Real Contact API is designed to validate and verify multiple lead inputs. It assesses the contactability of a lead and flags the leads least likely to be reached. Real Contact API’s response includes:
- Phone Activity Score, which indicates if a phone is connected or disconnected
- Name Match, which indicates whether the name provided by the lead matches the owner of the input phone number or email according to Trestle’s database
- Line Type, which provides seven unique line types, including mobile, fixed and non-fixed VoIP, landline, premium, toll-free, and voicemail service
- Contact Grade for phone and email, which is a grade determining the quality of the lead and whether it is contactable
- IP-based intelligence, including a trust score (0-100) that evaluates the legitimacy of the user, and IP-to-address distance, which measures the geographic distance between the IP location and the provided physical address
This allows you to prioritize leads with the best chance of contactability and flag leads that may not be authentic. For phones, this grade is based on whether the number is connected or disconnected, reachable or a temporary number, and belongs to the person they say they are. It also allows you to reach your target audience by managing your business’ phone reputation by avoiding outgoing calls to disconnected or temporary numbers. For emails, the contact grade is based on email validity and domain reputation and belongs to the person they say they are.
Trestle provides five grades: A, B, C, D, and F. These grades determine the quality of the lead and whether it is contactable. A Grade F lead is considered a bad lead and should be deprioritized, while a Grade A lead is considered real and contactable and should be prioritized.
Phone Contact Grade #
| Grade | Meaning |
| A | The phone provided is valid, has high levels of activity, and is a mobile phone with a high-confidence name match to the lead. |
| B | The phone is valid and has consistent activity levels; however, it is either a landline with a name match, or a mobile phone with a lower-confidence name match. This can still be a good lead, but it might be that the phone is part of a family plan, which is why Trestle has a different subscriber name associated with it or that Trestle doesn’t have any name associated with that phone. Depending on the team’s bandwidth, these leads can be accepted but should be prioritized below Grade A leads. |
| C | The phone has lower activity or weaker identity alignment. These leads are best suited for automated nurture sequences or should be pursued after higher-grade leads are exhausted. |
| D | The phone is valid, but the phone’s activity has been inconsistent, and the name doesn’t match the subscriber data in Trestle’s database. Typically, these leads should be deprioritized. |
| F | The phone is invalid, likely disconnected, a non-fixed VoIP (Google Voice or Twilio number) not associated with anyone in Trestle’s database, or a toll-free/premium number. These leads should be deprioritized. If the Litigator Check Add-on is enabled and phone_is_litigator_risk = TRUE, the phone will automatically receive a Grade-F, as it is likely associated with a known TCPA or serial litigator. |
Email Contact Grade #
Please note: Selecting the Email Deliverability and/or Email Age Score Add-ons provides more nuanced contact grading for better lead prioritization.
| Grade | Meaning |
| A | The email has valid syntax (How Does Trestle Assess Email Validity in Real Contact?), deliverable (Deliverability Add-on enabled), seen in our network with consistent activity (Age Score Add-on enabled) and it belongs to the name provided, meaning the lead is who they say they are. |
| B | The email has a valid syntax, is deliverable (Email Deliverability Add-on enabled), and has consistent activity in our network (Age Score Add-on enabled). However, the name doesn’t match the name associated with this email in Trestle’s database. Or, Trestle doesn’t have coverage for this email, so we cannot do the matching. Depending on the team’s bandwidth, these leads can be accepted but should be prioritized below Grade A leads. |
| C | The email has valid syntax; however, the email user names are tumbled or role-based accounts, or the email is newly seen in our network (Email Age Score Add-on enabled). Generally, these leads are difficult to reach and should be prioritized relatively low. |
| D | The email has valid syntax, but the username might contain specific words like ‘test’ or abuse words, or the email is newly seen in our network (Email Age Score Add-on enabled). Generally, these leads are difficult to reach and should be prioritized relatively low. |
| F | The email is invalid, undeliverable (Email Deliverability Add-on enabled), is newly seen in our network (Email Age Score Add-on enabled), the domain is disposable, or it’s flagged as a junk email. If leads are filtered by email, these leads should be deprioritized. |
Recommendations #
Depending on the business problem, here are some recommendations on the right filter to apply:
| Lead Type | Problem(s) | Suggestion | ROI |
| First Party (Form Fills) | You want the sales team to focus on only viable leads. | Filter out Grade D and F leads | Higher conversion rates and saves the sales rep time. |
| Third Party (List Purchase) | You have too many leads to call and not enough bandwidth. You’re tired of buying leads that never convert. | Call Grade A leads and do not purchase Grade D or F leads | Higher conversion rates, ability to process more leads, and better conversions. Saves costs by not purchasing junk leads and improves overall ROI. |
| First Party Leads (Historic) | You want to know which leads of the historic list have the best chance of converting. | Call Grade A leads | Higher conversion rates, saving sales rep time. |
| Any | Your contact rates are too low and numbers are getting marked as spam by carriers. | Filter out Grade D or F leads and prioritize Grade A leads | Higher contact and conversion rates and reduced risk of spam blocking. |
Benchmarks #
Additionally, see below for the typical benchmarks from working with a range of customers. Of course, this data is across multiple industries, but these benchmarks can help decide the category and which filters to apply.
| Lead Type | Grade A | Grade F |
| First Party (Form Fills) | 50-70% | 5-20% |
| Third Party (List Purchase) | 20-50% | 10-30% |
| First Party Leads (Historic) | 40-60% | 10-30% |