Filtered leads vs bulk lists

A list of 100,000 random numbers for the price of 5,000 filtered ones looks like a bargain. Whether it is depends on one thing: how many of those people could ever buy what you are offering.

Price per number is the wrong number

What you actually pay for is customers. Every message to someone outside your audience costs the list price plus the sending price plus a small risk of a complaint — and gets nothing back. The question is not "how cheap is a number?" but "what does one customer cost me?"

A worked example

Say you sell hearing aids, and only people over 55 are realistic buyers. Compare two ways to reach 100 of them who reply:

• Bulk list: if roughly one in four numbers belongs to someone over 55, you message about four times as many people to reach the same audience — and pay to send to all of them.
• Filtered 55+ list: almost every message goes to someone in the age group, so you send far fewer messages for the same number of relevant replies.

The one-in-four share is made up for the example. The point holds whatever the real share is: the smaller your audience is inside a general list, the more a filter saves on sending.

The costs that do not show on the invoice

• Sending costs scale with every number you message, relevant or not.
• Complaints and opt-outs rise when people get offers that have nothing to do with them — and networks and providers watch for senders who draw many complaints.
• Your time: replies like "who is this?" or "I'm 22" still need reading and answering.
• The rules: messaging people who were never a fit is the hardest kind of campaign to justify. See our guide to the rules.

When a bulk list is still the right call

If your offer really is for everyone in a country — a national retailer, a public service, a general consumer app — filtering adds little. And for a first, very rough market test, a broad list can show whether a country responds at all. Even then, buy recent numbers and start small.

How to decide in one afternoon

1. Write down who can actually buy: age, gender, business or private, device.
2. Estimate what share of a general list that is — honestly.
3. Send the same message to 1,000 numbers from a general list and 1,000 from a filtered one, or start with the 200 free.
4. Compare cost per reply and per sale, not per number — then buy more of the winner.

Filters available: seniors 55+, any age and gender, business, iPhone, RCS, profile photo and one network.