Lead
A person or company who has shown interest and shared contact details, for example by filling in a form or booking a call.
What it is
A lead is the start of a sales process, not a customer. Leads are later sorted into stages by how well they fit and how ready they are.
Why it matters
For lead generationFor companies that sell through a pipeline, leads are the raw material of sales; their quality decides whether ad spend becomes revenue.
In practice
Leads are counted per source, campaign and ad, and followed through the CRM to see which ones become customers.
A common mistake
Counting every form fill as a lead. Spam, students and job seekers inflate the number and hide the real cost per customer.
A person who can move through your pipeline. Leads are scored and staged, and the ads are judged by the leads that move, not by form fills.