columns for fee type and average weekly fee, so a channel bringing private admissions can be ranked above a cheaper channel bringing council placements.

A monthly tab shows seasonality. A note field captures anything that skewed a month, such as a CQC rating change or a new manager. The 2026 fee averages give you the value column: £1,406 residential, £1,558 nursing, £1,499 dementia care. The Paying for Care figures give you the annual equivalent.

Keep it to one page. If it needs explaining, it will not get updated. The Care Home Directory cost estimator shows how families think about fees. Your spreadsheet should show how you think about acquisition.

What should you do with the numbers once you have them?

Rank channels on cost per admission, then ask which ones you would fund again next year with the same money. A channel producing private admissions at £430 each beats a channel producing council placements at £1,000 each, even if the second channel sends more enquiries.

Set next month's tracking up before you spend anything else. The figures must exist, not be reconstructed from memory. Call tracking numbers and a fixed source list at first contact are the minimum. Without them, next year's review will be another invoice approval, not a commercial decision.

TRG Digital provides call tracking and source tagging so every phone enquiry is attributed, plus reporting that turns the raw numbers into cost per admission. The CQC's care services directory is a starting point for families, but your own tracking is what tells you which channels actually fill beds. 

Conclusion

Most care and nursing homes can't say which channel fills their beds. The data they need usually isn't being collected. TRG Digital fixes that first. 

We set up call tracking numbers for each channel and a fixed list of sources to log at first contact, so every phone enquiry is attributed. We then build reporting that turns those numbers into cost per admission, split by fee type. 

From there we can help you act on the results. We build websites that answer the fee and funding questions families ask before they pick up the phone. 

We run paid campaigns that are measured on admissions rather than clicks, which you can switch on when beds are empty and off when you are full. Once you have the numbers, renewing a directory listing stops being a habit and becomes a decision you can make on evidence.

Book a free demo, or start with the free tools on the site to see where your current visibility sits.