PX, which helps marketers search and acquire customers through leads in an open exchange, hopes to bring transparency to an industry veiled in secrecy.

The goal is to provide marketers and sales professionals with more information about the leads they use, including a time stamp and where the data originates.

“Many more companies have begun to ask us to manage their leads through our exchange,” said Frans van Hulle, co-founder and CEO at PX. “Transparency and data solve a real problem for them.”

It’s a trend that should boost revenue for New York based-PX to $30 million this year, up from $25 million in 2018, estimates van Hulle.

On Monday PX announced that it now supports through its exchange more than 500 publishers in 15 verticals such as mortgage, personal finance, solar, home renovation, and home services.

While some of the major retailers and online companies wish to remain anonymous, some publishers include modernize.com, remodeling.com, sproutquote.com, mortgageloan.com, and Assurance.com.

For example, marketers in the solar industry can log on to the exchange and purchase leads from publishers who meet PX’s privacy standards. These leads are only people who have expressed interest in learning more about the purchase of solar for their homes. The marketer at the solar company would receive a list of leads and have their sales department contact them for more information.

Everything is managed through PX’s platform to ensure privacy compliance, and it offers the solar company the ability to see exactly where every lead originated and how the lead is progressing through the sales process.

Historically, buyers didn’t know where their leads originated. There was little to no transparency.

The need for transparency remains the biggest trend that is helping PX succeed. PX matches the brand’s sales data to where the lead came from to prove the return on investment. The platform also makes suggestions on how programmatic bidding or other media such as search or display can help improve returns.

The model is not without challenges, van Hulle acknowledges. “While transparency isn’t new, in general, we ask advertisers to share sales results with us to help them determine the ROI and how to use the data,” he says.

PX also highlights a report — 2019 PX-Leadscon State of the Industry Survey — that suggests buyers of leads who manage more than 10 sources double their likelihood of hitting their ROI goals. The report found buyers who manage 40 or more sources hit their target 93% of the time, yet today only two-thirds of industry buyers manage 10 or fewer sources in their campaigns.