New to the category? Start with what MVA leads are and why exclusive delivery is the variable that moves contact rates. Then work through the checklist below.
The five-step buying checklist
01. Define case types and states. Decide which case types you actually want to sign — standard auto, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, wrongful death — and which states you’re licensed and capable of operating in.
02. Set an honest monthly budget. Tie your spend to your intake bandwidth. A solo attorney typically starts at $3K–$10K/month; small firms run $10K–$30K; mid firms $30K–$100K+.
03. Lock in a fixed cost per lead. Agree CPL up front. Reject any vendor that uses media spend, retainers, or volume-based variable pricing — the unit economics get muddy fast.
04. Integrate real-time delivery. Webhook into your CRM (Litify, Filevine, Lawmatics, CASEpeer, etc.) or accept warm-transfer calls. Speed-to-lead under five minutes is non-negotiable.
05. Review weekly, scale monthly. Track contact rate, qualified rate, signed-case rate. Don’t pause and restart inside a 30-day window — signal stabilises around weeks 3–6.
What to ask any vendor before signing
- How exactly do you generate the leads (channel mix)?
- Is each lead sold to one firm or shared — and is that in the contract?
- Average delivery time from consent to webhook?
- What’s your written credit policy for unqualified leads?
- Can I start with a single state for the first 30 days?
- Will you publish per-state CPL benchmarks?
Common buying mistakes
- Buying volume you can’t answer fast enough.
- Switching vendors every two weeks chasing a “better” CPL.
- Measuring CPL instead of cost per signed case.
- Letting case managers double as intake — sign-up rate collapses.
For the numbers behind each step, see the CPL and cost-per-signed-case benchmarks, or check availability in your state.