TARGUSinfo Interactive Insights

Regardless of the terms used – status, disposition, outcome, state– every lead should have at least two data points associated with it.  One regarding validity and one regarding outcome. 

In my last post “Clear as Mud: Transparency is Tricky,” I posed a few questions for lead buyers and sellers to think about regarding their business practices.  I’d like to touch on the last two buyer questions regarding lead dispositions.

It is my experience that the line between the status and disposition of a lead is often blurred into one hybrid lead outcome.  While one lead outcome may seem more manageable, the lack of precision in defining the true state of a lead makes refining and optimizing lead processes much more difficult.

Let us take for instance the outcome “invalid lead – not interested.”  Contacting a consumer who is “not interested” does not mean the lead is “invalid.”   The status of the lead is valid – which I define as a contactable phone – but the lead was not workable because the disposition is “not interested.”

As I see it, status and disposition are not synonymous and should not be mixed.  These two data points should be independent and based on different factors.  The status of a lead should be based on the criteria defining validity.  The disposition should be based on the outcome of the lead – i.e. the action taken with the lead – thus only end users will have this data point.

For instance, let us define –

Status has the following values:

• Valid – contactable phone number
• Unknown – inconclusive contact (no answer, fax)
• Invalid – non-contactable phone number (invalid, blank, disconnected)

Disposition has the following values based on the listed outcomes:

Equally as important as maintaining these two data points for each lead, is the definition and standardization of their assignment. 

Whether your classifications are as basic as the ones I’ve described above or more intricate, it is imperative that you clearly define and document the criteria governing each outcome to ensure accuracy and consistency.  This is increasingly important when incorporating a human element – such as a call center agent.

When utilizing a call center, it is often helpful to provide your call center agents with a table in similar fashion to the one displayed above.  A standardized set of outcomes mapped to dispositions creates accurate uniformity, which leads to higher precision.

Retaining information on both validity and outcome allows more granular analysis of lead performance and in turn more accurate decision making.

If you are the end user of a lead, then you have the capacity to attain both pieces of information.  If you are the lead seller, you will only have data points regarding lead validity based on your parameters, unless you have developed transparency in your partnership.  Either way, you’ve got a place to start.

Stay tuned to find out what’s next…

Andi

@Ask_Andi

In my last post, I said what we’re all thinking–Trust Comes with Transparency. 

Now what?

You’re now engaged in a partnership and you’ve reached a comfortable level of trust with your partner.   Is it time to take the next step and be more transparent?

If you wish to begin the transparent knowledge exchange,  taking the first step is sometimes easier said than done.

Not to worry, below is a checklist of the most helpful–if not the most rudimentary, questions to answer .

For the seller:

• Steps in your lead generation and distribution process?
• Sources and do you differentiate them?
• Data points collected?
• Pre-scrub practices?
• Clearly defined screening parameters?
• Detailed scrub practices?
• Verification practices?
• Return policies?

For the Buyer:

• Steps in the lead evaluation waterfall?
• Sources and do you differentiate them?
• Pre-scrub practices?
• Clearly defined screening parameters?
• Detailed scrub practices?
• Verification practices?
• How do you assign disposition to your leads?
• Are those dispositions standard and clearly defined?

Next step – what and how much are you willing to share?

Start thinking and stay tuned…

Andi

@Ask_Andi

Having a standard definition sets the bar for understanding. 

Transparency raises the bar for trust and innovation. 

Recently, on my post “Whose burden is it anyway?” a reader commented that “making contact is the first step of the sales process, not the last step of lead generation.”

I support this statement, nevertheless, I think we can all agree that a lead must be contactable else the first step in the sales process cannot be taken.  That said, I think that in the traditional lead generation industry, we are working towards having the onus to determine whether or not the lead is valid/contactable fall with the lead generators.  This leaves the lead buyers, those ultimately working the leads, with the responsibility of managing and contacting valid leads.

That is unless the sales terms were established stating that a lead generator will provide not only valid, but “qualified” leads – where “qualified” meets a predetermined set of conditions.  This changes the game of who bears what burden.  In this case, the generator assumes the responsibility of evaluating consumer intent, and I’d bet is charging a premium for those leads.

Today, there exist strong markets for both “valid” and “qualified” lead generation and exchange.  It is important to know in which market you wish to engage and clearly define the rules by which you intend to play.

This is ostensibly a simple concept, yet we still have much of the ‘he said’ ‘she said’ mentality between lead generators and buyers.  I believe that clear definition and transparency are the first steps to harmony in bearing the burden and continuing to move the market toward optimization.

Here’s what I’d recommend:  First step, define all business terms.  Are the leads exchanged expected to be evaluated on a contactability basis – i.e. valid versus invalid – or an intent basis – i.e. qualified versus unqualified?   What are the conditions governing a valid or a qualified lead?  What are the return policies?

Next step, be transparent in your partnerships.  As our friend Mike at LeadCritic.com points out in a March discussion “Lead Generation: Transparency and Love”, many fully developed partnerships continue to lack the trust and in turn the transparency which could directly help optimize business for both parties involved.

Trust, the fundamental building block of any personal or professional relationship, hinges on both parties being open and honest – transparent – about their actions and intentions.  One problem is that trust must generally be earned, leaving both parties skeptical of opening OZ’s curtain too widely or too quickly in a fledgling relationship.

It is scary to unveil processes and decision making strategies to parties who are undecidedly friend or foe.  But a business partnership can never achieve greatness while lacking an integral piece of the foundation – trust. 

So if you have chosen to engage in a partnership, trust is a necessary risk taken to foster the relationship.

I think the risk will be worth the reward in the end.  What do you think?

Andi

@Ask_Andi

A question posed in a recent LeadCritic.com post titled  “Scapegoat or Actually a Valid Return?“ is an ongoing contention between buyers and sellers.

Are buyers returning leads to sellers that are truly invalid?  The bigger question is – what are the parameters of a valid versus an invalid lead?

I agree with the author’s observation that lead return policies continue to be abused.  In my opinion, a valid lead is one that is contactable – i.e. can be reached by phone, direct mail or email depending on the desired contact channel.

Technically, isn’t every live person you reach on the other end of the telephone a contact and therefore a potential lead for your business?  I do not feel that a consumer’s lack of interest or the inability of a sales person to close a consumer warrants a buyer return for credit.

Truth is, many of the leads generated online are just noise and not viable leads – no matter who generates it, who sells it, who buys it.  So ultimately, who’s burden is it to bear?

I surmise that the starting point for both lead buyers and seller must be with contactability.  The rest should work itself out.

Andi

@Ask_Andi

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

For TARGUSinfo our mantra could easily be “give me your low quality, fractured and malnourished leads screaming to be valued.”

Verifying who is on the other end of a transaction is the life-force of profitability for everyone in the lead generation ecosystem.  More than ever, we all need confidence in the millions of leads bought and sold daily.

Making this possible is neither cheap nor easy.  That’s why our recent news about Resetting the Bar for Data Accuracy, Currency and Coverage is a breakthrough of tremendous significance.

By tackling a growing industry challenge—the rise in mobile phone contact data—and making it a strength of our solution, we’ve increased the confidence of all of our customers in their quest to improve “right party” contacts.

Our clients and partners are telling us just how much value we continue to add the how excited they are about the recent lift.  “It’s clear that consumers are “cutting the cord” and using their mobile phone numbers as their primary number more than ever,” said Murthy Nukala, CEO of Adchemy.  “Nowhere is this more evident than the online lead generation industry.  With the advent of TARGUSinfo’s ability to provide such strong linkages and now with their unrivaled mobile phone coverage, we’re now able to verify with a higher degree of confidence that our leads continue to be of the highest quality.”

Our customers have asked for the real-time intelligence to meet their business goals and we continue to deliver.

Anna Zornosa, EVP of the Colbalt Group and GM of its Dealix division, stated, “TARGUSinfo’s latest lead quality innovation matches perfectly with our ongoing Dealix Quality Pledge™ and Hassle Free Lead Return™ initiatives.   We share a commitment with TARGUSinfo to be transparent and constantly deliver better ways to improve the way we do business.  As a test partner with TARGUSinfo, we have seen a jump beyond our expectations.  The linkage to TARGUSinfo’s expanded mobile numbers alone has spiked our confidence and that of our dealers in knowing we stand behind every automotive lead.”

“We’ve made the commitment to expand our data coverage and authoritative linkages to arm buyers and seller with the ability to monetize a higher number of leads in education, automotive, insurance and other a host of other markets.

“The driving force behind successfully generating leads for our colleges and universities is our ability to deliver the highest caliber of prospective students at scale,” said Vince Lewis, General Manager, ClassesUSA.com. 

“ClassesUSA has worked with TARGUSinfo for more than 4 years and now, with the unprecedented addition of mobile phone data, TARGUSinfo has greatly enhanced our ability to accurately validate contactability in real time.  Their verification advances assures our partner schools that we provide highly contactable prospects for their enrollment counselors to engage and enroll.”

As the market leader in identifying, verifying, qualifying, and valuing who is on the other end of a transaction, I look forward to continuing our streak of driving these types of innovations like we have for past two decades.
Chris McArdle

@CjMcArdle

Not too long ago, LeadCritic energized a topic that’s near and dear to our heart, and something that we at TARGUSinfo have written about twice before on this blog.

“The Industry Demands Full Transparency” and “How Transparency in Lead Scoring Helps us All” were attempts to move the discussion forward and engage readers.

Can we truly agree upon what lead transparency means for buyers and seller? 

Lead critic defined transparency for both buyers and sellers as:

• Buyers definition of transparency: Knowing exactly what each lead source is doing to generate leads. Knowing what the creative says and looks like, knowing where the ads are being placed, knowing the exact source of every lead (did they come from the another company or were they organically generated), what keywords are being bid on, etc
• Sellers definition of transparency: Conversion data (contact rates, app rates, conversion rates, etc) knowing what the Lead management process is.

As we have said before and I most recently shared on stage with Datamark at LeadsCon, we believe in complete transparency.  Five years ago, TARGUSinfo introduced our first generation of On Demand Lead Verification services – ushering in new advances in lead quality for the online lead generation industry.

Our verification solution was built on the simple premise that lead sellers and buyers should have a real-time tool that would enable either party to determine the ‘contactability’ of a given lead in sub-second time – with complete transparency as to the attributes of each lead (i.e. Consumer Name matches Phone, or another example, Consumer Name does not match Phone or Address).

Our belief in transparency extends beyond lead verification, but also on the rising tide of lead scoring.

We believe, along with our scores of clients and industry partners, that the promise of lead scoring is significant, but only if executed through a collaborative and transparent approach. Transparency enables both parties to better communicate and thus understand their campaign’s lead quality, ultimately providing valuable intelligence to facilitate broader collaboration between lead sellers and buyers.

The industry deserves transparency.  Our lead scoring solution was developed in a similar transparent fashion as to our lead verification solution.   We believe it is critical that anyone engaged in lead scoring understand how their score is built and challenge their scoring provider as such – it seems like common sense that the more comfortable one is with understanding the ingredients of the score, the more comfortable they will be in making operational changes to take advantage of this real-time intelligence.

I look forward to continuing to facilitate the transparency discussion between our buyer and seller clients.

Chris

@cjmcardle

Getting contactable leads in the hands of lead buyers isn’t enough.  Sound daring enough?

There will be a time in the not too distant future when all leads will be–or have the ability to be, scored based on transparent data in so buyers can choose those leads with the highest propensity for conversion.

Nowhere is this more evident and close to happening then the education industry.

That’s why today, at The AMA Higher Education Symposium, we announced our relationship with EducationDynamics to add real-time lead scoring and verification to their LeadWatchLive™ lead management system.

EducationDynamics

“Our relationship with TARGUSinfo allows schools to effectively verify and prioritize high-value leads at the moment a prospect reaches out, greatly increasing a school’s chances for conversion,” said Andrew Gansler, president of EducationDynamics’ Prospecting Services Division.

Designed in collaboration with and specifically for colleges and universities, LeadWatchLive is a state-of-the-art inquiry management system designed to help institutions accurately monitor and manage all aspects of their marketing campaigns, including the quality and performance of multiple lead vendors and the performance of leads from generation through enrollment.

The integration of TARGUSinfo’s On-Demand Insight into LeadWatchLive provides added program functionality, allowing higher education marketers to:

1. Verify leads in real time, allowing administrators to prioritize and/or route leads according to the “contactability” of leads.
2. Screen leads for incorrect or erroneous data in real time to prevent the follow-up queue from reaching capacity―saving time and resources.
3. Prioritize and deliver leads to the best-equipped agents by determining which prospects are most likely to convert.
4. Personalize phone scripts and prospect communications using dynamic content to highly engage prospects and compel them to take the next step.
5. Measure vendors’ lead quality to get the best value from a lead generation budget.
6. Identify ideal customer segments to tailor marketing messages and offers to, and reach them by using the most compelling media channels.

We are proud to work alongside EducationDynamics in providing a transparent and valuable role in driving the highest quality of leads possible

Dave
@DaveWengel

I just returned from an exciting albeit jam packed 24+ hours at LeadsCon East in NYC.   We’re now that much closer to the TARGUSinfo Online Lead Quality Summit (OLQS) next month.

Hats off to Jay and Michelle for once again pulling off a super event.  The twitterverse is unanimous in their acclaim as well (#leadscon).

Here are a couple of observations and points of interest to share.
1)  The keynote lived up to expectations.  It’s pretty clear that Billshrink has the right leader in Peter Pham.  He seems to share the same type of unbridled enthusiasm in his product and people as Billshrink board of director Matt Coffin did in his days at LowerMyBills.

How else could a 16 person start-up get a multi-billion dollar wireless carrier, T-Mobile, to encourage American Idol finale viewers to visit the www.billshrink.com website, instead of their own, as the main call to action of their TV spot?  Lead generation is making strides thanks to the T-Mobile/BillShrink collaboration.

 
2)  Separately, TARGUSinfo was asked to speak in two sessions and we hosted a private session over lunch as well.  I helped introduce four unique companies during the “Marketing Strategies Showcase,” while Paul McLenaghan joined the AdChemy panel discussion regarding the use of real-time data for the purpose of de-averaging.

3)  We also hosted John Griffen, Managing Director with Allen & Co., for a discussion centered on his views about the current online media landscape.  For those of you not familiar with Allen & Co., they have been responsible for the four largest lead generation M&A exits over the past five years– so they know what to look for in successful companies and the trends that will impact all companies in our space.

I’m not going to recap all of his discussion (sorry folks, you had to be there), but he had some fantastic insights regarding what bankers see as the number one issue facing lead generation companies today, and whether it is better for generators to focus on a specific vertical or a demographic instead.

One CEO of a prominent EDU lead generator approached Sanaz Pentz (@Sanaz928) and I immediately after the event  said that one of John Griffen’s ideas could lead to an additional $5-$10 million in revenue for his business. Great stuff.  That’s why we invest our time in these events for our clients and industry.

Speaking of events.   Get ready to repack your bags for our 4th Annual Online Lead Quality Summit .  It is only four weeks away.

Online Lead Quality Summit

Two reasons why I can confidently state that this year’s OLQS will be the best yet– 1) the quality of our 36 speakers and 2) the quality of the confirmed attendees.

It was a hard call not pull last years’ excellent line-up of speakers since they did such a great job.  However, we went a differnet route to keep the event fresh and new.  Every single speaker this year is new and expect more to be announced in the coming weeks.

We also have hundreds of companies registered thus far– with our highest ever percentage of advertisers planning on attending.  Expect that number to grow quickly over the next few weeks – pointing to our third straight sell-out.  I suspect  $149 rooms at the Bellagio doesn’t hurt either.

Keep checking our blog for more updates and follow us on Twitter (@olqs) for more Summit details.
Dave
@davewengel
davidwengel@targusinfo.com

Welcome to our blog!  The entire TARGUSinfo team is energized coming off a great couple of months, including LeadsCon in March.  At LeadsCon, we took great pride in seeing a number of panels comprised by our clients– all talking about their commitment to lead quality and innovative ways they are leveraging our data.

We noticed a few interesting trends at LeadsCon…

I’ve comprised a quick top three list of emerging trends (some may or may not be obvious to readers):

1.       Interest in lead scoring is expanding outside of the traditional advertiser and agency spaces—not to mention how folks are defining a “lead score.”   LeadPoint unveiled their new LeadClass lead system which factors in lead quality, buyer feedback and other variables into segmenting leads for sale on their exchange—thus rewarding top lead providers with a premium for their leads and buyers with greater visibility into what ‘type’ of lead they are buying.  TARGUSinfo is a proud partner of LeadPoint and we love to see this type of ingenuity with our data being one of the drivers.  Here is a quick link for those interested:

http://www.leadpoint.com/index.php/about/leadclass-quality-system/

Just a quick point that traditional lead scoring also typically includes the modeling of historical data (conversion, retention, profitability, etc.) to predict behavior of new real-time leads.  I don’t believe that LeadPoint is factoring in this type of data but it is something that we also provide our clients.

2.       Growth in online insurance market.  I had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion sponsored by QuoteWizard (www.quotewizard.com).  QW is a leader in the online insurance lead gen space and was able to put together the panel comprised of some of their top clients including Liberty Mutual, Esurance, Insurance Express and the Secord Agency.  Each executive was able to provide insight into their tactics for how they work online leads, what % lead gen makes up the marketing mix, and their thoughts on what lead generators can be doing even better to grow their business.  One interesting comment re: lead follow-up came from a panelist that suggested very rapid lead follow-up in the minutes following lead delivery and then an equally heavy follow-up approximately three days after the initial lead was created if no response.

3.       For-Profit EDU’s continue to dominate. I keep waiting and waiting for the large not-for-profit schools to emerge and capture significant market share (at least in the professional degree arena) but it is still not happening.  I’d love to hear your feedback on this subject– @davewengel on twitter or davidwengel@Targusinfo.com.

Thanks for checking out my first posting.  We look forward to actively posting in the weeks to come.

Dave Wengel

GM, Interactive Markets

TARGUSinfo