What Is Cost per Submission?
Cost per submission refers to the average expense incurred to move one submission through the intake workflow. In MCA and small business lending, this often includes staff time for manual review, outsourcing fees for data entry, and overhead for tools or compliance.
This cost metric is central to scaling. Operators track it to compare the efficiency of their workflows, to justify automation investments, and to measure savings when submission volumes increase.
How Does Cost per Submission Work?
Cost per submission is calculated by dividing total operational costs by the number of submissions processed.
- Total cost capture: Expenses include staff salaries, outsourced processing, and technology overhead.
- Volume tracking: The number of submissions processed in a period is counted.
- Per-unit calculation: Total costs are divided by the number of submissions, producing an average cost per submission.
- Benchmarking: The number is used to evaluate efficiency and identify areas for improvement.
In Heron, cost per submission is reduced by replacing manual tasks with automation.
- Automated intake: Submissions arrive and are captured without human intervention.
- Scrubbing automation: Completeness, policy checks, and fraud detection happen instantly.
- Direct CRM write-back: Structured fields are updated without offshore data entry.
- Reduced exceptions: Only flagged cases reach humans, cutting down labor needs.
- Next action: Teams process more deals with the same or fewer people, lowering cost per unit.
This results in savings that grow as submission volume increases.
Why Is Cost per Submission Important?
For brokers and funders, cost per submission is important because it connects directly to profitability and scalability. High costs limit the ability to grow, especially when volume spikes require hiring more staff or paying for BPO services.
Heron makes this metric actionable by automating the most expensive steps. With less manual rekeying, fewer outsourced tasks, and faster throughput, the cost per submission can drop dramatically while maintaining accuracy.
Common Use Cases
Cost per submission is applied in financial and operational planning.
- Measuring the baseline cost of manual workflows.
- Comparing costs before and after Heron automation.
- Evaluating savings from reduced offshore data entry spend.
- Forecasting profitability at higher submission volumes.
- Using the metric to justify automation investments.
FAQs About Cost per Submission
How does Heron lower cost per submission?
Heron reduces costs by automating intake, scrubbing, and CRM write-back. This eliminates repetitive manual work and reduces reliance on expensive outsourcing.
Why is cost per submission a critical metric for brokers and funders?
It shows the efficiency of operations in dollar terms. Lowering the cost per submission allows teams to scale deal flow profitably without increasing headcount.
What outputs should teams expect from tracking cost per submission?
Teams receive a clear per-unit cost benchmark that reflects efficiency improvements. As automation adoption increases, the cost per submission continues to fall.