Glossary
The online advertising world has a language all its own. So too does the world of lead generation. Contained here is ongoing effort to explain commonly used terms, some of which are more general and some specific to lead generation.
Affiliate – a third-party provider of traffic generally paid on a performance-basis, e.g. per sale or per lead. Affiliates can play a valuable role in helping companies increase the amount of business they do; however, affiliate programs take work and are not without their issues. Affiliates often have a stereotype as being small and independent, an “army of pajama salespeople.” As the channel matures, that stereotype might still hold for some but now includes a much larger group of traffic providers including well known sites and offline brands (Upromise for example).
Alternate Payment Platform / Managed Offer Platform – a newer form of service which has seen heavy adoption in the social media space. An alternate payment platform works loosely in the world of virtual currency, acting as a middle layer between service offerings and users who want that service. The classic example takes place in Facebook, where users install applications that enhance the functionality of the site. Often these applications take the form of games, and in the games users can unlock more features by increasing the points they have. Many will choose to earn points not just through game play but through other actions. They can purchase points, or as the majority choose to do, they can earn them through the completion of offers. The top companies in the space include OfferPal Media and for non-social gaming, TrialPay. (For more, see this article.)
Hosted Landing Page – a specific type of landing page and a term most commonly used an advertiser / site owner is working with third-party traffic sources, e.g. affiliates. Each company tends to have one to many landing pages, but given the complexities of traffic generation, certain publishers (third-party traffic partners) will want a more customized option. Instead of sending traffic to an advertiser’s page, they will want to send just the data to them. In these cases, the publishers generate the traffic and collect the lead on their site, a landing page they host. This is more advanced form of traffic partnership and one meant for the more seasoned lead buyer or aggregator.
Hot Transfer – generally used in a discussion of lead delivery; hot transfer typically refers to the process of connecting a potential lead with a lead buyer over the phone. The more traditional form of lead delivery is a data lead, where a lead buyer receives data from the lead seller and then follows-up with that lead according to their internal processes. With a hot transfer, the lead buyer no longer dials out to connect but waits for the phone to ring. This does not mean that the user is necessarily calling in but that some other person or company has reached them and asked them if they would like to speak to a service provider. Several companies focus just on voice leads, and each will have its own methods for pre-qualifying the lead that they transfer.
Filters – a term used to describe parameters that help refine a lead; using mortgage as an example, not every lead buyer wants or can service every lead. A buyer may want only leads in a certain region and those fitting other criteria such as Loan to Value. Those sets of criteria are filters. Each vertical has different filters, and the more established the vertical, the more fixed the filters. The term filter comes from the processing of sorting data, which means that the filters for lead generation must be based on the data collected. If a lead buyer doesn’t collect age, they cannot offer age as a filter (for example).
Incentive Marketing / Incentive Promotion – also referred to as incentivized marketing, this method of advertising offers users something in exchange for their participation, thus users have an incentive to take action. Incentives can span the gambit, and offline they generally take the form of buy one get one free or buy one get one half off. Online, the use of incentives, especially incentivized marketing generally refers to users who are undertaking a specific type of marketing promotion. Historically, incentivized mareketing referred to the “Free iPod” offers, where users saw an ad for a “free” gadget, gift card, etc., and in order to receive that item, they have to both endure a long funnel of ads as well as complete a certain number of specific offers. The greater the value the gadget the higher the hurdle for completion. Incentivized marketing has traditionally had a poor reputation as users will often complete offers for which they have no interest. They simply want their “prize.” Unsuspecting advertisers can find themselves placed in these funnels only to be overwhelmed by disinterested leads. New companies that use incentivized marketing are trying to show that certain forms can be effective, such as those operating in the Alternate Payment Platform sector.
Landing Page – a term used to refer to the page that a user sees after clicking on an ad. A landing page is relative. If the ad takes the person to the company’s homepage, then the homepage is the landing page. More often than not, specific pages are designed to be the landing page. This is done to increase the likelihood of conversion. Let’s use a travel example. If the ad talks about great European vacations, it makes sense to send the person to a page that talks about European vacations rather than sending them to the generic home page. Or, sub-optimally, if you send them to the homepage, make sure there is a clear call out for the European vacations. The same holds true with commerce. If the promotion talks about holiday savings, take the user to that content to increase the conversion rate.
Lead Delivery – refers to mechanisms and processes used to receive the leads. In the online lead generation business, generally a website collects the leads and then needs to send it to the buyer. The buyer’s level of sophistication will dictate how they wish to receive the lead. The major categories for transfer include real-time and batch. Real-time delivery means that once the lead is submitting the buyer receives it with no delay. Batch implies that the leads are collected and sent over in a bundle on some designated schedule. While real-time leads can include an email with the data, or in the very early days a fax, the majority of real-time leads are delivered via some method of posting, i.e., the data is sent in real time and entered into the buyers back-end.
Lead Management – describes systems that buyers use to maximize the leads they receive. In traditional sales organizations, software for managing prospects has long been employed and is a preferred way for employees and their managers to track progress. Lead Management is a similar concept involving specialized software to help lead buyers track their leads from purchase to close, with lead management systems integrating into other industry specific programs. Buyers who use some form of lead management system will close more business and find themselves spending more effectively, knowing which sources convert best.
Lead Scoring – a process that grew out of the lead validation / verification industry where leads receive a score suggestive of their likelihood to close. Lead Scoring is highly analytical and one of the more rapidly advancing industries as buyers of leads realize that not all leads are created equal. If a person buys just a handful of leads, scoring is not that important, but once a person/company starts to deal with resource allocation issues, i.e., who should work what leads and which leads do we make priorities, lead scoring can play an invaluable role. It is not magical though and requires a lead buyer to have kept records on past lead performance, namely what leads worked and what didn’t so that those in lead scoring can create a custom framework for them moving forward. For certain companies, lead scoring is used internally and then buyers allowed to purchase leads based on score; this application works well for small to medium buyers who don’t have enough lead data for
Lead Validation/Verification – the term used when checking the details/data of any given lead, most usually with regards to contactability. Prior to the concept of Lead Scoring coming into vogue, the main emphasis was on validation, i.e. verifying the lead data. Before the rise of internet-based lead generation, the main focus was on the validity of the postal address as most follow-up and advertising took place via postal mail. Companies receiving leads wanted to make sure they weren’t sending something to a non-existent address. The majority of online lead generation, on the other hand, relies not on the postal address but the phone number as that is where the follow-up takes place. As a result, the current focus is on mapping validity with intent. The classic assumption is that someone who entered valid data has a greater interest than someone who didn’t. Various services in the validation/verification space look to provide a rating or score of the validity of the data. This includes whether the address is a working address, whether the name entered matches the name of the resident at that address, if the phone number is working, what type of phone number, whether it matches the name entered, and so on. Perfectly matching data is not guarantee of intent, but it is a big start and essential especially for those selling leads and those buying leads who do not buy enough to use Lead Scoring.
Link-Out – used to describe a method for sending traffic from a third-party page, most commonly for non-standard arrangements. When a company advertisers via search or banners, it is common for that traffic source to send the user to the advertiser’s page. In these arrangements, there is an ad copy and a click through URL. The term Link-Out generally describes arrangements with sites that might want to collect the data themselves (see Hosted Landing Page), but one where the advertiser either is not set up or chooses not to accept direct posting on information. In those scenarios, when the site must send the user to the advertiser’s page for the conversion to take place, the term Link-Out is commonly used to describe that relationship.
Scrub – describes the percentage difference between a gross amount of data received and the net amount that is considered valid. The scrub is a term commonly used when a party generating traffic is negotiating with a party buying that traffic. As the party generating the traffic receives payment for performance only, it will often want to minimize its exposure to potential loss and negotiate a maximum scrub. The scrub applies not just to lead buys, but was a commonplace discussion when two properties worked together and had their own tracking systems. With the advent of Google, the discussion in certain areas became moot as the advertiser paid what was recorded without any room for discrepancies. There, regardless of what the advertiser tracked, they paid what Google counted, with any disagreements having to go through a lengthy and not guaranteed process of seeking a return due to fraud. With both clicks and actions, the ultimate goal of the advertiser is to pay only for valid traffic, while the publisher wants to make sure they can charge for their work.
