Verified Inquiries vs. Bought Leads — What Indian Businesses Need to Know

Most Indian businesses still buy raw leads — but the industry is shifting quickly toward verified inquiries. Here's why the difference matters more than ever.

What Are Bought Leads?

Bought leads are raw data purchased from lists, marketplaces, or agencies. These leads typically have several problems:

• Raw data from lists, marketplaces, or agencies: Contact information is collected from various sources without verification of intent or accuracy.
• Often duplicate, outdated, or fake: Many contacts in these lists are no longer valid, have already been contacted, or were never real to begin with.
• No verification of intent: There's no way to know if the person on the list is actually interested in your service or even aware they're on a lead list.

The Hidden Cost of Bought Leads

While bought leads may seem inexpensive upfront, the hidden costs quickly add up:

• Time wasted calling uninterested people: Your sales team spends hours reaching out to contacts who have no interest in your service, wasting valuable time that could be spent on real prospects.
• Low conversion rates: Without intent verification, conversion rates from bought leads typically range from 2-5%, meaning most of your investment goes to waste.
• Weak ROI: When you factor in the time cost of calling unqualified leads, the actual ROI becomes negative for many businesses.
• No accountability: Lead vendors don't guarantee results or take responsibility for low conversion rates, leaving you with no recourse when leads don't convert.

What Is a Verified Inquiry?

A verified inquiry is fundamentally different from a bought lead. It goes through a rigorous verification process:

• Real user → real ad click: Every inquiry starts with a real person clicking on your ad, showing genuine interest in your service.
• AI intent scoring: The system analyzes user behavior, engagement patterns, and click signals to score intent before the inquiry reaches you.
• AI identity validation: Automated systems check for fake numbers, invalid emails, duplicates, and spam patterns to ensure contact information is real.
• Human confirmation: A short manual call confirms genuine interest, accurate requirement, budget, and timeline before delivery.

Why Verified Inquiries Convert Better

Verified inquiries deliver significantly better results because they address the core problems with bought leads:

• Genuine intent: Every verified inquiry has shown real interest through ad engagement and passed intent scoring, meaning they're actively looking for what you offer.
• Correct contact details: Identity validation ensures phone numbers and emails are active and belong to real people, eliminating wasted calls to disconnected numbers.
• Valid budget/timeline: Human verification confirms the prospect has the budget for your service and a realistic timeline, ensuring you're talking to qualified buyers.
• Exclusive delivery: Each inquiry is delivered to only one business, never shared or recycled, giving you exclusive access to that prospect.

Performance Guarantee vs No Guarantee

The difference in accountability is stark:

• Agencies cannot guarantee results: Traditional lead vendors and agencies sell you data but take no responsibility for conversion rates or lead quality. If leads don't convert, you bear the full cost.
• Verified Inquiry system is performance-backed: With a verified inquiry system, if minimum verified inquiries aren't delivered, campaigns continue at the provider's cost until targets are met. This aligns incentives and ensures accountability.

Comparison: Verified Inquiries vs. Purchased Lead Lists

Conclusion

Verified inquiries remove the uncertainty from lead generation. It's a reliable, predictable way for businesses to grow without wasting time or money. Instead of buying raw data with no guarantees, verified inquiries deliver real people with genuine intent, validated contact information, and confirmed requirements — backed by a performance guarantee that ensures you get results.