Digital marketing term
Lead
A person who is not a customer yet but left enough contact—and permission—to start a conversation. Traffic is not a lead; a form, trial, or chat capture is.
Detailed explanation
In B2B that may be a work email and role; in B2C an email or trial signup. MQL versus SQL is the filter between marketing got a name and sales can talk.
Counting every newsletter signup as a sales lead inflates the funnel. Long forms add friction; a vague offer attracts junk. If the landing page, CTA, and offer are not one job, CPL looks cheap while sales rejects the queue.
Track volume, CPL, qualification rate, and time to revenue. Split sources with UTM. Do not dump content signups and demo requests in one bucket.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a lead different from a visitor?
- A visitor loaded a page. A lead left a permissioned way to follow up—form, signup, or a conversation request.
- Does asking for more fields raise quality?
- Sometimes. Each extra field also cuts conversion. Keep fields sales will use; defer the rest.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- ConversionThe defined action you wanted completed: a purchase, signup, download, or form. Traffic without that count means the campaign flew blind on its results.
- Landing PageThe first page a visitor hits after an ad, email, or search click—built for one job. Unlike a homepage, it trades navigation clutter for a promise, proof, and a single call to action.
- CTAThe button, link, or line that names the next step you want someone to take. Vague labels like “learn more” may collect clicks and still fail the conversion.
- CPLWhat you pay for one defined lead: a form, trial request, or callback. Cheap clicks still get expensive when those forms are junk that sales cannot use.
- Email MarketingSending news, offers, or teaching through a permissioned list you own. It is not a rented blast; it stands on delivery, relevance, and an easy way out.
- Inbound MarketingAttracting people with useful content, guides, and email instead of interrupting them with ads they did not ask for. You can still buy traffic; trust accrues when the first touch helps.