What percentage of patient enquiries actually turn up for a consultation?
CPQL Benchmarks India 2026: Healthcare Specialty Database
16 specialty rows · 272 account records · EMR-confirmed attendance · Q2 2026 refresh
Short answer: about half. In ICG's CPQL dataset (272 account records, 16 specialties, Q2 2026), 49% of patient enquiries attended a first consultation, weighted by sample size and confirmed from appointment records. Specialty matters more than anything else: 78% for GP and family physicians, 34% for IVF and fertility.
Most clinic owners can tell you how many leads their marketing produced last month. Far fewer can tell you how many of those people walked in. The gap between the two is where a lot of marketing money disappears, and it is the reason ICG reports cost per attended consultation, not cost per lead. The figures below come from the ICG CPQL benchmark dataset for India, which publishes attendance alongside cost for each specialty.
Attendance rate by specialty
| Specialty | Enquiries that attend | Accounts (n) | ICG CPQL |
|---|---|---|---|
| GP / family physician | 78% | 12 | ₹420 |
| Paediatrics | 72% | 6† | ₹890 |
| Dental (general) | 71% | 38 | ₹780 |
| Gynaecology | 62% | 8† | ₹1,150 |
| Endocrinology | 60% | 5† | ₹1,340 |
| Ophthalmology (LASIK) | 58% | 22 | ₹1,080 |
| Cardiology (OPD) | 55% | 9† | ₹1,650 |
| Urology | 50% | 4† | ₹1,580 |
| Oncology | 50% | 5† | ₹2,100 |
| All 272 records (weighted) | 49% | 272 | – |
| Dental (cosmetic) | 48% | 18 | ₹710 |
| Orthopaedics (elective) | 46% | 7† | ₹1,420 |
| Aesthetic dermatology | 42% | 43 | ₹950 |
| Psychiatry | 41% | 6† | ₹1,260 |
| Plastic surgery | 38% | 14 | ₹2,200 |
| Hair transplant | 36% | 18 | ₹1,350 |
| IVF / fertility | 34% | 57 | ₹1,180 |
Attendance = share of enquiries that attended a first consultation, from appointment (EMR) records. CPQL = media spend ÷ attended first consultations, rolling 90 days, ICG-managed accounts. † fewer than 10 accounts: indicative only. The 49% is our sample-weighted average of the published rows. Source: ICG CPQL benchmark dataset, Q2 2026.
The pattern is easy to read once it is laid out. Needs that are immediate, local and familiar (a child's fever, a toothache, a GP visit) convert to a visit most of the time. Decisions that are expensive, elective or emotionally heavy (IVF, hair transplant, plastic surgery, aesthetic dermatology) convert at around a third to two-fifths. Those are also the specialties where patients take longest to decide: a median of 120 days from first touchpoint to consultation for IVF, 75 for plastic surgery and 60 for hair transplant.
Why this number changes how you read a lead report
Attendance is the link between what a lead costs and what a patient costs. Divide your cost per lead by your attendance rate and you get your cost per attended consultation. If an IVF clinic pays ₹400 per enquiry and 34% attend, each consultation actually costs about ₹1,180. If attendance drops to 25%, the same ₹400 lead now costs ₹1,600 per consultation, even though the ad dashboard has not changed at all.
This is why two clinics with the same cost per lead can have very different economics, and why cutting ad cost is often a weaker lever than improving the share of enquiries who turn up.
Measure attendance from appointment records. Bookings, WhatsApp chats and confirmation messages are not visits. ICG's dataset counts only patients recorded as attending, which is why its attendance rates may look lower than a front-desk estimate.
Where enquiries leak, and what to do
Before the booking
The first leak is the gap between enquiry and reply. An enquiry that waits hours for a callback has often booked elsewhere. Set a target for first response on every channel (calls, forms, WhatsApp), measure it by hour of day, and route enquiries to someone who can actually book a slot. Our piece on lead response time covers the routing.
Between booking and visit
The second leak is the no-show. A written confirmation with the doctor's name, address and what to bring, a reminder the day before, and a one-tap way to reschedule all reduce it. See how to reduce no-show rates for a fuller playbook.
In long decision cycles
For IVF, hair transplant, plastic surgery and LASIK, many enquiries are research, not intent. Treating them as failed leads after a week throws away the patients most likely to come back months later. Keep them in a consented, low-pressure follow-up sequence: educational content, an invitation to a counselling call, answers to common questions. A healthcare CRM that tracks each enquiry to its eventual visit makes this measurable. All follow-up messages must respect the consent the patient gave under the DPDP Act 2023, and must not make outcome claims.
In the ads themselves
Ads that describe the service plainly, including who it is for and what the first consultation involves, attract fewer but better enquiries. Ads that over-promise produce cheap leads that do not attend, and in healthcare they also risk breaching NMC and ASCI rules on claims.
A simple monthly check for marketing teams
- Count enquiries by source (Google Ads, Meta, Google Business Profile, website, WhatsApp, referral).
- Match each to the appointment system and count attended first consultations.
- Calculate attendance by source and compare with your specialty's benchmark above.
- Fix the source or stage with the biggest gap first, then look at ad costs.
ICG's Google Ads and Meta ads teams report on attended consultations rather than leads; healthcare marketing engagements start from this funnel view.
Read the full report
This article uses one finding from CPQL Benchmarks India 2026: Healthcare Specialty Database. The report has the full tables, the method and the limits, and it is free to quote with credit and a link.
Want your own numbers next to these? Ask for a free review of your enquiry-to-visit funnel against these benchmarks. ICG works with 150+ healthcare brands; there is no obligation, and we will tell you if nothing needs fixing.
