Lead buyer
A lead buyer is a business or individual that buys leads from third-party lead providers. Many companies incorporate lead buying into their lead acquisition process as an alternative or addition to generating leads from their own marketing or sales campaigns.
In fact, for small businesses that are unable to generate leads organically, buying leads might be the best solution for accelerating sales.
However, there are some risks associated with purchasing leads online. Such risks include:
- Lead fraud: Lead fraud occurs when a lead provider falsifies how they collect a lead. For example, they may misrepresent the lead’s authenticity, the site of origin, lead age, offer presentation, collected data, and more.
- TCPA violations: When you purchase leads, there is a risk of violating TCPA regulations by reaching out to customers who did not give their consent. With the new FCC regulations about lead genertion, lead sellers and buyers are required to provide more transparent one-to-one consent in order to contact consumers. Both parties will also have to maintain records of the consent transaction for compliance documentation.
- Bots: Automated online bots may submit false customer information, generating leads that were never legitimately submitted.
- Deceptive Advertising: Certain leads are generated through advertisements that may mislead consumers into completing a form under the false impression that they are receiving something different.
In order to mitigate these risks, it’s advisable to follow several best practices when purchasing leads, including the following:
- Make sure you purchase high-quality leads by choosing reputable lead sellers in your business niche.
- Utilize lead validation tools, such as ActiveProspect’s LeadConduit, to verify the lead contact information, identify fraudulent submissions, suppress known TCPA litigators, and enrich your existing data for improved accuracy and compliance.
- Only collaborate with compliant lead-generation content publishers and sources, and always obtain verifiable and documented 1:1 consent.
- Ask the seller to provide their lead generation methods, whether it’s organic search optimization, paid advertising campaigns, or social media advertising.
- Monitor and measure performance of purchased leads to ensure they align with your business goals. Communicate performance feedback to the lead sellers on a regular basis to address issues and optimize future lead performance.