At LeadPoint, our primary market is the real-time market. The foundation of the lead generation industry, real-time Internet data leads are what most lead buyers purchase when acquiring leads from tier-one lead providers. Once a consumer completes an online form and submits their information, it is instantaneously sent to LeadPoint’s exchange where it is matched against lead buyer filters and awarded to the highest bidders.
There are clear benefits to purchasing real-time leads. The underlying benefit is that real-time leads statistically convert at much higher rates. Based on their higher conversion rate, real-time leads command higher prices over “aged leads” (leads not delivered to the lead buyer in real-time). This premium is warranted by a higher ROI when the lead is properly managed.
An entire industry of software creators and consultants has developed to assist lead buyers in managing the leads they purchase. This is particularly the case in the mortgage industry, which is the most established lead-buying segment and, arguably, the most competitive. LeadPoint accounts integrate easily with top lead management systems, which is particularly useful to our smaller-sized buyers.
Someone new to lead buying may wonder, “Why all the fuss about managing leads?” The reason is that how a buyer handles a lead from literally the first second it is received can result in significant differences in conversion rates. Nowhere is this truer than with real-time leads.
A study conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd, a professor at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in association with the MIT Sloan School of Management, evaluated real-time leads to identify what days of the week, time of day, and time from creation to call back resulted in optimal contact rates and qualification rates. In the study conducted with Insidesales.com, Dr. Oldroyd examined three years of data across six companies using real-time Internet leads covering over 15,000 leads and 100,000 call attempts.
Based on the data, Dr. Oldroyd found that:
- The odds of contacting a lead decrease by over 10 times in the 1st hour
- The odds of contacting a lead if called in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 100 times
- The odds of qualifying a lead decrease by over 6 times in the 1st hour
- The odds of qualifying a lead if called in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 21 times
It can never be overly emphasized that purchasing leads is a numbers game. Those who are successful recognize this, and are constantly monitoring and improving their lead management performance to improve their stats.
If you are buying real-time leads (whether it be from LeadPoint or one of our competitors), it is crucial that you recognize that you are competing against savvy lead buyers. To be successful in the real-time space, a buyer needs to develop and monitor a process for efficiently working the leads they buy. Per Dr. Oldroyd’s study, an essential component of any process should be calling real-time leads immediately upon receiving them.
If you are interested in purchasing real-time leads, call us at (866) 832-8156.
