Almost every tax resolution firm has bought leads at some point. They are easy to start, simple to budget and arrive without anyone needing to write an ad. The question is not whether bought leads can work. It is what you are actually paying for, and what you give up.
Three ways enquiries reach a resolution firm
- Shared leads. A vendor generates an enquiry and sells it to several firms. The price per lead is lower because the cost is split.
- Exclusive leads. The vendor sells each enquiry to one firm only. The price per lead is higher, and the vendor's brand, not yours, is what the taxpayer saw.
- Self-generated enquiries. Your own campaigns, under your own name, in your own ad account. You pay the platforms directly and own the audience and data that build up over time.
The hidden cost of a shared lead
When the same taxpayer is called by several firms within an hour, three things happen. Contact rates fall, because people stop answering unknown numbers. The conversation becomes a price comparison. And your close rate drops, which means the real cost per signed case is far higher than the price per lead suggests.
The useful number is not cost per lead. It is cost per retained case: everything you spent, divided by the clients who actually signed. Firms that track this often find the cheapest leads are the most expensive way to grow.
Where exclusive leads fit
Exclusive leads remove the bidding war on the phone, which helps. But the taxpayer filled in a form on a site that was not yours, after reading claims you did not write. You inherit whatever expectations the vendor set, including any promises your firm would never make.
What you own when you generate your own
- Your brand. The taxpayer chose your firm, having seen your people explain their situation.
- Your rules. You decide the minimum balance, the case types and the states, and the campaign screens for them.
- Your audience. Pixel history, retargeting lists and contacts stay in your accounts and get more valuable every month.
- Your compliance. Every claim was written and approved for your firm.
A sensible way to decide
- Work out your true cost per retained case from each source over the last 90 days.
- Check how many enquiries from each source met your minimum balance.
- Look at how long it took your team to make first contact, by source.
- Ask whether you would be happy for a client to see the ad that produced each enquiry.
Many firms keep a small lead budget while they build their own engine, then shift spend as their own campaigns prove out. If you would like a second opinion on your numbers, book a strategy call.