Matched, Shared, or Scraped: What's Actually in the 'Leads' You're Buying?

"Lead" might be the most abused word in contractor marketing. It gets used for a homeowner who asked for your service this morning, for a request that was sold to six companies last week, and for a spreadsheet of names scraped off the internet by someone who has never spoken to any of them. Those are three different products with three different values, and telling them apart before you pay is most of the game. Our plans page defines what counts as a matching lead here; this post is about the whole market.

Shared leads: one ask, many buyers

The big marketplaces generate a real request — a homeowner really does need a plumber — and then sell that same request to several companies at once. The homeowner gets four or five calls in an hour, stops answering, and every buyer concludes the leads are "bad." They weren't bad. They were shared. A shared lead isn't worthless, but it should be priced like what it is: a race you didn't agree to enter, against companies whose names you'll never know.

Scraped lists: names without intent

Scraped and brokered lists are the bottom of the barrel: names, numbers, and addresses collected from public records, old directories, and data brokers, then resold as "targeted leads." The people on them never asked for anything. Their information may be years old, the number may belong to someone else now, and your "lead" is really just a cold call with extra steps. If a seller can't tell you exactly where a list came from and when the person asked to be contacted, you're not buying leads — you're buying a phone book.

Matched leads: the ask comes first

A matched lead starts at the other end: a real person asks for a specific service, in a specific place, and the ask is matched to the pros who do that work there. At Nail the Match, matches arrive by two doors. A homeowner can fill out our form requesting your service, and we place them in contact with you. Or a neighbor posts an ask in a local Facebook group, on Nextdoor, on Reddit, or on Craigslist — "looking for a roofer in Royersford" — and a pro's keyword plan catches it. Either way, the person asked first. Nobody was scraped, and no list was purchased.

Three questions that sort any lead seller

• Where did this lead come from? A real answer names the moment the person asked. Vagueness about sourcing means scraped or recycled.
• How many companies get it? "A small number" is an answer. Refusing to say is also an answer. On Nail the Match plans, a request may go to a small number of matched pros — plans are not exclusive, and we say so plainly; being the only company recommended is a separate, paid exclusivity add-on.
• What happens if the contact info is dead? Here, a request whose phone number and email address are both invalid never counts as a matching lead — automatically, no dispute process.

Why the source decides the close rate

Contractors blame themselves for "bad leads" that were really bad sourcing. A person who asked a neighbor for a roofer this morning is a conversation. A person whose name was scraped two years ago is an interruption. Same word on the invoice — completely different job on the phone. Buy the ask, not the label. More straight answers live on our FAQ page.

Questions & Answers

Stephen George writes for Nail the Match.