Tiered Lead Pricing

Why one price per lead type stops working

A buyer's ceiling for a lead is their close rate on purchased leads times the revenue from a closed deal, less what it costs to serve the customer and the margin they need. Both inputs change from lead to lead within one lead type. A debt relief lead with a large balance is worth more to a settlement company than one just over their minimum. A lead delivered seconds after it was submitted converts better than the same lead offered weeks later.

Put one price on all of them and buyers who can tell the difference filter down to the best leads, while the weak end goes unsold or comes back as returns, raising the floor on every lead you do sell. Tiering gives each band its own price: run the lead price calculator once per tier, with that tier's close rate and deal value on the buyer side and its own cost and unsold share on yours. If a tier has no gap between floor and ceiling for a buyer, do not sell it to that buyer. The full method is in the pay-per-lead pricing guide.

How lead companies price: the unit is the first tier

We read what each of the 440 companies in our pay-per-lead companies directory publishes about how it charges. 372 state at least one pricing model. The table counts companies, not prices, and a company can appear in more than one row.

Two patterns matter for tiering. First, 151 companies name more than one model, not counting custom quotes and setup fees. 75 sell per lead and also per call or per transfer, and 39 sell per lead alongside a subscription. The same consumer is being sold at different stages of qualification, and each stage is a tier: a form lead, a lead confirmed by phone, a live transfer, a booked appointment, a signed case. The further down that ladder, the more of the buyer's work the seller has absorbed, and the more the buyer can pay.

Second, custom quotes are the second most common model. Many sellers do not publish a price because their price is already tiered by buyer, area and filters, and a single public number would undercut the better tiers. If you quote per buyer, write down the tier logic behind each quote so the next buyer in the same band gets the same terms.

Markets lean on different units

Counted by vertical, the mix shifts in ways that tell you which tiers buyers in each market expect. Companies can sit in more than one vertical.

What companies say moves the price

Beyond the unit, we grouped every statement a company makes about what its price depends on. The order below is by how many companies say it, from most to fewest.

One company makes a point of charging the same rate in every market with no metro premium. A flat price is easy to sell, but the seller absorbs the difference in media cost between areas, so know which areas you are subsidizing.

The bands buyers already capture

An attribute is only usable as a tier if it is captured the same way on every lead. Counting both form screens and buyer filters, these are the financial and property bands the companies in our directory work with. 127 of the 440 capture or let buyers target at least one financial band.

The gap between the two columns is the opportunity. Far more companies screen on a band than let buyers choose it, which means most of them sell one blended product above a minimum. A seller who captures the band and lets buyers pick, or bid, by band can charge more for the top of the range without losing the rest.

Position and age tiers: exclusive, shared and aged

The most common tier is not an attribute of the lead at all. It is how many buyers receive it and how old it is when they do. In our directory, 295 companies sell exclusive leads, 95 sell shared leads and 12 sell a semi-exclusive position between the two. 75 sell both exclusive and shared, and 83 sell at least two positions. 65 sell aged leads, and 57 of the companies that sell real-time leads also sell aged ones.

• Shared tiers are usually capped. Where companies describe shared leads in detail, they state a maximum number of buyers, and some price each position lower as the count rises. The cap tells a shared buyer how hard they will have to race.
• Exclusive is defined in very different ways. For some it means one buyer, never resold. For others it means one buyer per territory, or exclusive for a set window and then sold again as aged.
• Age tiers usually step down in brackets. Companies that sell aged leads describe brackets by age or a price that falls on a schedule, and several treat aged leads as final sale with no returns. Say whether an aged lead was never sold or was sold before. See aged leads.

Order matters. Sell a lead exclusive first and shared or aged later, never the reverse, and make the first buyer's position the one they paid for. See exclusive vs. shared leads.

Returns and quality labels decide whether a tier holds

A tier is a promise about what the lead is, and the return policy is where buyers test it. 254 of the 440 companies say something about returns, credits or replacements. The reasons they accept show which promises buyers actually enforce.

Most of the companies with return terms settle with a replacement or a lead credit rather than cash. Two lessons follow for tiers. Criteria and area returns grow with every band you add, because each band is one more thing a lead can fail, so decide in advance whether a lead that belongs one tier down is credited the difference, moved down or taken back. Several companies put final-sale terms on aged or discounted leads specifically, which works because the buyer chose the lower price knowing the trade.

Quality labels are tiers too. 371 companies describe at least one quality check: over 100 describe screening by a call center, intake team or agent, 60 describe phone verification, and several describe fraud or bot filtering. 233 say something about consent, 70 say they can supply a consent certificate or third-party consent record, and several say they scrub numbers against do-not-call lists before delivery. A verified or qualified tier earns more only if the buyer can see the check on each lead. The rules themselves are published by the FCC and FTC, and TCPAWorld tracks how they are applied.

Volume and commitment tiers, and their risk

Many companies tier price by how much a buyer commits: bulk discounts, package sizes, spend levels, and subscription plans where a higher plan buys more leads or better filters.

Commitment tiers suit a seller only when the commitment is funded. Of the 440 companies, 82 describe a prepaid or funded account and 42 a card on file, against 18 that invoice. Most, 298, do not say how buyers pay. A volume discount given against an invoice means you carry the media cost and the credit risk for the buyer's whole order. Kyle, the founder of Juiced, teaches the opposite order: the buyer funds a balance up front, there are no promised volumes by a date and no invoices, and a bigger balance can earn a better rate. See prepaid vs. invoiced lead buyers.

Starting terms sort buyers before price does. 58 companies state a minimum order, deposit or spend, while 79 say there is no minimum. A few set the minimum deposit or bid minimum by geography or practice area. Most companies, 251, start a buyer with a call, a form or a quote, over 100 offer self-serve signup and 80 ask buyers to apply or be approved. Several dozen describe a test or pilot order. A small funded order in each tier tells you whether the tiers close differently before anyone commits to volume. See lead pilot orders.

How to choose your tiers

1. Tier on what moves the buyer's close rate or deal value

   Ask your buyers which leads they close and which they return. The attribute that separates the two is the one to tier on. An attribute that does not change a buyer's close rate or deal value only adds complexity, however neat the bands look.

2. Keep the number of tiers small

   Every tier splits your volume, your buyers and your reporting. Start with one split that buyers recognize from their own underwriting, and add another only when they keep asking for it.

3. Define each band by a field, not by judgment

   A tier must be decided by a value on the lead, captured the same way every time, so you and the buyer can both see why a lead landed where it did. Use a List of Values field with your bands rather than a free-text answer. If a lead's tier depends on someone's opinion, every returned lead becomes an argument.

4. Work out a floor for each tier

   Tiers rarely cost the same to produce. A narrow top band may need more spend per lead that passes, and a low band may sell less often. Run the calculator per tier with its own media cost and unsold share. That floor becomes the tier's minimum.

5. Find funded buyers for every tier before you generate it

   A tier with no funded buyer waiting is unsold inventory with a label. Line up who takes the top band and who takes the rest, and have an outlet ready for leads that fit neither.

6. Write each tier into the return policy

   A buyer who paid for the top band will return a lead that is not in it. Before the first lead, state what each tier means and what happens when a lead belongs in a lower one. See lead return policy.

7. Prove the tiers with small funded orders

   Have buyers fund a small order in each tier rather than taking free samples. Measure close rate and revenue per lead by tier over a full sales cycle, and keep a source sub ID on every lead so you can see which sources produce which tiers. If two bands do not close differently, merge them.

Setting up tiers in Juiced

There are two ways to run tiers in Juiced. Choose by how differently the tiers behave.

1. Separate lead types, one per tier

   Make each tier its own lead type. Buyers bid by lead type and location above the minimum you set, so each tier gets its own floor, its own bids and its own reporting. Your form or posting logic sends each lead to the lead type that matches its band. This suits tiers that differ a lot in price or go to different buyers.

2. One lead type with a band field that buyers filter on

   Keep one lead type and add the band as a List of Values field. A buyer who only wants the top band filters to it, while a buyer who takes everything bids across all bands, and each lead goes to the highest bid among the buyers whose filters it matches. This suits tiers that share most buyers, and it lets bidding find the price of each band.

Area tiers need no extra setup. Buyers bid by location, and you choose which locations are biddable. Where several buyers want the same area, their bids push the price up; where one does, leads still sell at your minimum.

Position and age tiers map to separate products. Every lead in Juiced is sold to one buyer, except leads in The Club, a subscription pool for aged and unsold leads where a per-lead cap sets how many members can claim the same lead. Age tiers map to the private marketplace: leads that miss their first route are listed at a starting price that declines on a schedule to your floor, and aged inventory can be relisted at a lower opening price.

If you buy from publishers, tier what you pay too. Of the 162 companies that say they buy from publishers, affiliates or other sellers, 94 say how they pay: most often per lead, and also per call, per sale or as a share of revenue. Several say they pay only for leads that are accepted or valid. In Juiced, each vendor can be paid a fixed price or a share of the winning bid, so a supplier whose leads sell into a higher tier earns more. See manage lead vendors.

Commitment stays funded. Buyers add funds to a wallet before leads arrive, are charged when each lead is delivered, and get approved returns credited back. They set their own budgets and caps in the portal, by lead count, spend or both, over daily, weekly or monthly periods. See buyer bidding, wallet billing and lead fields.

Frequently asked