Question 1

Which stage of a lead pipeline loses the most contacts?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the pipeline, and only three stages have published rates to compare against: verification (2-5% bounce on checked contacts versus 10-35% on static databases), storage decay (23% job churn a year, 40% dead mailboxes in two years) and reply behaviour. Discovery, extraction, send and inbox placement have no universal number and have to be measured on your own data.

Question 2

Why do the stages multiply rather than add?

Accepted Answer

Because each stage acts on what survived the previous one. Four stages that each pass 90% leave about two thirds of the input, not 60% short of it. The practical consequence is that improving the worst stage pays more than a small improvement across the good ones.

Question 3

How do I measure the stages that have no published rate?

Accepted Answer

Instrument them directly: count empty address fields in your own extraction output, send a seed mailbox inside the send to separate a handoff failure from a delivery failure, and read bounce rate from your own delivery reports rather than from a benchmark. The benchmarks describe a population; your reports describe your list.

Question 4

A list verifies well but still gets no replies - is that a list problem?

Accepted Answer

Usually not. If addresses pass verification and the messages land, the leak has moved to inbox placement or to the message itself. Re-checking the list again cannot show either, which is why stage 6 and stage 7 need their own instrumentation.

Question 5

What does TAPAC cover in the pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Discovery, extraction and verification in one call: the search finds the contact, the mailbox check runs inside the same request, and catch-all domains come back as unknown rather than deliverable. Every result carries the time of the call and the source page or profile, so storage decay and bounce rate can be measured against your own cadence.

Stage	What is lost here	Published rate?
1. Discovery	Coverage - people the source cannot see at all	None. Depends on the source; measure against a sample you already know
2. Extraction	Records with no usable address, or a role mailbox instead of a person	None. Count the empty fields in your own output
3. Verification	Undeliverable addresses, and catch-alls that must be reported as `unknown`	Yes: 2-5% bounce on checked contacts, 10-35% on static resold databases
4. Storage	Decay while the list sits: 23% change jobs a year, 40% of mailboxes dead within two years	Yes, both published; together roughly 4% of a stored list a month
5. Send	Bounces among addresses that were called deliverable	Not published - it is your own delivery report. This is the only real test of stage 3
6. Inbox	Spam placement, blocks and throttling past the gateway	None universal. Authentication and reputation move it; no vendor figure covers your domain
7. Read and reply	Attention - the message lands and is not read	Partial: 3.2x open rate with personalisation (HubSpot, 2025); community-sourced leads convert 30% better (McKinsey, 2025)

Where the contacts actually disappear

Seven stages, seven failure modes

The stages multiply, they do not add

Where the money leaks

What TAPAC returns