Glossary
Lead generation glossary: terms from A to Z
Plain definitions of the terms lead buyers and sellers meet in home improvement and MVA lead generation, from ping trees and caps to consent records and signed retainers. Where a term has its own guide on this site, the definition links to it. These definitions are general information, not legal advice.
A
- Acceptance rate
- The share of leads a buyer accepts out of the leads it is offered or sent. A falling acceptance rate usually points to a filter mismatch, duplicates or a data quality problem.What makes leads worth buying
- Aged lead
- A lead sold some time after it was captured rather than at the moment of submission. Aged leads usually cost less because the consumer has often already been contacted or has moved on.Real-time vs aged leads
- ATDS / autodialer
- An automatic telephone dialing system, a category of equipment regulated by the TCPA. In Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid (2021), the Supreme Court held that equipment counts as an ATDS only if it can store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Prerecorded and artificial voice calls are regulated separately, whatever equipment dials them.TCPA compliance guide
B
- Batch delivery
- Sending leads to a buyer in scheduled groups, such as a file or a periodic upload, instead of one at a time as they are captured. It suits buyers whose systems cannot take real-time posts.Lead delivery methods
- Bid
- The price a buyer offers for a lead in response to a ping. In a ping/post auction, the winning bid receives the full lead by post.Ping/post integration for buyers
- Buying desk
- A team inside a lead-generation company, agency or aggregator that purchases leads to fill its own or its clients' campaigns. A buying desk sets the filters, caps and bids for each campaign it runs.Lead supply for buyers
C
- Cap
- A limit on how many leads a buyer will take in a period, usually per day and sometimes per hour, week or campaign. Once a cap is reached, the buyer stops receiving pings or posts until it resets.Ping/post integration for buyers
- Consent certificate
- A record, often produced by a third-party consent certificate provider, that shows how and when a consumer gave consent on a web form. It typically captures the page, the disclosure shown and the consumer's actions at the moment of submission.TCPA record keeping
- Contact rate
- The share of leads a buyer or its client actually reaches by phone, text or email. It depends on data accuracy, speed to contact and how many other companies are calling the same consumer.
- Conversion rate
- The share of leads that turn into the outcome the end client wants, such as a booked appointment, a sold job or a signed case. It is the number most buyers use to judge whether a source is worth scaling.
- CPL (cost per lead)
- The amount a buyer pays for each lead it receives. CPL only means something next to contact and conversion rates, because the real measure of a source is the cost per outcome, not the cost per lead.
D
- Direct post
- A delivery method in which a supplier sends the full lead straight to a buyer, with no ping first. The buyer sets a fixed price for leads that match its criteria.Ping/post vs direct post
- Disconnect
- A lead whose phone number is not in service. Disconnected numbers are a common reason for a lead return.Lead quality standards
- DNC / Do Not Call Registry
- The National Do Not Call Registry is a federal list of numbers whose owners have opted out of most telemarketing calls. Companies must also keep their own internal do-not-call lists, and some states run separate registries.TCPA compliance guide
- Duplicate
- A lead for a consumer the buyer has already received within a set lookback period, from the same source or another one. Buyers usually check duplicates at the ping stage and reject or return them.Lead quality standards
E
- Endpoint
- The web address in a buyer's system that receives pings and posts. The supplier maps its fields to the endpoint's format and tests it before any live traffic is sent.Ping/post integration for buyers
- Exclusive lead
- A lead delivered to one buyer and not resold to others. The terms, such as how long the lead stays with that buyer, should be written into the supply agreement.Exclusive vs shared leads
F
- Filter
- A rule that decides which leads a buyer is offered, based on fields such as vertical, sub-type, state, ZIP code, homeownership or accident details. Leads that fail a buyer's filters are never pinged to that buyer.Ping/post integration for buyers
- Floor price
- The lowest bid a supplier or distribution system will accept for a lead. Bids below the floor are ignored, and the lead goes to the next eligible buyer or is held back.Lead distribution explained
H
- Home improvement lead
- A request from a homeowner for quotes on a home project, such as roofing, flooring, siding and gutters, or bathroom work. Useful fields include project type, property address, homeownership and timeframe.Home improvement leads for buyers
I
- Intake
- The process a law firm or its intake team uses to screen a potential client, collect the facts of the accident and injury, and decide whether to take the case. Fast intake matters because injured people often contact several firms.MVA lead documentation
- IP address and timestamp record
- The consumer's IP address and the exact date and time of submission, saved with the lead. Together with the opt-in language and page URL, they form the basic proof of when and where consent was given.TCPA record keeping
L
- Lead aggregator
- A company that buys leads from many suppliers and routes or resells them to end clients, such as contractors or law firms. Aggregators often run their own distribution systems and client campaigns.Lead supply for buyers
- Lead brokerage
- A business that sits between lead sellers and lead buyers, taking in leads from publishers and routing them to buyers. Summit Leads operates as a real-time ping/post lead brokerage.How lead networks work
- Lead ID token
- A unique identifier created by a tracking script on the capture form and passed along with the lead. A buyer can use it to retrieve the matching consent record from the third-party consent certificate provider that issued it.TCPA record keeping
- Lead validation
- Checks run on a lead before it is sold, such as phone and email verification, address checks, duplicate checks and screening for obvious fake data. Validation reduces returns and protects buyer trust.Lead quality standards
- Live transfer
- A lead delivered as a phone call that is connected directly to a buyer's agent while the consumer is still on the line. It usually follows a short qualifying conversation.TCPA and pay per call
M
- MVA lead
- A motor vehicle accident lead: a person injured in a car, motorcycle, commercial vehicle or rideshare accident who is looking for legal help. Buyers usually look for a documented injury, clear or favorable liability and no current attorney.MVA leads for buyers
O
- One-to-one consent
- An FCC rule adopted in 2023 that would have limited each prior express written consent to a single seller. The Eleventh Circuit vacated it in January 2025 before it took effect, and the FCC removed it from its rules effective August 29, 2025.One-to-one consent explained
- Opt-in language
- The consent disclosure shown next to the submit button on a lead form. It should state who may contact the consumer, by what means, and that consent is not a condition of purchase.TCPA for lead generators
- Owned-and-operated traffic
- Leads captured on websites, landing pages or ad accounts the supplier runs itself. Buyers often prefer it because the supplier controls the forms, the consent language and the traffic sources.How to sell leads you generate
P
- Pay per call
- A model in which the buyer pays for inbound phone calls rather than form leads, usually only for calls that meet a minimum duration or qualification. Calls may come from ads, landing pages or live transfers.TCPA and pay per call
- Personal injury lead
- A lead from a person who was hurt and may have a legal claim. MVA leads are the largest category, and law firms judge them on injury, liability, timing and representation status.Personal injury leads for buyers
- Ping
- The first message in a ping/post exchange: a partial, non-identifying version of the lead sent to eligible buyers so they can decide whether to bid. A ping carries fields like vertical, ZIP code and project or accident details, but no name or phone number.Ping post explained
- Ping tree
- The ordered set of buyers a lead is offered to, with rules for who is pinged, in what order and at what price. It decides which buyer wins each lead.Lead distribution explained
- Ping/post
- A real-time selling method in which a lead is pinged to buyers with partial data, buyers bid, and the winning bidder receives the full lead by post. It lets buyers price each lead before seeing personal details.Ping post explained
- Post
- The second message in a ping/post exchange: the full lead, including contact details and consent data, sent to the buyer that won the bid. The buyer's system then accepts or rejects it.Ping post explained
- Post rejection
- When a buyer declines a lead at the post stage after winning the ping, for example because of a duplicate or a failed validation. High post rejection rates hurt a supplier's standing in the ping tree.Ping post explained
- Prior express written consent
- Under the TCPA, a written agreement signed by the consumer (an electronic signature counts) that clearly authorizes a seller to make telemarketing calls or texts using an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice to a stated number. It must disclose that consent is not a condition of any purchase.TCPA compliance checklist
- Publisher
- A company or individual that generates leads, usually through websites, ads or content, and sells them to brokers or buyers. Publisher is often used interchangeably with supplier or affiliate.Sell your leads
R
- Real-time lead
- A lead sold and delivered within moments of the consumer submitting a form. Real-time leads carry the most value because the consumer is still actively looking.Real-time vs aged leads
- Return
- A buyer's request for credit on a lead that fails agreed standards, such as a disconnected number, a duplicate or a lead outside the filters. What counts as a valid return is set in the supply agreement.Lead quality standards
- Return window
- The period after delivery during which a buyer may submit a return. The length and the accepted reasons are defined per partner in the supply terms.
S
- Signed retainer
- An agreement signed by an injured person hiring a law firm to represent them. Some personal injury buyers pay for signed retainers rather than for leads, which moves the intake work to the supplier.MVA lead documentation
- State mini-TCPA
- A state law that adds telemarketing rules on top of the federal TCPA, such as tighter calling hours, limits on call frequency or a narrower definition of an autodialer. Several states have passed one, and they can apply even when a campaign meets federal rules.State telemarketing laws
- Storm lead
- A roofing or exterior lead from a homeowner whose property was damaged by hail, wind or another storm, often with an insurance claim open or planned. Storm leads lose value quickly, so they are usually sold in real time.Roofing leads for buyers
- Supplier
- Any company that provides leads to a buyer, whether it generates them itself or brokers them from publishers. Buyers should check a supplier's traffic sources, consent records and return handling before scaling.How to evaluate lead suppliers
T
- TCPA
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law that governs telemarketing calls and texts, autodialers, prerecorded voice messages and the Do Not Call Registry. It allows consumers to sue for violations, which is why consent records matter to lead buyers.TCPA compliance guide
- Third-party traffic
- Leads a supplier buys from other publishers or affiliates rather than capturing itself. Buyers usually ask for source disclosure and consent records for this traffic, because the supplier has less direct control over it.Sell to a broker or build a buyer network
V
- Vertical
- The industry or product category a lead belongs to, such as roofing or car accident. Buyers filter by vertical and often by sub-type within it.The Summit Leads network
Z
- ZIP targeting
- A filter that limits the leads a buyer receives to a list of ZIP codes, often matched to where its clients operate. It is narrower than state targeting and common in home improvement.Ping/post integration for buyers
Buying leads? Talk to us
Summit Leads supplies home improvement and MVA leads by real-time ping/post, with direct post and batch delivery where a buyer needs them. Tell us your verticals, filters, caps and how you take delivery.
Start small, with no long-term commitment
- No long-term contract. Pause or stop at any time.
- No setup fee and no monthly fee. You pay only for leads delivered that match your filters.
- Start with a small test volume and scale when the numbers work.
- Leads are exclusive by default: each lead is sold to one buyer.
- Return terms are agreed on the onboarding call, before you go live.
Or write to team@summitleads.ai. We reply by email.
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