As relative newcomers to the Lead Generation industry, one of the first issues which struck me as odd was the ‘transparency’ issue.  Here we are, in an extremely quantitative industry with lots of data, and yet there is such little transparency between lead sellers and lead buyers.  There are numbers, data, models to the point where the potential for efficiency is so real (what I mean by efficiency is people pay the right price for whatever it is they are buying.)  Yet, this alludes the industry in a very real way.  One of the most surprising issues was the fact that lead sellers DO NOT clearly share ‘their sources’ of traffic/leads with the buyers.

Let’s get one thing clear first: not all leads are created equally.  Organic Search leads are great and convert high.  Paid search is similar. Email is worse.  Display somewhere in the middle.  What struck us as odd was the fact that sellers go to buyers and say: “here are some leads and they come from a ‘mix’ of sources and we’ll charge you $40 per lead… and they’ll convert at some number which we know will satisfy your conversion requirement”  This is the equivalent, to use my old industry, of a financial advisor coming to you and saying I’ll buy some stocks and bonds and get you a return… but I won’t tell you which stocks and bonds.

And this is the part we don’t understand.  Why don’t lead sellers just say: “hey, these are search leads, I know they convert like this, so let’s price them like that…. and here are some display leads, we should price these like this.”  This simple, clear way of doing business would not only make lead buyers lives easier, but it would allow the ‘lead market’ to be more efficient.  At the end of the day, lead buyers have call centers filled with people and they do need leads from all sources… but why not just price leads accordingly?  What value does this transparency really add?  This article from LeadCritic hits on this key point when Bill Rice says: “Pay the right price and Call them.”  I think Lead Buyers may respond: “we’d like to pay the right price, but we don’t know WHERE these leads are from (and sellers change the mix) so HOW can we pay the right price?”

As a part of our goals of bringing transparency, quality and user experience to Education Lead Generation… this is one of the first issues we hope to change.  Ampush Media Leads will ALWAYS be clear about our source.  Like a financial advisor who has ‘equity’ products and ‘debt’ products and ‘money market’ products, we will do the same.  Teacher’s Pet is our Paid Search Product.  Soon, we’ll look to roll out a Display Media product.  Maybe, we’ll create an SEO product or an affiliate product.  Like your portfolio, you should KNOW where your ‘returns’ are coming from. We’ll always be clear about where these leads come from (and of course, we’ll look to make a fair profit) such that our clients can pay the right amount and work them as appropriate (that’s efficiency.)

We think of this as a relatively straightforward, obvious way to help push the market in the right direction.  What do you think?