Glossary
Trash lead
A lead the advertiser could not use: a wrong number, a made-up name, a duplicate, a joke order. Trash is not paid and, if there is a lot of it, gets the affiliate's traffic cut off.
Also called: trash, invalid lead, junk lead.
Trash comes from misleading creatives (people order a free phone and hang up when the call center calls), from bad traffic (bots, incentivized clicks) and from forms that let anything through. Some trash is normal; a rising share is a signal to look at the creative or the placement.
Networks show trash separately from rejected leads: a rejected lead was real but declined; a trash lead was never a lead.
Related terms: Lead, Valid lead, Approval rate, Fraud.