Trash — is a lead status in an affiliate program indicating that the lead is junk and cannot be processed. Affiliate marketers don't get paid for such leads.
The term comes from English: trash means «garbage». This status is usually found in offers that pay for leads, such as physical product offers where customers place orders by phone. After each lead is submitted, the advertiser's operator tries to contact the customer. If it turns out that the customer cannot be reached or the information is fake, the lead is marked as trash.
Why leads are marked as trash
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incorrect or nonexistent phone number;
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duplicate lead from the same person;
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fake information, such as random letters instead of a name;
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a lead from a country other than the one targeted by the offer;
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test leads and bot-generated leads.
Trash vs. rejected leads — what's the difference?
Both statuses mean that no payment will be made for the lead, but the reasons are different.
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Rejected — the lead is genuine, and the operator managed to contact the person, but they changed their mind about buying or refused the order.
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Trash — the lead was invalid from the start: the person doesn't exist, the phone number is incorrect or it's a duplicate.
These statuses can help you identify the problem. If many leads have the «Rejected» status, the advertising most likely promises one thing while the customer gets something different, causing them to change their mind. If there's a lot of trash, it means the traffic contains bots and accidental clicks, or the website's form allows incorrect phone numbers.
How much trash is considered normal?
There's always some trash: people make mistakes when entering phone numbers or submit the same lead twice. However, if trash starts accounting for a significant share of all leads, the affiliate network may reduce payouts, freeze them or block the affiliate marketer on suspicion of artificial lead generation.
Important: regularly monitor the percentage of trash leads in your statistics and compare it across different traffic sources and creatives. A sudden increase in trash — is the first sign that bots have entered your traffic.
