In marketing, lead generation (/ˈliːd/) is the process of creating consumer interest or inquiry into the products or services of a business. A lead is the contact information and, in some cases, demographic information of a customer who is interested in a specific product or service.

Leads may come from various sources or activities, for example, digitally via the Internet, through personal referrals, through telephone calls either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements, and events.

Lead generation is often paired with lead management to move leads through the purchase funnel. This combination of activities is referred to as pipeline marketing, which is often broken into a marketing and a sales pipeline.

Lead scoring involves a quantitative method of assigning a numerical score to a lead. This helps the company determine whether a contact is valid for their pipeline and allows them to prioritize leads and allocate resources accordingly. The introduction of marketing automation has made lead scoring easier to implement.^[1]

The score assigned to each lead is assigned based on their level of interest, fit with the company's target market, and likelihood of becoming a paying customer. It is not static and can change based on the demographic or behavioral criteria set by the company.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued guidance targeting the manipulation of comparison-shopping tools for financial products due to kickbacks. This manipulation impacts lead generation, steering consumers towards certain products not because of their merits but due to hidden financial incentives. The guidance highlights how such practices may breach federal consumer protection laws, emphasizing the need for unbiased, transparent comparison tools in the financial sector and offering the concept of a federal comparison shopping site as an alternative.^[2]

• Direct marketing – Model of communicating discounts and other sales offers
• Direct selling – Business model
• Lead management – Methodologies, systems, and practices designed to generate new potential business clientele
• Personal selling – When a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale
• Sales – Activities related to the exchange of goods
• Customer experience – Interaction between an organization and a customer
• Outbound marketing – type of marketing that uses interruption to reach potential customersPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• B2B marketing – Marketing practicePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

• Lead Generation for the Complex Sale by Brian J. Carroll (ISBN 0-07-145897-2)
• Marketing Management by Philip Kotler (ISBN 0-13-033629-7)
• Marketing for Dummies (ISBN 978-1118880807)