A vertical – often referred to simply as the industry – is the topic area a lead is assigned to. Typical verticals are insurance, solar (photovoltaics), finance and trades. The vertical determines which advertisers are eligible as buyers at all, making it one of the most important attributes in lead trading.
A lead in the wrong vertical is worthless to the buyer. That is why the vertical is determined cleanly at capture and carried through the entire processing chain.
Impact on distribution and price
The vertical governs not only the assignment but also influences the price. Some industries with high deal value – such as financing or solar – command significantly higher lead prices than others.
In practice this means:
- Assignment – each buyer only receives leads from its verticals.
- Pricing – the value of a lead depends heavily on the vertical.
- Quality requirements – required fields and validation rules differ per vertical.
- Combination – verticals can be segmented further with region and need.
Example
A prospect requests a mortgage. The lead is assigned to the finance vertical and distributed only to buyers who serve that vertical – not, for instance, to a solar installer. In addition, the postal code narrows the set of matching buyers further.
How Leadnodes does it
In Leadnodes, the vertical is a central criterion of rule-based distribution. Each lead is routed precisely to the buyers who have subscribed to that vertical – combinable with postal code, priority, round-robin and quotas. This way, an insurance buyer receives no solar leads, and vice versa. At the same time, dedicated required fields and validations can be configured per vertical so that data quality matches the industry. The entire process is GDPR-compliant and hosted in Germany.
FAQ
Can a lead belong to multiple verticals?
Usually a lead is assigned to exactly one vertical. Some needs can fall into adjacent verticals, in which case the assignment should be clearly defined.
Why are some verticals more expensive than others?
The price reflects the economic value of a closed deal. Verticals with high order volumes, such as solar or financing, generally achieve higher lead prices.
How is a lead's vertical determined?
It usually follows from the source and the completed form during lead generation, and is verified at intake.
Want to distribute leads cleanly by vertical? Book a demo