Cost per enrolled client (a behavioral-health-specific customer acquisition cost) divides total marketing and intake investment by the number of families who actually enroll. It is the honest denominator: cost per click, cost per lead, and cost per inquiry all flatter a program that generates cheap volume the intake team cannot convert.

Because ABA enrollment depends on operational steps — insurance verification, response speed, scheduling — cost per enrolled client is jointly determined by marketing efficiency and intake efficiency. A practice can lower it either by improving channel targeting or by fixing conversion leaks; the latter is usually cheaper. Tracking it also reframes retainer and ad decisions around enrolled clients and their lifetime value rather than vanity traffic.