Till Death Do Us Part: Expectation Management for Lead Buyers and Suppliers

By Albina Zhakan - Posted on 30 September 2011

Albina Zhakan, Media Planner/Buyer at Funnel Lead Marketing, introduces the first of two articles aimed at helping advertisers and lead suppliers to manage their relationship and mitigate campaign risks. 

While Lead Generation has always been part of the marketing mix, recently it has emerged as a marketing discipline in its own right earning the moniker, Lead Marketing.  However, new age lead gen is still relatively young and although it has rightly earned it’s independence it still lacks infrastructure such as a standard for service level agreements (SLA) or best practice guidelines on Lead Generation management.  Advertisers and lead buyers may also have a different set of expectations regarding legalese, performance and management.

Before embarking on a Lead Gen campaign, advertisers and lead suppliers need to discuss a variety of factors that could affect the overall success of a campaign. To that end, I have put together a list of talking points aimed at helping to direct early conversations between both parties.

Define what constitutes a lead
Advertisers should define the data they wish to collect and the reason why. The question of why you are collecting the data in the first place will shape the information used in the conversion process, which will ultimately affect your lead price and the campaign ROI.

Define valid/invalid lead
As a standard, if any lead data is missing it is deemed invalid and advertisers need to consider how this would affect their ability to convert leads. For example, if captured leads are going to be contacted by email and post, then only leads with valid email and postal addresses should be paid for.

Most specialist agencies and suppliers use a lead management system to validate email and postal addresses at no cost. Validation of data at the collection stage will significantly affect ROI.

Discuss return terms
As not every supplier validates their data it is inevitable that bad leads will slip through the net. To address this, advertisers need to make sure a return policy is in place.  This policy defines the period during which invalid leads should be returned. The period will depend largely on how leads are contacted. For example, if leads have been contacted by email returns will be reported straight away, whereas it might take up to a month to report a wrong address if the leads have been contacted by post.

Dedupe and suppression
If an advertiser uses validation tools or filters such as deduplication and suppression, this usually involves an additional cost. However, as the advertiser only pays for validated and as a result more responsive leads they may end up paying less in the end. A deduplication filter ensures that only unique leads fall into the campaign pot regardless of the number of sources used across the campaign. This will ensure the advertiser does not pay twice for the same lead. Using suppression files will enable the advertisers to remove any existing customers who may have responded to the campaign.

Lead delivery method
Leads can be delivered in real time through a posting url or in batches via email or ftp. The method used will depend on the technical abilities of the supplier and advertiser. As a rule, if leads are delivered in real time and contacted straight away they have a better chance of converting.

Volumes and caps
Before stipulating lead volume with a supplier, advertisers should consider their capacity to convert leads before agreeing a daily, weekly or monthly cap with the supplier. For instance, if leads are converted via phone and only one person will be contacting the leads then an advertiser might not want to receive 200 leads a day.

Ownership and Exclusivity
It’s vital that advertisers are aware of how long they own leads and any periods of exclusivity. For example, leads can be generated exclusively for one advertiser or they can be sold nonexclusively to a number of advertisers. In the latter case, lead price will significantly be lower. Even if leads are generated exclusively for one advertiser, a supplier might set a limit on how many times an advertiser can contact a lead. Of course, leads can be owned exclusively and in perpetuity at the request of the advertiser and this would need to be reflected in an insertion order. 

Discuss your lead quality expectations
It’s vital that advertisers decided their CPA (cost per acquisition) and desired conversion rate and let their suppliers know at the start of a campaign. Based on this information the supplier can give recommendations on the best lead gen methods.

Break clauses
When working with a new supplier, it might be advisable to specify a break clause associated with lead volumes to minimise the risk of your campaign failing.  Most suppliers will not mind this but you will need to agree a suitable notice period.

Lead price
Lead price is hugely variable and your CPL (cost per lead) will depend on a number of factors including market size, product type, brand name and the offering/incentive used to attract leads. In addition, filters, validation and targeting, which are designed to reduce the number of invalid leads in a campaign, will influence a supplier’s willingness to run a campaign and the lead price they will accept. Finally, your choice of media type (incentivised, premium, lifestyle, niche etc) and the channels used (offline, online, tel) will contribute to the final CPL. Make sure you think about each of these factors thoroughly before entering into a conversation with a lead supplier.

2 comments  |  Subjects: Media Planning, Lead Generation, Lead Quality, Validation

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