Lead Delivery Methods

How lead companies deliver

We researched what all 440 lead companies in our pay-per-lead directory say on their own websites about delivery. 361 of them describe it. These are the methods, grouped and counted by company. Most companies name several, so the counts add up to more than 361.

Three patterns stand out. First, delivery is almost always a combination: 285 of the 361 name two or more methods. Text is the clearest case. 78 of the 84 companies that text leads also email them, so text works as an alert that a lead has arrived while the email or CRM record carries the detail.

Second, the phone is near the top because so much of this market sells calls. Inbound calls and live transfers are delivered by connecting the consumer to the buyer, not by sending a record. Third, the CRM is where most buyers want the lead to end up, whether it gets there by a direct post, an integration tool or an email the buyer parses.

Buyers ask about this before they buy. Of the 209 companies in the directory with a buyer FAQ, about half answer a question about how or how fast leads are delivered.

Which sellers use which methods

The right method depends on what you sell and who buys it. The same research shows clear differences by product and business type.

Real-time delivery is the default for fresh leads. 330 of the 440 list real-time leads among their products, and of the 347 companies that say anything about delivery speed, most describe real time, and several promise delivery within seconds or the moment the form is submitted. A few deliver only after a verification or intake step, and say so. A few describe delivery timed to business hours or on a schedule, and some aged lead sellers deliver the same day or the next morning instead of in real time.

For a seller, the lesson is that delivery is configured per buyer. A solo agent working from a phone wants a text and an email. A call center wants leads posted into its dialer. A network wants ping post. A broker buying your leads may want them posted to an endpoint with its own field names. Plan for all of them before you sign the first buyer.

The methods, one by one

1. CRM and dialer

   The most common destination in the data. The lead lands as a record in the buyer's CRM, dialer or lead management system, ready for their team or automations to work. Companies describe getting it there by direct post, by an integration tool, or by a named CRM connection. Getting it right depends on field mapping: the buyer's system expects certain fields with certain names, and a lead with a missing required field may be rejected or land half empty.

2. Email

   The simplest route, and the one small buyers ask for first. Every buyer has an inbox and nothing needs integrating. The trade is that an email has to be read, and its contents copied somewhere useful. For buyers who grow, email often becomes a notification on top of a CRM delivery rather than the delivery itself.

3. API, webhook and direct post

   An API or webhook delivery sends the lead as a structured request straight to an endpoint the buyer controls, usually in real time. It is how most CRM deliveries happen underneath. Companies describe it as API, webhook, real-time post or direct post. The buyer supplies the URL and any keys or headers, and the seller maps fields to the buyer's format. Each attempt returns a response code, which tells the seller whether the buyer's server accepted it.

4. Text

   Text puts the lead on the buyer's phone within seconds, which matters for small teams who are out of the office. It is almost never the only method in the data. Keep the text short, with the fields the buyer needs to make the call, and let the full record go by email or CRM.

5. Portals, dashboards and apps

   137 companies give buyers a portal, dashboard or app. Some deliver the lead there, some use it alongside another channel so buyers can see history, and many use it to take returns. Several companies that publish return terms require returns to be filed through the portal, so the portal is often where delivery disputes get settled.

6. Ping post

   Ping post is a delivery method and a sales method at once. The seller sends a preview of the lead, buyers return bids, and the full lead is posted to the winner. 26 companies in the data name it, most of them networks or exchanges. It needs buyers with systems that can answer a ping, so it suits larger buyers and networks. See what is ping post and how to sell to lead networks.

7. Phone and live transfer

   When the product is a call, delivery is the call itself: an inbound caller routed to the buyer's phone line, or a prospect transferred live from the seller's agent. Several companies deliver a call recording or consent record with the transfer. That needs call tracking and routing, which is a separate system from lead distribution. The trade-offs are covered in pay per lead vs. pay per call.

8. Files, spreadsheets and batches

   Some leads are not delivered one at a time. Companies selling aged leads or data send a spreadsheet or CSV for upload into a dialer, share a live spreadsheet, or let buyers download leads after purchase. This suits volume buying where speed matters less. See aged leads.

What travels with the lead

Delivery is not only contact details. What buyers expect in the payload has grown, and the research shows what sellers include.

• Qualifying answers. The questions that make the lead worth its price, such as service type, timeline or property details. If the buyer filtered on an answer, deliver it so they can see the lead matched.
• Consent records. Several companies advertise a third-party consent certificate with every lead, and a few pass the consent text, timestamp, IP address and source page with each one. Several companies that buy from publishers require suppliers to pass that record with each lead. Ask each buyer what they expect to receive. The rules themselves are published by the FCC and the FTC, and TCPAWorld tracks changes.
• A source sub ID. Keep a source sub ID on every lead and include it in the delivery, so a complaint about quality can be traced to the traffic that produced it.
• A lead ID. Several return policies ask the buyer to quote the lead ID when filing a return. A shared ID makes returns and disputes a lookup instead of an argument.

Some fields should never be delivered, such as internal notes, scores or your cost. Decide per field what goes to buyers. See lead fields.

What to set up for each buyer

Delivery is configured per buyer, not once for the whole business. Two buyers in the same market may want completely different routes. Before the first lead, have these answered for every buyer:

• Channel. Webhook into a CRM, email, text, or a combination.
• Destination. The endpoint URL, email addresses or phone numbers, and who owns them on the buyer's side.
• Authentication. Any keys or custom headers the buyer's system requires.
• Field mapping. Which of your fields go to this buyer, and under what names.
• Caps and pausing. How many leads the buyer can work, and an agreement that they pause when nobody is there to call. A lead that lands in an inbox overnight is already aging.
• A contact for failures. Who to call when their endpoint starts rejecting leads.

Set expectations on the first call, because buyers will blame the leads. Before accepting a complaint about lead quality, rule out delivery: a field mapped wrong, a phone number in the wrong format, or leads arriving in an inbox nobody checks all look like bad leads from the buyer's side.

How to test a delivery before going live

1. Collect the buyer's delivery details

   Get the channel the buyer wants, the endpoint URL or email address or phone number, any headers or keys their system needs, and the field names their CRM expects. Ask who on their side will confirm the test.

2. Map the fields

   Match each field on your lead type to the name the buyer's system uses. Mark which fields are deliverable, map each one to this buyer's format, and check that every field their system requires is one you collect on every lead.

3. Send a test delivery

   Send a test lead before going live. Use obviously fake contact details so nobody calls it, and send it while someone on the buyer's side is watching.

4. Read the response

   Check the response code and timing your system recorded. A success code means their server accepted the lead, not that it landed in the right place, so do not stop here.

5. Confirm it on the buyer's side

   Have the buyer find the test lead in their CRM, inbox or phone and confirm every field arrived in the right place: names split correctly, phone formatted, state and ZIP in their own fields, source sub ID present.

6. Go live with a low cap

   Start with a small daily cap and watch the first real deliveries. Raise the cap once the buyer confirms leads are arriving and their team is working them.

Run the same test again whenever the buyer changes CRM, endpoint or required fields. Deliveries that worked last month break quietly when the buyer's side changes.

What Juiced supports

Juiced delivers leads in real time by webhook, email or SMS, with the channel chosen per buyer.

• Field mapping and JSON payloads with custom headers, so a webhook matches what the buyer's CRM expects.
• Field switches. Every field on a lead type has four switches: required for post, required for ping, deliverable, and hidden from the API spec.
• Test deliveries before going live.
• Delivery records. Each delivery attempt keeps its response code and timing, so a failed delivery can be seen and fixed rather than argued about.
• Ping post. Sources integrate through documented ping and post endpoints, and every exchange from ping to post is recorded in the flow log. See ping post.
• Buyer controls. Buyers set filters, budgets and caps, can pause their account, and fund a wallet that is charged at delivery. See budgets and caps.

Frequently asked