Lead generation

In marketing, lead generation is the process of creating consumer interest or inquiry into the products or services of a business. A lead is the contact information and, in some cases, demographic information of a customer who is interested in a specific product or service.

Leads may come from various sources or activities, for example, digitally via the Internet, through personal referrals, through telephone calls either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements, and events.


 * In 2014, a study found that direct traffic, search engines, and web referrals were the three most popular online channels for lead generation, accounting for 93% of leads.
 * In 2018, Chief Marketer found that B2B marketers favored email, live events, and content marketing as their top three.
 * After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Gartner identified increases in social and search engine optimization for B2B marketers, while B2C marketers favored digital advertising.

Lead generation is often paired with lead management to move leads through the purchase funnel. This combination of activities is referred to as pipeline marketing, which is often broken into a marketing and a sales pipeline.

Lead scoring
Lead scoring is "an effective model that helps sales and marketing departments identify which prospects are potentially most valuable to the company and its current sales funnel." It involves a quantitative method of assigning a numerical “score” to a lead. This helps the company determine whether a contact is valid for their pipeline and allows them to prioritize leads and allocate resources accordingly.

The introduction of marketing automation in recent years has made lead scoring much easier to implement. Many modern customer relationship management (CRM) tools (e.g., Hubspot, ActiveCampaign) now include software to automate this process.

Criteria for lead scoring
The score assigned to each lead is assigned based on their level of interest, fit with the company's target market, and likelihood of becoming a paying customer. It is not static and can change based on the demographic or behavioral criteria set by the company. Once the lead reaches a pre-defined score threshold, it is then sent from marketing to the sales team for examination.
 * Demographic criteria: Based on data points such as age, job title, and/or company information such as company size, revenue, etc.
 * Behavioral criteria: Based on actions a lead has taken, such as clicking on a link in an email, watching a video, or visiting pages on a website.

Nationalization Efforts
In February 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued guidance targeting the manipulation of comparison-shopping tools for financial products due to kickbacks. This manipulation impacts lead generation, steering consumers towards certain products not because of their merits but due to hidden financial incentives. The guidance highlights how such practices may breach federal consumer protection laws, emphasizing the need for unbiased, transparent comparison tools in the financial sector and offering the concept of a federal comparison shopping site as an alternative.