Read a lead timeline
This article shows how to open a lead and read its timeline so you can see who was tried, who won, and why someone rejected or was skipped. The timeline is the fastest truth source during testing and early go-live.
Use it for single-lead diagnosis. Switch to Rejection Reasons when the same cause repeats across many leads.
What is the lead timeline?
Every lead has a detail view with a timeline of processing and delivery events. Operators use it to answer:
- Did the lead enter the campaign?
- Did filters or validation reject it?
- Which buyers were eligible?
- Who was tried, in what order?
- Who won?
- What reject or skip reasons appeared?
Dashboard totals cannot replace that story for a single failure.
Prerequisites
- Permission to open Leads
- At least one lead in the campaign (test or live)
- Rough knowledge of which buyer and supplier you expected
Open a lead and read the timeline
- Open Leads from the sidebar.
- Filter by campaign, date, status, buyer, or supplier if the list is long.
- Click the lead row to open detail.
- Confirm header basics: campaign, status, supplier, traffic source if present, and timestamps.
- Scroll the timeline from the first event to the last.
- Note validation or filter outcomes before distribution events.
- Note each buyer attempt: tried, skipped, rejected, or won.
- Read reject reasons in plain language when shown.
- Compare the winner and final status with what you expected from distribution and delivery setup.
- Only after you understand the named cause, change configuration and re-test.
How to use the timeline with other tools
| Goal | Use |
|---|---|
| Debug one bad lead | Lead timeline |
| Confirm a dry run | Lead timeline after a test post |
| Find a repeating cause | Rejection Reasons overview |
| See which party drifted this week | Dashboard and analytics |
Common timeline readings
| What you see | Likely meaning |
|---|---|
| Reject before any buyer | Fields, filters, duplicates, or intake rules |
| Buyer skipped | Inactive, outside schedule, capped, or filtered |
| Buyer rejected | Buyer delivery response or buyer rules refused the lead |
| Clear winner | Distribution and delivery completed for that buyer |
| Stored or emailed outcome | Delivery method did not use a standard HTTP post path |
Exact labels vary by status and method, but the sequence still tells you where the path stopped.
Tips and gotchas
- Read top to bottom. Later delivery events make no sense without earlier eligibility context.
- A reject reason on one buyer is not always the campaign-level outcome if another buyer still won.
- After hours, check schedules before rebuilding filters.
- For tests, keep the lead id or timestamp in your notes so you reopen the same record after a fix.
- When five leads share one cause, stop sampling timelines and open Rejection Reasons.
Expected result
You can open any lead and explain its outcome from the timeline without guessing, and you know when to escalate from one lead to pattern tools.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there no buyer on the timeline? The lead may have rejected before distribution, or no buyers were eligible. Check earlier timeline events and buyer caps, schedules, and active status.
Where do I see the winning buyer? In the later distribution or delivery events, and often in the lead header status area. Winner indicators differ by delivery method, but the timeline names the successful party.
Can suppliers see the same timeline? Not usually. Treat the admin Leads detail as an operator tool unless your workspace explicitly exposes a supplier view.
What if the reject text is raw or unclear? Buyer response mapping may need cleanup. Rejection Reasons also calls out noisy reasons when they matter.
Should I trust Analytics over the timeline right after a test? No. Trust the timeline first. Analytics can lag slightly.
When is Rejection Reasons better than the timeline? When you already know leads are failing and need the highest-cost repeated causes across a date range, not the story of one id.
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