Lead validation
Apply the right checks to your data before it moves on. The LeadScale Engine combines proprietary lead validation, independent lead verification, frequency controls and human review in a processing flow built around your requirements.
You decide what good data looks like, what needs further investigation and what should happen to records that do not meet your criteria. LeadScale’s technical services team translates those requirements into configured checks and routing rules, whether you need a single checkpoint or several stages across connected systems.
The Engine can apply these checks after capture and before delivery, while SmartForms can bring selected checks onto the web form itself. That lets visitors correct missing or suspicious details immediately, or stops submission when the agreed rules require it.
Validation and verification: two different levels of checking
Validation tests data against the rules you set. Verification goes further by checking selected information against external services.
LeadScale’s proprietary validation includes field formats, required values and an extensive filter library covering obscenities, nonsense strings, celebrity names, spam keywords and known bot strings. Our own algorithms also look for suspicious patterns and behaviour. Checks can be combined with your specific field and formatting requirements.
Verification uses specialist third-party services to check information beyond its appearance. An email or telephone number may have the right format but not be live or connected. An address may contain a valid postcode but not match a postal address directory. These deeper checks help establish whether the details can be confirmed.
Both types of check can run together. A record might pass the basic format rules, trigger a proprietary filter and then require an external verification or manual review. You choose the standards that matter and the action to take at each stage.
For B2B data, the same approach can test records against a defined lead specification. Current business-card and firmographic information can be checked against requirements for job title, function, seniority, company size, turnover, industry and other agreed criteria, rather than accepting submitted details at face value.
Frequency controls add another layer: from accepting only one record per email address in a campaign to counting and capping how many contacts can be accepted from an account over a specified period.
The same controls can use client-provided reference data: for example, checking a new submission against an existing-customer list before accepting it. Technical Services agrees the matching criteria, how often reference data is refreshed and what happens when a record matches.
Build the checks into your data journey
Data can arrive through an integration, API, form or file route. The checks can sit between one source and one destination, or at several points in a longer journey across your connected systems.
The Engine can also onboard data you provide, including CRM records, suppression lists and other datasets under your control. These can be queried as part of validation, deduplication, frequency controls and suppression checks, so the decision takes account of information you already hold.
Your configured flow can include:
- Receive the data. Bring records into the Engine from the agreed sources and apply the required field mapping.
- Validate the content. Apply formats, proprietary filters, pattern and behaviour checks, and any rules specific to your data.
- Apply frequency controls. Deduplicate records or count and cap submissions by email address, account, campaign or timeframe.
- Verify selected details. Use specialist external services for email, telephone, address or other agreed checks; apply B2B specification checks where required.
- Bring in a person when needed. Send exceptions or borderline records to a controlled review interface for a decision.
- Enrich or transform. Where required, append information, format fields and prepare the record for the next system.
- Route the outcome. Accept, reject, hold for review or deliver records to one or more destinations according to the agreed rules.
These are options, not a compulsory sequence. Technical services works with you to understand the requirements, explain the checks being configured and agree how each result should affect the next step.
Existing checks can be combined into custom rules. If a requirement cannot be met with the available library or verification partners, the team can assess, source and deploy an additional validation or verification service.
The order matters.
For example, a duplicate check can run before a paid external lookup. A record that fails a mandatory filter can stop immediately; a borderline result can be referred for review instead of being automatically accepted or rejected.
In a more complex journey, a record can pass one set of checks, move to another system and return for further processing. The outcome of each stage determines which systems receive the record next.
The Engine connects to CRM, marketing automation and other platforms, including HubSpot, Eloqua, Salesforce, Dynamics and Marketo, through configured integrations, APIs and file routes. Explore our integrations and ecosystem orchestration capabilities to see how these checks fit into a wider data flow.
Audit logs record the checks, processing steps, decisions and system hand-offs, supporting traceability through the journey.
Human-in-the-loop review when automation needs a decision
Not every record fits neatly into an accept or reject outcome. Some need context or judgement that an automated rule cannot reliably provide.
The Engine provides a controlled, audited interface where authorised users can review records and the results of automated checks before making a final decision. This helps prevent good records being rejected unnecessarily, while keeping questionable data from moving forward without review.
Review can be carried out by LeadScale-provided users, your own team or an authorised third party you appoint. Permissions define which records and actions each user can access, and interactions with the data are logged.
Human review can be a routine quality-control stage or an exception route for ambiguous results. Its place in the journey, the decision options and the onward routing are all configured to your requirements.
Checks designed around your requirements
There is no fixed set of checks that every client must use. LeadScale’s technical services team helps translate your quality criteria, data specification and operational needs into a clearly defined processing flow.
You remain in control of what is deployed: which fields are checked, the sources used for verification, the frequency limits, when a person should review a record and what happens after each result.
For B2B programmes, checks can include whether a person’s current role and company attributes match your lead specification. For other data flows, the emphasis might be on formats, fraud and spam indicators, contactability, addresses or record frequency.
Technical services can configure combinations of existing validations and verifications, develop additional filters and assess new specialist services where needed. The team explains the configuration and how it supports the agreed outcomes.
Only records that meet your specified requirements are passed to the destinations you have approved. Other records can be rejected, held for review or routed elsewhere according to your instructions.
Common questions
What is the difference between validation and verification?
Validation applies LeadScale’s proprietary filters, algorithms and formatting rules to your data. Verification uses specialist external services to check whether selected details can be confirmed, such as a live email or telephone number or a matched postal address.
Can we define our own checks and limits?
Yes. You choose the fields, filters, verification steps, B2B criteria and frequency controls. Technical services can combine existing capabilities into custom rules or assess new checks where required.
Can checks happen at different points in a journey?
Yes. Checks can run when data is first captured, before a delivery or between systems in a longer orchestrated flow. Different results can trigger different next steps.
What happens when a record does not meet the rules?
That depends on your configuration. A record can be rejected, held for review, sent for additional checks or routed to a different destination. Records that do not meet your delivery requirements need not enter the receiving system.
Does a person need to review every record?
No. Human-in-the-loop review can be used only for exceptions or as a deliberate approval stage. Authorised LeadScale users, client users or approved third parties can review data through a permissions-controlled, audited interface.
Where can checked records go?
Records can move to one or several connected platforms using integrations, APIs or file routes. The validation stage can be part of a broader composed journey and multi-system orchestration.
Can you check whether B2B records meet our specification?
Yes. Agreed checks can compare current business-card and firmographic details with your requirements for role, seniority, function, company size, turnover, industry and other criteria.
You define the outcome. We compose the journey.
Design the right checks for your data
Tell us what data you receive, what standards it must meet and which systems it needs to reach. Our technical services team will help configure the validation, verification and review steps around that journey.
Or request a free audit of leads from a recent programme.