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Lead Distribution Glossary
The vocabulary of lead generation and lead distribution, in plain English.
- Aged lead
- A lead that is hours, days or weeks old, usually sold at a lower price to buyers who specialize in re-engagement.
- Buyer
- A company or person that pays to receive leads: insurer, installer, law firm, broker, call center.
- Cap
- The maximum number of leads (or budget) a buyer accepts per hour, day, week or month.
- CPL (cost per lead)
- What you pay a source for one lead. True CPL includes all fees and is compared with revenue per lead.
- Direct post
- Sending the full lead to one buyer at a fixed, pre-agreed price, without an auction.
- Duplicate
- A lead already received recently, from the same or another source. Usually rejected by buyers.
- Exclusive lead
- A lead sold to only one buyer, at a higher price than a shared lead.
- Fallback
- The next buyer or path used automatically when the first buyer rejects a lead.
- Filter
- A buyer rule that accepts only leads matching criteria such as state, age, product or credit range.
- Lead distribution
- The process of routing each lead to the right buyer or rep, including selling, delivery, caps and billing.
- Lead source
- Where a lead comes from: an ad campaign, affiliate, landing page, API partner.
- Lead validation
- Checks on phone, email, address and consent data before delivery.
- Pay per lead (PPL)
- A model where buyers pay for each lead delivered, rather than for clicks or impressions.
- Ping
- The first step of ping-post: anonymized lead data sent to buyers to request a bid.
- Ping-post
- A real-time auction: buyers bid on a ping, then the full lead is posted to the winner.
- Post
- The second step of ping-post: the full lead, with contact data, delivered to the winning buyer.
- Return
- A lead a buyer sends back after delivery (wrong number, duplicate, out of criteria), usually credited.
- Return rate
- The share of delivered leads that buyers return. A key quality metric per source.
- Revenue per lead
- Total revenue divided by total leads received, sold or not. The number to maximize.
- Ring tree
- A sequence of buyers offered the lead one by one until one accepts.
- Round robin
- Distributing leads evenly in rotation between recipients.
- Schedule
- The hours and days during which a buyer accepts leads.
- A lead sold to several non competing buyers at a lower price each.
- Suppression list
- A list of contacts that must never be delivered, such as opt-outs or existing customers.
- Weighted distribution
- Distributing leads by percentage, for example 50/30/20 across three buyers.