How to Calculate ROI on Your LASIK Marketing Spend

LASIK marketing isn’t cheap. Between Google Ads, SEO efforts, social media campaigns, and traditional advertising, practices can easily spend $5,000 to $20,000 or more per month trying to attract refractive surgery patients.

But here’s the question that keeps practice owners up at night: Is it working?

Unlike retail or e-commerce businesses where you can track a click straight to a purchase, LASIK marketing has a longer, more complex path to conversion. A patient might see your ad today, research for six months, and finally book a consultation next year. That makes ROI calculation tricky—but not impossible.

Why LASIK Marketing Math Is Different

Before we dive into formulas, let’s acknowledge what makes LASIK unique:

Long consideration cycles. Patients think about LASIK for months or even years before committing. Your marketing today might not pay off until next quarter—or next year.

High patient value. A single LASIK patient can be worth $4,000 to $6,000 in procedure revenue. That high value justifies higher acquisition costs than you’d accept for a routine eye exam.

Multiple touchpoints. A patient might first see a Facebook ad, then Google your practice, read some blog posts, check your reviews, and finally click a Google ad to book. Which channel gets credit?

Consultation ≠ Procedure. Getting someone in the door for a consultation is only half the battle. Not everyone who consults will be a candidate, and not every candidate will proceed.

Understanding these dynamics helps you set realistic expectations and measure the right things.

The Key Metrics You Need to Track

Effective LASIK marketing measurement requires tracking several interconnected metrics:

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

This is your marketing spend divided by the number of leads (phone calls, form submissions, chat inquiries) generated.

Formula: Total Marketing Spend ÷ Total Leads = CPL

Example: You spend $8,000 on Google Ads in a month and generate 40 leads. Your CPL is $200.

But be careful—not all leads are created equal. A lead from someone searching “LASIK surgeon near me” is more valuable than one from “is LASIK safe?” Track CPL by channel and by keyword type to understand quality differences.

Lead-to-Consultation Rate

What percentage of leads actually schedule and show up for consultations?

Formula: Consultations Completed ÷ Total Leads = Lead-to-Consultation Rate

Example: Of those 40 leads, 25 scheduled consultations and 22 actually showed up. Your lead-to-consultation rate is 55% (22÷40).

If this number is low, you might have a lead quality problem (wrong people inquiring) or a process problem (poor follow-up, scheduling friction, long wait times).

Consultation-to-Procedure Rate

Of patients who complete a consultation, how many proceed to surgery?

Formula: Procedures Performed ÷ Consultations Completed = Consultation-to-Procedure Rate

Example: Of 22 consultations, 12 patients booked surgery. Your consultation-to-procedure rate is 55%.

This metric reflects both candidate qualification (not everyone is a good LASIK candidate) and your sales process. Industry benchmarks suggest strong practices convert 60-70% of qualified candidates.

Cost Per Procedure

This is the ultimate acquisition cost—what did you spend to acquire a patient who actually had the procedure?

Formula: Total Marketing Spend ÷ Procedures from Marketing = Cost Per Procedure

Example: That $8,000 Google Ads spend resulted in 12 procedures. Your cost per procedure is $667.

Patient Lifetime Value (LTV)

For LASIK specifically, LTV is often dominated by the procedure itself since LASIK patients don’t typically need repeat surgeries. However, consider:

The procedure revenue ($4,000-6,000 typical)
Enhancement procedures if needed
Referrals they might send
Future eye care services (comprehensive exams, dry eye treatment)

For calculation purposes, most practices use the procedure revenue as the baseline LTV, typically $4,500-5,500 for standard LASIK.

Sample ROI Calculation

Let’s walk through a complete example:

Monthly Investment:

Google Ads: $6,000
SEO/Content: $2,000
Social Media: $1,500
Total: $9,500

Results:

Total leads generated: 50
Consultations completed: 30
Procedures performed: 18
Average procedure revenue: $5,000

Calculations:

Cost per lead: $9,500 ÷ 50 = $190
Cost per consultation: $9,500 ÷ 30 = $317
Cost per procedure: $9,500 ÷ 18 = $528
Revenue generated: 18 × $5,000 = $90,000
ROI: ($90,000 - $9,500) ÷ $9,500 = 847%

An 8:1 return on marketing investment is excellent. But remember, this doesn’t account for all practice costs—just the direct marketing ROI.

Benchmarks by Marketing Channel

Different channels perform differently for LASIK marketing:

Google Ads (Search)

Typical CPL: $150-400
Lead quality: High (active searchers)
Best for: Capturing ready-to-act patients
Caveat: Highly competitive, costs increasing

SEO/Organic Search

Typical CPL: $50-150 (once established)
Lead quality: High
Best for: Long-term sustainable acquisition
Caveat: Takes 6-12 months to build momentum

Facebook/Instagram Ads

Typical CPL: $75-200
Lead quality: Medium (awareness-stage often)
Best for: Demand generation, remarketing
Caveat: Requires more nurturing before conversion

Referrals

Typical CPL: Near $0 (excluding referral incentives)
Lead quality: Highest
Best for: Sustainable growth
Caveat: Hard to scale quickly

These are general benchmarks—your market, competition, and execution will affect actual results.

When to Scale vs. When to Optimize

Here’s a framework for decision-making:

Scale your spending when:

Cost per procedure is well below acceptable threshold
You have capacity to handle more consultations
Lead quality is consistently high
Conversion rates are stable or improving

Optimize instead when:

Cost per procedure is above target
Lead-to-consultation rate is below 40%
Consultation-to-procedure rate is below 50%
You’re generating leads but not conversions

Optimization might mean improving your landing pages, training staff on phone handling, streamlining the consultation experience, or refining ad targeting.

Attribution: The Hard Problem

Remember that patient who saw your Facebook ad, then Googled you three times, read your blog, and finally clicked a Google ad to book? Which channel gets credit for that conversion?

There’s no perfect answer, but here are common approaches:

Last-click attribution: Credit goes to the final touchpoint before conversion. Simple but ignores the awareness-building channels.

First-click attribution: Credit goes to the first touchpoint. Recognizes awareness but ignores conversion optimization.

Multi-touch attribution: Distributes credit across touchpoints. More accurate but harder to implement.

For most practices, we recommend tracking last-click for tactical decisions while understanding that awareness channels (social, content) support the entire funnel even when they don’t get direct conversion credit.

Tracking Infrastructure You Need

To calculate these metrics accurately, you need:

Call tracking: Unique phone numbers for each marketing channel
Form tracking: Source attribution on all web forms
CRM/Practice Management integration: Connect leads to consultations to procedures
UTM parameters: Tag all campaign URLs for accurate source tracking

If you’re not tracking properly, you’re flying blind—and probably wasting money.

The Real ROI Question

Ultimately, the question isn’t just “Is my marketing profitable?” It’s “Could this money be better spent elsewhere?”

Compare your marketing ROI against:

Alternative marketing channels
Equipment investments
Hiring additional staff
Expanding services

A 5:1 marketing ROI might be great—unless you could get 10:1 from a different approach.

Getting Help with LASIK Marketing

Measuring and optimizing LASIK marketing ROI requires both marketing expertise and healthcare industry knowledge. Generic marketing agencies often struggle with the unique dynamics of elective procedure marketing.

At MedTech Consulting, we specialize in LASIK and elective procedure marketing for eye care practices. We help you:

Set up proper tracking infrastructure
Optimize campaigns based on actual procedure conversions, not just leads
Benchmark performance against industry standards
Scale what’s working and cut what isn’t

Ready to improve your LASIK marketing ROI? Contact us for a consultation.