Case study · Channel Decision Audit
One lead channel cost 5.6× as much per signed job as the firm’s other paid sources.
A Texas design-build firm dropped it, avoiding about $24K a year in projected spend.
Industry
Design-build: interior design & construction
Market
Major Texas metro
Size
$1–3M revenue · ~840 leads a year
Marketing mix
8 lead sources, $303K spend
The question
“Which of our lead sources actually turn into signed clients, and is what we pay Angi worth it?”
The data
CRM lead and client records plus spend records, January 2024 – April 2026: 1,953 leads, 56 signed clients, $303K in marketing spend.
The method
We traced every lead to whether it signed, tested whether the gaps between sources were too large to be chance, then divided each source's spend by its signed clients.
Marketing cost per signed job
Jan 2024 – Apr 2026
the cost per signed job. “Other paid” = every paid source except Angi; free referrals excluded.
This firm's records only. Results vary by firm and market.
What we found
Three numbers that settled the question.
1 in 153 vs. 1 in 32
Angi signed 2 of 306 leads (0.65%); other paid sources signed 3.17%. Too large a gap to be chance.
$55,358 for 2 jobs
18% of the firm's marketing spend, under 4% of its signed clients.
Still 1.8× at best
At the top of Angi's 90% confidence range for its signing rate (2.04%), a job still costs about $8,850, nearly twice the other paid sources.
The decision
The owner judged that cost too high for the firm's project margins and dropped Angi in 2026.
The outcome Projected
About $23,700 a year in avoided spend ($55,358 ÷ 28 months × 12). The effect on signed work will be measured once newer leads have had time to convert; update due February 2027.
What they received
A source-by-source report: signing rates, uncertainty ranges, cost per signed job, and keep/cut calls. Findings in 9 days.
Why the best case matters
Two signed jobs is a small number. With samples that small, it's fair to ask whether Angi just had a bad run. So instead of stopping at the observed rate, we calculated a 90% confidence range for Angi's true signing rate, 0.12% to 2.04%, and priced a signed job at the top of that range.
Even giving the channel that benefit of the doubt, it cost about 1.8× as much per signed job as the firm's other paid sources. That supported the owner's decision: even at the optimistic signing rate, the estimated cost per signed job stayed well above the other paid sources. The comparison held in the channel's best case, not just its likely case. Its effect on signed work is still being measured (update February 2027).
Method note
For readers who want the statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
| Claim | How it was tested | Result |
|---|---|---|
| “Too large a gap to be chance” | Fisher’s exact test, two-sided: Angi (2 signed of 306 leads) vs. the firm’s other paid sources combined (50 of 1,578) | p = 0.012 |
| Range for Angi’s signing rate | 90% exact binomial (Clopper–Pearson) confidence interval for 2 signed of 306 leads | 0.12% – 2.04% |
| “Still 1.8× at best” | Angi’s spend divided by the signed jobs it would produce at the top of that range (306 × 2.04%), compared with $4,958 for other paid sources | ≈ $8,855 · 1.79× |
Exact methods were used because some sources had very few signed jobs, where approximate tests are unreliable. “Other paid sources” covers every source with marketing spend except Angi; referrals had no spend and are excluded. Spend: $55,358 for Angi and $247,875 for the other paid sources, January 2024 – April 2026.
These results reflect one firm's own lead, client and spend records in one Texas market from January 2024 to April 2026. Lead-source performance varies by market, trade, price point, account settings and how leads are followed up, so other firms' results with Angi or any other channel may be very different. That's why every audit uses the client's own data.
This analysis was completed before Core Sample was founded and is shared with the owner's written permission; the firm and its clients are unnamed. Angi is a trademark of Angi Inc.; Core Sample is not affiliated with or endorsed by Angi. Core Sample takes no vendor commissions and never recommends marketing services its founder has a stake in. Published October 2026.
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