Lead sources and how each one delivers leads

A lead source is only useful once you know how its leads reach a person and how you will tell it apart from the others. This page is about that delivery, not about which source to choose. The wider picture is in how UAE businesses get leads, what a lead costs and how leads are followed up.

Think in delivery routes

For every source ask four questions. What action creates a lead? Where does the lead first land? Who is told? How is the source recorded? A source that fails the second or third question loses leads before cost is even a question.

Google lead forms

Google describes lead forms as forms inside your ad where people submit their details, and says they can be added to Search and Performance Max campaigns^[1]. It lists several ways to receive the leads: a download file, an email for each lead, a direct feed to your CRM that you build yourself or buy from a third-party provider, and a connector service. It also says leads are kept for 60 days, so download them regularly^[1]. For a small team the email route is the quickest to set up, but it depends on someone reading that inbox.

Meta lead ads

Meta documents two ways of getting leads out of lead ads: notifications that arrive as each lead is submitted, and reading leads in bulk filtered by the time they were created, plus an export by date range^[4]. These need technical set-up. If nobody has done it, ask whoever runs your ads how leads reach you today, and test it with a lead of your own.

Your website, calls and messages

Website forms, calls and WhatsApp messages are the sources you control most directly. The risk is that they are counted differently. Google gives a phone call as an example of a conversion^[3], which is a good reason to count calls, but a call that lasts seconds is not the same as a form from a buyer. Decide what makes a call a lead and record it the same way every time.

Referrals, partners and events

These leads do not come with a click ID, so they are easy to leave out of every report. Add a field to your lead record for how the lead found you, and ask it on the first call. It is the only way to compare these sources with paid ones on cost per customer.

A table to fill in

Make one row per source and fill in these columns:

• What counts as a lead from this source.
• Where the lead first lands, and who is told.
• How the source is recorded on the lead.
• How the outcome is recorded, including closed lost.
• Spend on the source for the period, so cost can be worked out.

Where a paid click leads to a sale offline, Google describes saving the click ID with the lead and sending it back later with the outcome^[2]. I explain what to do with the table in measuring cost per lead and common mistakes, and the calculator is here. If you want help connecting the sources, my PPC management service is described on my own site, and I sell it, so judge it as you would any supplier.