New York—The Interactive Advertising Bureau and its Lead Generation Committee Thursday challenged all lead generation advertisers to adopt by next April the “Lead Generation Data Transfer Best Practices” that were released in August.

The goal of the document is to standardize the transfer and receipt of data between advertisers and lead generation service providers in order to safeguard the data through the use of encryption and improve operational efficiencies by promoting a common format.

“The standardization of data transfer best practices is critical to the continued advancement of our industry,” said Gayle Guzzardo, senior VP-product management at Q Interactive and the Lead Generation Committee chairperson, in a statement. “Without the adoption of these practices by all advertisers, they are simply words on paper. We urge all advertisers to adopt these best practices to continue the momentum of the lead generation industry as protectors of consumers’ privacy and innovators in improving ROI for advertisers’ marketing strategies.”

—Carol Krol