Diet and fitness enthusiasts love to say “you are what you eat.” If you’re a lead buyer making calls to contacts you bought from a third-party lead generator, you’re eating what they’re selling you, and you need to know what you’re putting into your body.
At a minimum, you need to cover this core ground with your lead gen vendors so you eat clean and stay lean:
- Ask your lead generation vendor to document their current consent and data-sourcing practices that they’ll use for your specific campaigns.
- Verify how they ensure compliance with the TCPA and consumer protection laws.
- Request documentation and transparency regarding the leads you purchase.
Essential Questions to Ask Lead Generators Before Buying
There are key vetting principles you need to follow to safeguard your organization when purchasing consumer leads for outbound sales calls. We emphasize below eight main questions every buyer should ask a lead generation vendor:
1. How is consumer consent obtained and documented?
Understanding how vendors collect and verify consent is crucial. You must ensure that all leads have provided you—the lead buyer—explicit permission to be contacted, especially by phone and the specific technologies you’ll be using to contact them. This includes prerecorded/artificial/AI voice if you’ll be making those types of calls in your campaign.
Ask for details on their opt-in process, copy of the webforms and other collateral they’ll be using in the marketplace, and request proof of consent for each lead (and if they use third-party services like ActiveProspect TrustedForm to corroborate the bona fides of the leads).
Timing is also key: if your purchased leads gave consent any appreciable amount of time ago, there’s no guarantee that the consumer still uses the number they consented with, which is why the FCC’s Reassigned Number Database, or RND, exists. This documentation is vital for audits or responding to consumer complaints, helping you avoid potential TCPA claims and regulatory penalties.
2. What steps do you take to comply with federal and state regulations?
Lead generation vendors should have robust compliance protocols for laws like the TCPA, and state-specific telemarketing rules. Ask them to describe their compliance checks, how often they update their processes, and what safeguards they have in place to prevent violations and weed out potentially problematic opt-ins from likely litigators or other bad actors.
3. Is consent clear and conspicuous?
Businesses should review the actual opt-in experience and evaluate whether the disclosures are presented in a clear and conspicuous manner. Consent that is hidden within lengthy terms and conditions may carry different legal implications than consent that is prominently disclosed to consumers.
Opt-in design elements can make the difference between a TCPA case that’s won on a motion to dismiss or a motion to compel arbitration, and one that’s not. When a Plaintiff and their lawyers can get to class discovery, the disproportionate burden on defendants can substantially change the settlement profile of that case.
4. Does the consumer consent match your intended use?
Organizations should consider how they plan to use purchased leads before evaluating whether consent is sufficient. Different communication methods may require different forms of consent.
Whether a company intends to place live-agent calls, prerecorded calls, AI-generated calls, send text messages, or use other communication channels, the consumer’s consent should cover those specific activities.
Carefully reviewing the language of the opt-in process helps ensure that the intended communications align with what consumers agreed to receive.
5. Are your leads high quality?
Businesses should treat lead quality as critically important because poor lead generation practices create legal and operational risks. Remember, even if a lead is transferred from a lead generator, the consumer may only know the business’s name and may direct legal claims at your business. Minimizing risk can be as simple as focusing on quality over quantity.
If your lead vendor has incentives that are misaligned with your compliance goals—that prize volume over quality, or include downstream third-party actors that do not have your best interests in mind, or they’re re-selling leads that they themselves have not fully vetted to be suitable for your needs—learn that during your due-diligence process, not after. It is essential to have good quality-controls in place on your end.
6. How many businesses share your leads?
Another consideration is the number of businesses that may be relying on the same consumer consent. Some lead generation models involve multiple companies appearing within the same consent framework.
Courts have begun examining whether these types of arrangements provide consent that is sufficiently clear and conspicuous. Although the FCC’s one-to-one consent rule was declared unlawful by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in early 2025, legal challenges to consumer consent may still arise through other avenues.
7. What is contained in your arbitration and class-action waiver provisions?
If you are relying on leads with terms of service that contain mandatory arbitration provisions and class-action waivers, these too should be clear and conspicuous. Courts will take a close look at these provisions and how they were presented to the consumer at the time of opt-in, given the implications for potential plaintiffs.
If included, these provisions would be ideally implemented through a clickwrap agreement with terms that puts the consumer on clear notice of the terms and arbitration agreement they’re being asked to consent to.
8. Do you use appropriate Do Not Call procedures?
Lead buyers should also determine exactly what screenings were performed, such as National Do Not Call Registry scrubs, state-level scrubs, litigator scrubs, or wireless scrubs, because different uses require different compliance measures. It is paramount that necessary scrubbing is performed and kept current.
The video below summarizes the key information covered in this article, as well as practical advice and real-world examples that reinforce the importance of asking these questions before purchasing leads.
Final Thoughts
Beyond what’s covered in this article, buyers should also evaluate the vendor’s reputation and history with compliance issues. Consider requesting references or case studies to confirm their track record.
Additionally, set up ongoing reviews of your lead sources to ensure continued adherence to regulations as laws evolve, and watch your own data when calling those leads to confirm that there are no red flags raised, such as unusual opt-out requests or complaints. When we eat bad food, our body usually tells us pretty quickly. Your data can do the same, so be sure to monitor it.
By being proactive and thorough, you protect your company, your customers, and your ability to operate smoothly in a regulated environment.
This article is only offered for informational purposes; it is not legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney for your specific compliance needs.
Joe Bowser
Joe Bowser is a partner at Roth Jackson. He has been practicing communications and marketing law for two decades. He advises and defends calling and SMS platform providers (like Readymode), carriers/VoIP providers, and heavy users of those services in their wide range of compliance needs. In his spare time, you can find him taking his boys to their sports, getting in a workout of his own, or catching an Arsenal match.
