The short version: a personal injury lead vendor worth hiring is transparent about where its leads come from, honest about how many firms each lead is sold to, specific and written about replacements, and willing to show real signing rates instead of promises. Everything else in the sales pitch is decoration. No vendor can guarantee signed cases, and any that does is showing you a red flag, not a feature.
Below are the nine questions we would put to any vendor before signing, and what good and bad answers look like. Nothing here is legal advice, and results from any lead program vary by firm, market, and intake execution.
Before you buy personal injury leads: how vendors charge
Most firms that buy personal injury leads are buying one of four pricing models, and the model changes which of the questions below matter most.
- Pay-per-lead. You pay for each inquiry delivered, whether or not it becomes a case. This is the most common way to buy leads, and the replacement policy (question 3) decides how much of the bad-lead risk stays with you.
- Pay-per-call. You pay for each inbound phone call that meets a minimum length or criteria. Ask exactly what qualifies as a billable call.
- Flat monthly or campaign fee. You pay for the program regardless of volume. The risk sits with you, so the signed-case math in question 7 matters most.
- Pay-per-signed-case. Payment depends on a case being signed. Attorney ethics rules restrict paying for referrals, and some arrangements tied to signed cases have drawn scrutiny for that reason, so verify any model like this with your state bar before you sign (question 8).
Whichever model you choose, compare vendors on cost per signed case, not price per lead. A cheap pay-per-lead advertising program that delivers shared, slow leads can cost more per case than a pricier exclusive one.
1. Where do these leads actually come from?
Ask to see the ads, landing pages, or partner sites that generate the inquiries. Vendors who buy remnant traffic or aggregate from anonymous affiliates tend to dodge this question, and lead quality usually tracks the answer. Our breakdown of where personal injury leads come from covers what each source produces.
2. Shared or exclusive, and with how many firms?
Get the number in writing. A "semi-exclusive" lead sold to three firms is a shared lead with better branding. The economics of the two models differ enough that we wrote a full comparison in our guide to shared vs exclusive leads.
3. What is the replacement policy, exactly?
Wrong numbers, non-injury inquiries, out-of-area callers, and already-represented claimants happen in every program. The question is whether replacements are automatic and defined, or discretionary and argued one at a time. Ask for the policy language, not a verbal assurance.
4. What do firms like mine actually sign?
Not leads delivered, cases signed. A vendor who has operated in your practice area and market can share ranges from comparable firms, with the caveat that intake speed drives much of the variance. Treat any number as context, not a commitment.
5. How fast are leads delivered, and how?
An injured person who submitted a form five minutes ago is a different lead than one who did so yesterday. Real-time delivery to your phone system or intake software should be standard. Batch email delivery is a warning sign.
6. What are the contract terms and minimums?
Watch for long lock-ins, auto-renewals, and volume minimums that transfer all the risk to you. A vendor confident in its leads can live with shorter commitments. Price the whole obligation, not the per-lead rate; our PI marketing budget guide shows how to fit vendor spend into the larger picture.
7. What does the math look like per signed case?
Divide the full program cost by realistic signed cases, using your own contact and signing rates, not the vendor's best month. Our lead cost breakdown walks through this arithmetic with current ranges.
8. Is the program compliant in my state?
Lead generation sits close to the lines drawn by attorney advertising and referral rules, and the rules differ by state. Ask the vendor how its model complies where you practice, and verify independently. New Jersey firms can start with our attorney advertising compliance checklist.
9. Do you control the channel, or rent it?
Buying leads is renting someone else's demand capture. It can work, but you are bidding against every competitor the vendor also serves. The alternative is building inquiry flow you own, such as direct mail campaigns built from crash report data where the rules allow it. That model, and how it is priced, is what our personal injury lawyer marketing program is built around.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth it to buy personal injury leads?
It can be, when the vendor is transparent about sourcing, the leads are delivered in real time, and your intake converts them fast enough that the cost per signed case works. Buying leads is renting demand someone else captures, so many firms pair it with a channel they own, such as direct mail. No vendor can guarantee signed cases.
What should I ask a personal injury lead vendor before signing?
At minimum: how leads are generated and whether you can see the ads or pages that produce them, whether leads are shared and with how many firms, the written replacement policy for bad leads, real signing rates from firms like yours, contract length and minimums, and how the program complies with your state's attorney advertising rules.
Are lead vendors worth it for small personal injury firms?
They can be, if the firm's intake is fast and consistent and the math works at the signed-case level rather than the per-lead level. Small firms with slow follow-up usually lose shared leads to faster competitors, so exclusive leads or channels the firm controls often fit better. No vendor can guarantee cases.
What are red flags in a lead vendor contract?
Long lock-ins with no performance exit, vague or discretionary replacement policies, refusal to disclose lead sources, guarantees of signed cases or revenue, and pricing that only looks good per lead rather than per signed case. If a vendor resists putting any of these answers in writing, walk away.
This article is general marketing information for law firms, not legal advice and not a guarantee of leads, cases, or revenue. Marketing results vary by firm and market, and attorney advertising rules differ by state.