In lead generation there are two ways to model the same journey, and the one you pick decides how many transactions exist and when your partner gets paid.
- Two events: a prospect and a sale, each paid separately.
- One event with two results: a sale that starts pending and is approved or rejected later.
You can mix them across the workspace, offer by offer. The question is not which is better, it is whether the two steps are worth paying separately for.
Prospect and Sale
Two conversions, two transactions, two payouts.
Use it when both steps have value to you. Common in finance and insurance, where a completed application is worth paying for whether or not the loan is eventually taken.
- The prospect creates a transaction under a CPL commission.
- The sale creates a second one under a CPS commission.
- Both can carry their own conditions, amounts, and results.
The partner sees the first payout soon after sending the lead, which matters when you are competing for their traffic. See Transaction type.
Pending Sale and Approved Sale
One conversion, one transaction, one payout that changes state.
Use it when only the finished sale is worth anything. Common in e commerce, where an order can be cancelled or returned and paying on the order itself would mean clawing money back.
- The sale arrives and the transaction is created as pending.
- The advertiser confirms or rejects it later, and the same transaction moves to approved or rejected.
Nothing new is created along the way. The transaction and its payout follow the advertiser’s decision. See Auto-set transaction result.
Which to choose
- Two steps that are each worth money: prospect and sale.
- One outcome that needs checking first: pending and approved sale.
The practical difference for your partner is when they see the money and how stable their reports look. Two events pay earlier and produce more rows. One event pays later and moves numbers between days as results are decided, which is worth knowing before they ask why yesterday changed. See Reporting time basis.
It does not have to be either
Conversion types are not limited to prospect and sale. You can define your own for the steps that matter in your vertical, and pay on them the same way. A pingtree offer might record a verified lead, a signed contract, and a first payment as three separate types. See Conversion type.
