Secure Connection

Lead data should be transferred in an encrypted format in order to comply with all laws and ensure the security and privacy of the data. Sending data over secure connection encryption at least 128-bit SSL encryption (through HTTPS web services, etc) is recommended.

Real-Time Lead Delivery

Lead data should be transferred in real-time. The amount of time that elapses between the prospective student submitting the request for information and that new lead record arriving in your CRM should be no more than a couple seconds. You can’t follow up on a hot lead if your provider is waiting until the end of the day to batch deliver them.

Source, Campaign and Placement Variables

Vendor optimization requires more than just the vendor name that generated the lead. Wherever possible I suggest requiring vendors to pass along a campaign and/or placement variable. This will allow lead quality reporting to be performed for each vendor at a much deeper level. By providing all of your vendors with detailed feedback related to their individual campaigns and placements you will be helping them, to help you, generate higher quality leads.

Unique ID Exchange

Every lead transfer should include a unique identifier (a lead id) and also be returned one upon success. If both parties append their own lead record with the other party’s unique ID, then monthly reconciliation and reporting become much simpler. This can be as simple as the auto-increment id of a database table, as long as it is unique to your own system and if referenced, you can locate the lead record in question very easily.

Meaningful Error Messages

An invalid submission should return a meaningful error. Generic errors like “Invalid Value” do not help in the troubleshooting process. If the email address is invalid, return an error like Invalid Email Address. The system response should be an easily parseable format, I suggest XML which lends itself nicely to nested errors and response codes.

Test Mode

There should always be a test mode that vendors can easily switch to and send leads. Not only is it helpful launching new vendors, but old vendors still want to test new transfers and when you edit the validation requirements. The leads delivered in test mode must follow different business rules to prevent them from being distributed to enrollment reps and counted in the performance reporting.

I recommend reading the Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems from the National Institute of Standards and Technology if you are interested in learning more about securing web applications.