The short answer
Five numbers tell you whether your intake is turning ad spend into clients: speed to lead, answer rate, consult show rate, sign rate and cost per signed case. Four are defined on The Probative Standard; consult show rate is our addition. Track them by month, split by language and by hour, and fix the earliest weak step first, because every later number depends on it.
Your ads and your search work get people to the phone. What happens next is intake, and it is where most firms lose the most for the least effort to fix. Five numbers show you the whole path from a ringing phone to a signed client. This guide defines each one in plain words, says where to find it, and tells you what to change when it is weak. The definitions follow The Probative Standard, our written set of measures.
What is speed to lead?
Speed to lead is the number of minutes from a form, chat, text or missed call to the firm’s first live attempt to reach the person (The Probative Standard). It covers every way someone reaches you, not just the phone.
- Where to find it: timestamps in your phone system and your case-management system. If you do not log the first attempt, start now.
- How to read it: use the median, the middle case, and the slow end, such as the slowest tenth, so one quick reply does not hide many slow ones. Split it by hour of day and by language.
- If it is slow: check who is responsible for new web forms and missed calls, and whether anyone looks at them after hours.
What is answer rate?
Answer rate is the share of eligible inbound calls that a person answers live. Eligible calls leave out spam, silent and test calls. A menu or voicemail is not an answer (The Probative Standard).
- Where to find it: your phone system’s call log, or your call-tracking tool.
- How to read it: by hour, by day, by phone line and by language. The firm’s listed Google profile hours are the business hours.
- If it is low: the cause is almost always coverage at certain hours or a shared line that rings in an empty room, not the ads. The secret-shop worksheet finds the hours.
- Local Services link: Google can bill for some missed calls, which makes a missed call cost money as well as a case. See our note on missed-call billing.
What is a qualified lead, and why does it matter here?
You need one more definition before the next numbers. A qualified lead is a lead that intake has screened against the firm’s written case criteria and accepted as a potential case (The Probative Standard). For an injury firm the criteria are typically liability, injury and treatment, insurance coverage, the limitation period and conflicts. Write yours down; without them, “qualified” is a guess.
What is consult show rate?
Consult show rate is the share of consultations booked that actually take place. This one is our addition and is not yet on The Probative Standard. A consultation set means a consultation or signing appointment was booked, or an engagement agreement was sent.
- Where to find it: your calendar and your case-management system.
- How to read it: consults held divided by consults booked, by month and by who booked them.
- If it is low: look at the gap between the call and the consult, and at reminders. A same-day appointment and a text reminder usually help more than another ad.
What is sign rate?
Sign rate is the share of consultations set that end in a signed case. The Standard reads stage rates within the same group of leads: qualified divided by leads, consult set divided by qualified, and signed divided by consult set (qualified lead). A signed case is an engagement agreement executed by the client and recorded in the firm’s own case-management system (signed case).
- Where to find it: your case-management system, counted once per matter on the signed date.
- How to read it: use the same group of leads for top and bottom of the fraction, and wait for late signings before you judge a month. Some cases sign the day they call and others take weeks.
- If it is low: the cause is usually in the consultation itself, the fee conversation or the speed of the engagement agreement, not in the ads. Sending the agreement for electronic signature the same day helps.
What is cost per signed case?
Cost per signed case is what the marketing cost, divided by the signed cases it can be matched to. In plain words, it is what each new client cost you (The Probative Standard). Cost per lead is a diagnostic, not the headline.
- Where to find it: add what the platforms billed you for the period, then divide by signed cases from your own case list. For an all-in figure, add agency fees and tools.
- How to read it: pool several months before you judge a source, and do not compare a young group of leads with a mature one.
- If it is high: check the earlier numbers first. A high cost per signed case with a low answer rate is an intake problem. With a strong answer rate and a weak sign rate, it is a consultation problem. With both fine, it is an ads problem.
Our cost per signed case guide has the full method.
How do the five numbers fit together?
Read them left to right, the way a client moves through your firm. This example is ILLUSTRATIVE and uses invented, round numbers to show the logic.
| Step | What it measures | ILLUSTRATIVE reading | What it points to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to lead | Minutes to the first live attempt | Slow in the evening | Coverage after hours |
| Answer rate | Calls a person answers | Three in four answered | Phones, staffing, lines |
| Consult show rate | Booked consults that happen | Four in five held | Reminders, same-day booking |
| Sign rate | Consults that sign | About one in two sign | The consultation, the fee talk |
| Cost per signed case | Marketing cost per new client | Falls as the steps above improve | The sum of everything |
In that example, improving the evening answer rate lifts every later step at no extra ad cost. That is the order to work in.
How should you track them?
Keep one sheet, one row a month, and the same definitions every time.
| Each month, write down | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Eligible inbound calls and calls answered live | Phone system or call tracking |
| Median minutes to the first live attempt | Phone and case system timestamps |
| Qualified leads | Your case-management system |
| Consultations booked and held | Calendar and case system |
| Signed cases, with the date each signed | Case-management system |
| What the platforms billed, plus fees and tools | Invoices and ad accounts |
Split the calls by language and by hour, and keep late signings in the right month’s group. Do not use numbers from a vendor’s own report when you can count them yourself. If you want a second pair of eyes, our intake monitoring grades a sample of real calls in English and Spanish, and the report counts signed cases against your own records.
Free tools to measure injury intake
- Speed-to-sign checklist: time how fast a new injury inquiry gets a real answer.
- After-hours intake kit: cover the evening and weekend calls your ads bring in.
- Spanish demand map: see Spanish-language demand in your metro.
- Ad compliance checker: check your ad text against your state’s rules.
What this means for your firm
- Start with answer rate. It is the cheapest number to improve and the one every other number depends on.
- Count the same way every month, using your own records.
- Fix one step at a time, and look again after a few weeks.
Read next: what happens between the call and the signature, the secret-shop worksheet and cost per signed case. Our personal injury marketing is judged on the same measures.
Get my free review and we will look at your phone answering as part of it.
Marketing information, not legal advice. Definitions follow The Probative Standard, version one. Last reviewed by our ads lead.
Questions about this guide
Which of the five numbers should I look at first?
Answer rate. If calls are not being answered by a person, none of the later numbers can be trusted, and no later fix will recover the people who gave up.
Where do I find these numbers?
Calls come from your phone system or call-tracking tool, bookings from your calendar or case system, and signed cases from your case-management system. Pull each one into one sheet by month, using the same date for the whole group of leads.
What is a good sign rate?
We do not publish a target, because it depends on your case types, your criteria and who you screen out. Track your own over several months and judge changes against that.
Why use cost per signed case instead of cost per lead?
A lead only means someone made contact. A signed case means a new client signed with you. The Standard treats cost per lead as a diagnostic and cost per signed case as the headline.
Sources
- The Probative Standard: speed to lead and the intake measuresAccessed October 26, 2026
- The Probative Standard: qualified lead and stage ratesAccessed October 26, 2026
- The Probative Standard: signed caseAccessed October 26, 2026
- The Probative Standard: cost per signed caseAccessed October 26, 2026