# What is Lead?

What is Lead? A potential customer who expressed interest — signed up for a newsletter, asked a question, abandoned a cart.

## How it works in practice

In eCommerce, a lead is a newsletter subscriber, a returning visitor, or a cart abandoner. All can be re-marketed to.

## Related metrics

- Lead Generation — the process of creating leads
- Email Marketing — the tool for nurturing leads
- Funnel — a lead is MOFU
- CAC — a lead is cheaper to acquire than a paying customer

## Common misconception

'More leads = better.' An irrelevant lead is a cost with no return. 10,000 subscribers for a one-time coupon who never return equals maintenance cost.

## How to fix it

Leads not converting? (1) check source quality, (2) a 5-email welcome sequence, (3) segment by source and check open rate.

## Real-world example

A pet store: '10% off' brought 5,000 leads, 0.4% CR. Switching to 'a dog nutrition guide by breed' plus 10% off brought 800 leads, 3.2% CR.

## Where to start

Build a lead list from day one. A simple popup converts 2-5% of visitors into subscribers.

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Category: Marketing · From the [Jimmy OS KPI Glossary](https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi.md) · Source page: https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi/lead