---
aliases: ["Sponsorship Close Rate"]
Is A: Measure
Belongs to: "[[responsibility-sponsorships]]"
Unit: "percent"
---
# Sponsorship Close Rate

Close rate measures the percentage of qualified sponsorship leads that convert into signed deals. It is the key efficiency metric for [[responsibility-sponsorships]] and directly determines how much sales effort is needed to hit revenue targets like [[2024-double-revenue]] and [[2025-reach-22k-mrr]]. A higher close rate means less time spent on outreach and follow-ups, freeing bandwidth for content production and other priorities.

This metric also serves as a signal for product-market fit of the sponsorship offering. A declining close rate may indicate that pricing is too high, that the value proposition is unclear, or that the audience demographics are shifting away from what sponsors need.

## How it's tracked

Calculated monthly as: (signed deals in the month) / (qualified leads that received a proposal in the month) x 100. A "qualified lead" is any sponsor or potential sponsor who has received a formal proposal or rate card. Leads that are disqualified before the proposal stage are excluded. Tracked in the sponsor CRM ([[24q2-sponsor-crm]]) and summarized in the monthly spreadsheet.

## Targets

- **Minimum**: 25%. Below this, the sales process needs diagnosis (pricing, targeting, or pitch quality).
- **Target**: 30-35%. This is the range that supports the [[2025-reach-22k-mrr]] goal without excessive sales effort.
- **Stretch**: 40%+. Achievable with a strong inbound pipeline and well-positioned sponsorship packages.

## Notes

- Close rate tends to be higher for returning sponsors (renewals) than for first-time buyers. Track these separately to understand pipeline health.
- The launch of tiered sponsorship packages in [[24q1-launch-sponsorship-packages]] improved close rate by approximately 5 percentage points because prospects could self-select into a price tier.
- If close rate drops below 25% for two consecutive months, review whether [[measure-subscribers]] growth has slowed or whether competitive landscape has shifted.
- Seasonal variation is real: Q1 and Q4 tend to have higher close rates due to annual budget allocation cycles.
