This feature is connected to the Refuse leads setting. By default, a refused lead stops where it was refused. It gets fail in the State column, nothing further happens to it, and it does not appear in standard reports. You find it in the Leads log.
Process refused leads sends it through the rest of the flow anyway. The lead stays refused towards the affiliate, so there is no payout and it does not count in reports, but it can still be distributed and the customer can still be redirected.
Why this exists
A refused lead is a lead you decided not to buy from the partner. That is not the same as a lead nobody wants.
Two examples:
- Embedded form lead. A lead passes form validation but is rejected by filters, for example as a duplicate. It does not increase the accepted lead count in reports, but you can still redirect the customer, for instance to finish an application they left unfinished.
- API lead. A lead fails validation and the partner cannot correct the data. It remains rejected, with no payout and no effect on reports, but it can still go into the pingtree and be sold.
In both cases the partner sent you something you are not paying for, and it would otherwise be thrown away. The partner usually has nowhere else to send it either.
Which refused leads continue
This is a separate set of rules from Refuse leads, with its own configuration. It is not a single on or off switch.
Each rule is set for iFrame only, API only, or both, and carries the same four options as Refuse leads. Here they say which refused leads should still be processed:
- Everything – every refused lead continues.
- Validation – only leads refused by validation continue.
- Filters – only leads refused by the Offer filters continue.
- Pingtree – only leads refused because no channel accepted them.
The first three are the useful ones, because those leads were stopped before the pingtree and there is still a whole flow left to run.
Pingtree is available but has nothing left to do. Such a lead already went through the pingtree and no channel took it, so there is no further step to send it to.
See Refuse leads for setting the refusal criteria themselves.
Who the rule applies to
Each rule carries two partner lists. Both answer the same question, which is who the rule applies to.
- Included partners – only the partners on this list are affected. Everyone else is left alone.
- Excluded partners – everyone is affected except the partners on this list.
The lists are read in a fixed order:
- If the include list has anyone on it, only that list counts. The exclude list is ignored completely.
- If the include list is empty, the exclude list applies to everyone else.
- If both lists are empty, the rule applies to every partner.
This means you cannot use both lists together to build an exception. Putting a partner on the include list and on the exclude list at the same time leaves them affected, because the include list wins and the exclude list is never read.
Pick one list per rule:
- Use the include list when the rule is meant for a few named partners.
- Use the exclude list when the rule is meant for everyone except a few.
You can have several rules on one offer, each with its own lists and its own selection. They are evaluated in order, and a refused lead continues as soon as one rule that applies to the partner says so.
What it does not change
- The lead stays refused.
- It is not counted as a valid lead in reports.
- The affiliate is not paid for it.
So refused describes what you owe the partner, not what happens to the customer.
