The Pontiflex Blog

Lemons, Rambo and Online lead generation

March 4, 2008 at 11:29 am Arun Krishnan Leave a comment

How is online lead generation similar to the Lemon Law and different from the latest Rambo movie?

David Behn casts light on one of the biggest problems on one of the biggest problems facing the online lead generation industry. He elaborates how online lead generation doesn’t deliver on the Lemon Law for automobiles, which states that if a person is not satisfied with a car purchase, then she or he can return it right back and purchase a car from another dealer.

If online lead generation were an automobile, then obviously it would fail to live up to the Lemon Law. This is because a significant portion of the leads delivered to advertisers through some online lead generation campaigns are not of the highest quality (with addresses like 123 Fake Street, etc- and sincere apologies to the honorable people living in 123 Fake Street).  As a result, advertisers spend a significant time following up on sub standard leads.  Many advertisers therefore have a good Cost/Lead metric, but a poor Cost/Effective Lead metric.

The Lemon Law does not apply to a number of areas in our lives. For example, I went to see the latest Rambo movie thinking they were re-releasing the old Rambo movie. But, it was a new Rambo movie starring an older Sly who took on Burmese generals armed with nothing more than a revolver and a hearing aid. Now if the Lemon Law applied to movies, then I could ask for my money back.  But I can’t.

Online lead generation should be more like an automobile. But in some cases, it is like Rambo. And this is an area, that industry associations like the OLGA and the IAB should address.

And if a Hollywood studio would want to reimburse my movie ticket  purchase, now is the time.

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