There areadvantages and disadvantages with every type of lead, explains Justin Rees, director of marketing and partnerships for LeadPoint UK

Over the last year a whole range of new lead generation companies have appeared offering an array of different products and services for lead buyers to choose from. These companies can broadly be divided into those that provide web leads, those that provide telephone qualified leads and finally those that provide qualified appointments. For any lead buyer considering which is best for them it might help to take a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The most basic form of lead is a web lead. As the name implies, web leads are generated from the internet. However, it is important to point out that any reputable lead provider should be doing a lot more than supplying a consumer’s details that has just opted in to be contacted.

A proper internet leads is where a consumer has responded to some form of marketing for a specific product or service and then completed an online form to be contacted about the specific product and service in question. For most financial services products these should be “long forms”” so called because the lead supplier should capture up to 30 fields of information about the consumer. Not only does collecting more fields of information allow the lead buyer to filter down to their required type of customer but it also qualifies the degree of interest that the consumer has.