Glossary

Lead data, defined in plain English.

32 terms for identifying, enriching, buying, and contacting leads, including the consent and Do Not Call terms that decide how you may reach them. For call terms, see the pay-per-call glossary.

Aged lead

An opt-in lead that is no longer fresh, typically sold days, weeks, or months after it was generated, at a price that falls with age.

AI-voice call

A call in which an AI-generated voice speaks to the person. Under a 2024 FCC ruling it counts as an artificial voice under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so marketing calls with one need prior express written consent.

Audience builder

A tool that combines filters, such as location, homeowner status, home value, year built, income band, and intent signals, to size and buy a list of people who fit a customer profile.

B2B intent data

Intent signals tied to companies rather than households, showing that people at a business are researching a category. Often used to prioritize accounts for sales outreach.

Calling hours

Federal rules limit telemarketing calls to 8am through 9pm in the called person's local time. Some states set narrower hours and limits on how often the same person may be called.

Data broker

A business that collects and sells personal information about consumers it does not have a direct relationship with. Several states, including California, Texas, Oregon, and Vermont, require data brokers to register and to honor deletion and opt-out requests.

Data enrichment

Adding missing details to a contact record, such as a name, current phone, email, address, or household details, starting from whatever you already have.

Do Not Call scrub

Checking numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry, applicable state lists, and your own internal list before telemarketing calls. The national registry must be checked at least every 31 days.

Enrichment waterfall

A method that asks several data sources in a fixed order and stops at the first confident match. It raises the chance of finding a person without paying several vendors for the same search.

Exclusive lead

A lead sold to one buyer only. A shared lead can be sold to several buyers and usually costs less.

First-party data

Data you collect directly from your own customers and visitors: your form fills, your calls, your purchases. It carries the strongest permissions because the person dealt with you.

Global Privacy Control (GPC)

A browser signal that tells websites the visitor opts out of the sale or sharing of their personal information. California and several other states require businesses to honor it.

Hashed email (HEM)

An email address converted into a fixed string by a one-way function such as SHA-256. Hashed emails let systems match a person without passing the readable address, but a hash is still personal information under most privacy laws.

Identity graph

A database that connects the identifiers belonging to each person or household: names, emails, phones, addresses, and device or browser IDs. Identification and enrichment services query identity graphs that they own or license.

Identity resolution

The process of linking signals that belong to the same person, such as a device, a browser, an email address, and a postal address, so they can be recognized as one individual across sources.

Intent data

Signals that suggest a person or company is in the market for something, inferred from recent behavior such as searches, content consumed, and sites or ads engaged with. Intent shows interest, not permission to contact.

Intent topic

A defined subject that intent signals are grouped under, such as roof replacement or term life insurance. Audiences are built by choosing topics, an area, and a recency window.

Lead market

A marketplace where leads generated by publishers are listed for buyers to purchase, usually with filters for niche, area, and age and with contact details masked until purchase.

Live transfer

Connecting a person already on the phone directly to a business, so the customer never has to wait for a callback.

Masked data

Contact details hidden until purchase, so a buyer can judge a lead by its niche, area, age, and consent status without receiving the person's information first.

Match confidence

How sure a data source is that the record it returned belongs to the person you searched for. Setting a minimum confidence trades fewer matches for more accurate ones.

Match rate

The share of records or visits that a data service can confidently match to a person. It depends on the audience, the device mix, and the data sources, so honest vendors give ranges rather than a single promise.

Modeled data

Values estimated by statistical models rather than verified, such as household income bands or home equity. Useful for marketing, and never acceptable for decisions about credit, insurance, employment, or housing.

Opt-in lead

A person who submitted a form or otherwise asked to be contacted about a service. What they agreed to, and with whom, is recorded in their consent.

Pay per match

A billing model where a lookup is charged only when it returns a confident result. Searches that find nothing are free.

Prior express written consent

The consent federal rules require before marketing calls or texts that use an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice, including AI-generated voices. It must be in writing, signed (electronic signatures count), clearly authorize the seller to contact the person, and not be a condition of purchase.

Recency window

How recently a person must have shown intent to be included in an audience, for example the last 3, 7, or 30 days. Shorter windows return fewer, warmer people.

Speed to lead

How quickly a business responds after a lead arrives. Response measured in minutes rather than hours is widely associated with higher contact and close rates.

Suppression (hold-back)

Excluding records from a pull or a campaign, for example people you already bought, existing customers, or anyone who opted out. Good suppression saves money and keeps you compliant.

Third-party data

Data compiled by a company that has no direct relationship with the people in it, then licensed or sold to others. Intent and audience records are third-party data, which is why they come with stricter contact rules.

Website visitor identification

Matching an anonymous website visit to a known person or company so the visit becomes a contact record. Person-level identification returns an individual's name and contact details; company-level identification returns only the business.

Know the terms. Now see the data.

Tell us your service and your area, and we will show you who is visiting and who is researching.

Book a Signals demo Data-use standards +1 (818) 667-0555