Lead trading, simply explained.

Basics

Advertiser / lead buyer

An advertiser is the buyer who purchases leads in order to convert them into paying customers in their own sales process.

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Co-registration

In co-registration, a user additionally consents to third-party offers during a sign-up and thereby becomes a lead.

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Consent

Consent is a voluntary, informed agreement and often the legal basis for contacting people for marketing under the GDPR and Section 7 of the German UWG.

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Conversion rate

The conversion rate is the share of leads that turn into deals, the key metric for lead quality and profitability.

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Cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead is the price a buyer pays for a single lead, the central billing metric in lead trading.

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Delivery

Delivery is the technical handover of a validated lead to the buyer, for example via API, webhook, CSV export, or direct integration into their CRM.

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Double opt-in (DOI)

Double opt-in is a two-step process in which a consent is verified via a confirmation link. It provides the proof for marketing contact.

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Lead

A lead is the record of a potential customer, including contact details and often a concrete need or purchase intent.

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Lead distribution

Lead distribution is the automated process of checking incoming leads and routing them to the right buyers based on rules, including sale and billing.

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Lead form

A lead form is an online form through which prospects leave their contact data and thereby become a lead.

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Lead generation

Lead generation is the process by which companies deliberately acquire the contact data of interested potential customers.

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Lead qualification

Lead qualification is the check-and-filter process that evaluates an incoming contact for authenticity, completeness, and sales readiness.

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Lead quality & lead scoring

Lead scoring rates a lead by its probability of success, based on data completeness, need, and purchase intent.

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Lead vendor

A lead vendor is a person, company, or system that generates or sources leads and passes them on to a buyer.

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Publisher / lead seller

A publisher is the party that generates and sells leads – such as an affiliate, a portal or a media company.

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Return / complaint

A return is the handing back of faulty or non-contactable leads according to previously agreed criteria.

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Sweepstakes leads

Sweepstakes leads come from prize draws and contests. They are high in volume but legally sensitive, because the marketing consent must be cleanly documented.

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Vertical / industry

A vertical is the topic area of a lead, such as insurance, solar, finance or trades.

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Distribution model

Criteria-based routing (filter matching)

Criteria-based routing distributes leads by rules such as region, vertical, need, language or buyer capacity, sending each lead to the matching buyer.

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Exclusive vs. shared leads (multisale)

An exclusive lead is sold exactly once, while a shared lead (multisale) goes to several competing buyers in parallel.

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Geo / territory routing

Geo routing distributes leads by geographic area, such as exclusive postal code regions or radius zones per sales partner.

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Lead bidding

Lead bidding is an auction-based distribution in which several buyers bid on a fresh lead in real time, and the highest bid wins.

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Ping-Post

Ping-Post is a two-stage real-time process that first offers leads anonymously and then hands the full data over only to the winner.

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Ping-Tree

A Ping-Tree is an automated waterfall logic that decides in fractions of a second which buyer is offered a fresh lead.

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Pre-Ping

A pre-ping is the internal preliminary check that tests a lead for format, duplicates, and minimum criteria before the actual market inquiries.

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Round-robin distribution

Round-robin distribution assigns incoming leads in turn and evenly across a list of qualified buyers, with no bidding or preferential treatment.

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Weighted distribution

With weighted distribution, buyers receive leads by fixed shares such as 50/30/20, based on budget, performance or contract volume.

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Technology

API & webhook

API and webhook are technical interfaces that pass leads from the source system to the distribution system in real time.

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Callback lead

A callback lead is a lead where the prospect explicitly asks to be called back at a later time instead of being contacted immediately.

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Data validation & lead enrichment

Data validation actively checks contact details for authenticity, while lead enrichment adds extra information to existing records.

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Deduplication

Deduplication is the detection and merging of duplicate leads so the same prospect is never sold or paid for twice.

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Lead batching

Lead batching means grouping several leads into a single bundled delivery sent at fixed intervals instead of one at a time in real time.

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Billing

Chargeback / dispute

A chargeback is the refund or dispute raised when a buyer challenges a faulty lead and demands a credit or reimbursement.

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CPA (cost per action)

CPA (cost per action) is a billing model in which payment is only due per defined action or conversion – not per lead.

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Revenue share

Revenue share is a pricing model in which the buyer and seller of a lead split the revenue it actually generates on a percentage basis, instead of settling a fixed price per lead.

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Wholesale vs. retail

Wholesale vs. retail describes the two pricing tiers in lead trading: large, cheap volumes at wholesale versus vetted, higher-priced end-customer leads.

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Compliance

Consent chain

A consent chain is the unbroken record of a consent: who agreed, when, where and to what.

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GDPR compliance

GDPR compliance means fully meeting the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation when collecting, processing, sharing, and storing personal data.

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Lead broker

A lead broker is an intermediary who trades leads between producers and buyers without generating them itself.

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SLA (service level agreement)

An SLA is a contractual performance agreement that sets measurable guarantees for availability, response times and minimum quality.

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White label

White label describes providing a solution without any branding so partners can offer it under their own name.

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Quality

Complaint rate

The complaint rate is the share of disputed leads among all delivered leads and the single most telling quality indicator for a source.

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First-call close rate

The first-call close rate is the share of leads that convert during the very first contact conversation.

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Lead age / freshness

Lead age describes how old a lead is at the moment of delivery, measured from the point of capture.

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Reach rate

The reach rate measures the share of leads that were actually reached, relative to all contact attempts.

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Vertical

Finance / loan lead

A finance lead is the contact record of a prospect from the financial sector, for example someone seeking a loan, a mortgage or an investment.

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Insurance lead

An insurance lead is the record of a prospect actively looking to take out an insurance policy.

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Real estate lead

A real estate lead is the captured contact record of a buyer, seller or renter within the real estate vertical.

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Solar / PV lead

A solar or PV lead is the contact record of a prospect who is considering the purchase of a photovoltaic system.

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