Most arguments about lead quality compare opinions rather than results. The intake person remembers the last three bad calls, the vendor points to click data, and neither side has a number that resolves the issue.

Use the five numbers below. A firm with 5-10+ attorneys already has the CRM and volume to track them. What is usually missing is a set of agreed definitions before counting begins.

The five metrics

1. Contact rate

The share of leads where you reached a live human, by phone or a two-way message exchange, within a defined window (use 7 days).

Contact rate tests data quality. Wrong numbers, fake submissions, and bots all fail here, so it is the first number that exposes a vendor with a fake-lead problem. But your own process can also distort it. Slow follow-up lowers contact rates, so a low number does not automatically make the vendor responsible.

Break down contact rate by your response time. If leads called within five minutes connect and next-day calls do not, read our speed to lead guide before blaming the vendor.

2. Qualification rate

Of the leads you contacted, the share that match what you agreed to buy: right case type, right jurisdiction, right language, a case posture you actually handle.

This metric tests the vendor's screening. It compares the promised qualification criteria with the conversations your team actually has. A vendor selling visa-type-screened leads should produce a visibly higher qualification rate than a generalist form. If it does not, the screening is cosmetic.

Track disqualification reasons in a picklist (wrong case type, wrong geography, no viable case, cannot afford services). After three months, this data shows exactly what to renegotiate in your targeting profile and which replacement claims you are entitled to.

3. Consultation show rate

Of qualified leads who booked a consultation, the share that attended.

Show rate mainly measures your intake process rather than lead quality. Reminders, booking difficulty, and the value promised by the consultation affect it more than the lead source. But tracking it by source can expose one vendor problem: leads who were promised a free service or misled about costs will book readily and then not attend.

4. Conversion rate to signed case

Qualified, standard immigration leads convert at 10-15% for firms with standard follow-up. Strong intake processes reach 20-25%. We publish those bands and their conditions in law firm lead conversion rates. No honest vendor guarantees a conversion rate.

Measure conversion by source and by intake person. At a firm with four people working leads, the best and worst converter almost always differ by 2x. You can coach that difference. The vendor provides the lead, but your team handles the conversion.

5. Cost per signed case

Divide total spend on a lead source by the signed cases it produced. The managing partner should use this number to run the firm and compare vendors because it combines price and quality in one figure.

TIP

A USD 40 lead converting at 5% costs USD 800 per case. A USD 80 lead converting at 15% costs about 533. The higher-priced lead costs less per signed case. Cost per signed case is the only fair basis for comparing vendors.

This is the central point of cheap legal leads.

Compare the result with case value. A family-based case worth USD 4,000-8,000 in fees and costing 400-800 per signed case creates the multiple that justifies buying leads.

Running the measurement

Define the fields once. Lead source, response timestamp, contact outcome, disqualification reason, consult booked, consult attended, signed. Add them to every lead in your CRM. Delivery via API fills the source and timestamps automatically. Leads forwarded by email create data gaps that make the later analysis fail.

Score in windows, not once. Immigration decision cycles run 6-12 months, so a batch scored only at 30 days undercounts conversion badly. Score contact and qualification at 30 days, conversion at 60 and 90, and expect long-cycle follow-up to keep adding signed cases after that.

Compare like with like. If your team works one vendor's leads within five minutes and another's the next day, you are comparing follow-up speed rather than vendors. Use the same schedule, team, and measurement windows for both.

NOTE

Fewer than 25 leads provide only anecdotal results. A 25-100 lead batch per vendor is the minimum for directional numbers, which is why we start firms with that test size.

What we will commit to

Immileads leads include qualification data and a lead profile that defines a match, so metrics 1 and 2 have a contract behind them: we replace duplicates, false contact data, and leads that do not match the written profile at no cost when you report them within 24 hours.

Your team controls conversion. We do not guarantee it, and neither can any honest vendor. We commit to being measured, batch by batch, against any other vendor you test.

Next:

FAQ

How is a lead that signs months later attributed?
Keep the original source attached and record the later reactivation event separately. Do not overwrite first-touch attribution when the lead returns or finally signs.
What should be examined when the first review has no signed cases?
Do not conclude from that result alone. Check contact, qualification, show rate, follow-up, and elapsed decision time before extending or ending the test.
How can intake-person performance be controlled in vendor comparisons?
Rotate or evenly assign leads across trained staff using the same response and follow-up process. Report outcomes by both source and intake owner so a staff-performance gap does not become a vendor conclusion.
How should originals and replacements appear in reporting?
Keep the original record and its failure reason, then link the replacement as a new record. Report both gross deliveries and valid, billable leads so replacement volume stays visible.
Is cost per signed case sufficient to measure profitability?
No. Pair it with collected fees and the internal cost of serving the matter before making a profitability decision.

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