Duplicate Handling

LeadConduit provides a feature that automatically rejects duplicate leads for a campaign. When this feature is enabled, LeadConduit compares incoming leads against previously submitted leads to see if the lead is a duplicate. Any duplicate lead that is received for a particular campaign, no matter what the source, will be rejected.

Duplicate checking is based on the "primary key" field(s). You select which fields are primary keys when configuring a campaign's duplicate checking. The combination of primary key fields should be a unique value. Typically you will use a single field, such as a phone number, email address or social security number. You can also select multiple fields to comprise the primary key, such as first name and last name (though a single-field primary key is generally more effective).

NOTE: LeadConduit can process leads concurrently, and it is unable to detect duplicate leads in the rare case when they are submitted at the exact same time. If this occurs, both leads will be sent to the advertiser (lead recipient); we recommend contacting the affiliate (lead source) submitting the leads to try to resolve this behavior.

Duplicate checking behavior

By default, all historical data for the campaign will be used for duplicate checking. However, you can specify a time period (i.e. "window") within which duplicate checking occurs. The window indicates the number of days previous to be used for duplicate checking. For example, if you enter “7” in this space, the system will check for duplicates against all of the data received for the campaign in the last 7 days.

When checking for duplicates, an incoming lead is compared against all other good leads (i.e., leads with status processing, pending, delivered or confirmed) within the specified window. If the primary key field value(s) for the incoming lead matches another lead in the campaign then the incoming lead is considered a duplicate. Clicking on the lead identifier will display the lead of which it is a duplicate (the original lead).

If the original lead was bad (invalid, rejected or rescinded), then the incoming lead will be accepted, even though it is a duplicate. This allows publishers to re-submit leads (which may be necessary if they failed to provide a required field) without having them rejected as duplicates.

If the original lead was accepted, then the incoming lead will be marked invalid as a duplicate.

How to configure duplicate checking behavior

Note: Only admin users can create or modify duplicate checking settings.

1. Click the Campaigns tab.
2. Click on the name of the campaign.
3. In the Campaign View screen, click the Duplicate Checking link.
4. Select the field(s) to use as the "key" for duplicate checking.
   
5. Check the reject duplicate leads option.
6. Enter the number of days in the Check ___ days back for duplicates field. Leave this blank if you want all historical data to be searched for duplicates.
7. Click Save.