Cost per enquiry
Blended and by channel, cut by specialty and region. The number every marketing director is asked for and almost none can benchmark.
Benchmark your patient acquisition against the UK's best.
Cost per enquiry, funnel conversion and AI visibility, scored against the UK's largest private hospital groups, independent hospitals and specialist clinics. Free for private providers.
62 /100
Solid, with clear gaps to close.
Scored on how you measure and manage patient demand. Where the bar turns from grey to blue, the basics are in place.
Your cost per enquiry £40 29% above the £31 2025 benchmark for orthopaedics.
Enquiry to consultation 31% Tracked. Benchmarked by specialty in the 2026 report.
Your three biggest gaps
- AI visibility 0/4
- Attribution 1/4
- Lead handling 2/4
Example only. Your card is built from your own numbers.
Built on live account data from private hospital groups, independent hospitals and specialist clinics
- 100+providers
- £5.5m+annual paid media analysed
- Since 2015working only in healthcare
Six numbers every private provider should know.
Most providers can tell you what they spend. Very few can tell you whether £180 per orthopaedic enquiry is good, bad or normal for their market. The benchmark answers that, by specialty and by region.
Enquiry to consultation
How much of the demand you pay for turns into a booked appointment. Lead handling speed, self-pay versus insured, and the drop-off in between.
Consultation to procedure
The conversion the finance director cares about. Where the funnel leaks after the clinical conversation, and what peers do differently.
Search demand and share
How many people are looking for each treatment in your catchment, and how much of that demand you capture versus the NHS, insurers and competitors.
Paid competition
Impression share, auction pressure and the spend it now takes to hold position in each specialty. Year on year, so you can see the direction.
AI visibility
Whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews recommend you, your competitors, or nobody, for the questions patients actually ask.
We've been publishing the numbers since 2024.
The 2024 and 2025 paid search benchmarks are open to anyone: click-through, cost per click, conversion rate and cost per acquisition by specialty, from UK healthcare campaigns we ran ourselves. The 2026 edition adds your own position, funnel conversion, search demand and AI visibility.
Read the 2025 paid search benchmarks. No form, no gate.
2025 benchmark Your position
NowRun the benchmark. Your score and position, instantly.
Nov 2026The 2026 paid media benchmarks, to everyone who has taken it.
Mar 2027The full 2026 Patient Acquisition Report, with your position against the final dataset.
What we compare, and against whom.
We compare your cost per enquiry and funnel conversion with providers in your specialty, then score how you measure and manage demand. It shows the gaps you can't see from inside your own accounts.
- 1
Tell us your numbers
Specialty, region, monthly spend, monthly enquiries and how many turn into a consultation. Rough figures are fine. No account access needed.
- 2
Answer six questions
On measurement, lead handling, attribution, paid media, AI visibility and who owns the number. Honest answers score better than flattering ones.
- 3
See where you stand
Your score, your cost per enquiry against the 2025 paid search benchmark for your specialty, and the areas where the gap is widest. Then the paid media benchmarks in November and the full report in March.
What you get for taking part.
Your score and position now. The 2026 paid media benchmarks in November. Then the full 2026 Patient Acquisition Report in March 2027, and every March after: six specialties, one market, built from live account data across the year and the answers of the marketing and commercial leaders who took part.
- Cost per enquiry and cost per procedure by specialty and region
- Funnel conversion: enquiry to consultation to procedure
- Search demand, share of demand and paid competition, year on year
- AI visibility: who the assistants recommend for the top 50 patient questions
- Budget mix, lead handling and attribution maturity from the benchmark questions
- What the top quartile does differently
The report comes to everyone who has run the benchmark, with the paid media benchmarks first in November 2026.
Built by the team that runs the accounts.
Medico has worked only in healthcare since 2015. The benchmark is put together by the strategists and analysts who manage patient acquisition for the UK's largest private hospital groups, London's leading independent hospitals and specialist clinics every day, not a research desk reading about it.
"Every marketing director we meet asks the same question: is this number good? We've had the data to answer it for years. This is us finally publishing it."
"The gaps that cost the most are the ones a provider can't see from inside its own accounts. Usually it's what happens after the enquiry lands. The benchmark is built to find that."
The things people ask before they take part.
Accredited
The benchmark dataset sits inside our ISO 27001 information security scope.
Where does the data come from?
Two places. Live Google Ads, GA4 and Search Console data from provider accounts we manage, where the provider has opted in, aggregated and anonymised. And the benchmark answers themselves, which fill in what analytics can't see: budgets, lead handling, attribution and who owns the number.
Will anyone be able to identify my organisation?
No. Nothing is published for any cut of the data with fewer than five providers in it, and no provider is named anywhere in the report without written sign-off. Participants receive their own position privately.
What happens after I run the benchmark?
Your score and your cost per enquiry against the 2025 paid search benchmark appear on the next screen, with the areas where the gap is widest. You'll get the 2026 paid media benchmarks in November and the full 2026 Patient Acquisition Report when it's published in March 2027. If your results warrant it, one of our strategists may offer to walk you through them. No obligation either way.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The benchmark, your position and the report are free in exchange for honest answers. Last year's paid search benchmarks are open to anyone, no form needed.
Who is it for?
Marketing, digital and commercial leaders at private hospital groups, independent hospitals, specialist clinic chains, fertility and dental groups, diagnostics providers and larger consultant practices. It's calibrated for organisations with enough volume to benchmark meaningfully.
How often is it updated?
The full report is published every March. The paid media benchmarks come out every November. The benchmark refreshes every quarter as new data comes in, and past completers are told when their position moves.
Is there an Australian edition?
Not yet. The 2026 edition is UK only. An Australian edition will follow on medicodigital.com.au once the UK benchmark is established.
Find out where you sit against the rest of your specialty.
Free for private healthcare providers in the UK.
Get your benchmark result