Publisher Guide: Lead Quality

How to increase your sold rate

Your sold rate is the share of your leads that sell to a buyer. This guide shows you how to measure it for every part of your traffic, find the segments that drag it down, and work through the changes that lift it, in the order that usually pays off first. By the end you will have a repeatable process you can run on any campaign, on any approved source.

Published 5 October 2026. How we write and check guides: editorial standards.

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Why sold rate drives your payout

Summit pays rev share on sold leads. Unsold leads are not paid. That means two campaigns with the same number of leads can pay very differently: the one whose leads sell earns, and the one whose leads go unsold does not. Lead count on its own tells you very little.

A lead goes unsold when no buyer bids on it or takes it. Each lead is offered to buyers by real-time ping/post, and each buyer has filters for the leads it wants. Your sold rate rises when more of your leads match what buyers are looking for at the moment they arrive. Read how ping/post affects affiliate payouts for the mechanics.

Sold rate is different from returns. A returned lead sold and came back later. An unsold lead never sold. The fixes overlap, but this guide is about getting the first sale. For the second problem, see why leads get returned.

Step 1: Measure sold rate by segment

Leads are reported by tracking link, with the sub IDs you set. Build a simple sheet from that report so you can see sold rate for each part of your traffic, not just in total.

List every sub ID combination that produced leads in the period.
For each row, record total leads, sold leads, unsold leads and returned leads.
Work out sold rate as sold leads divided by total leads for each row.
Add your spend for each row from your ad platform, matched by the same sub ID.
Sort the sheet by sold rate, then by spend, so the large and weak segments are easy to see.

If your sub IDs do not split traffic by source, offer, state group and ad, fix that first. You cannot improve a number you can only see in total. See tracking links and sub IDs explained and reading your publisher reports.

Step 2: Find what separates strong and weak segments

Compare your best and worst segments one dimension at a time. Most gaps come from one of these:

Where sold rate gaps usually come from and how to check
Dimension	What to compare	What a gap usually means
Offer	Sold rate for each offer, for example car accident vs truck accident	Buyer demand is deeper for one offer, or your audience fits one better
State group	Sold rate for each state group in the same offer	Buyer demand differs by state
Source and placement	Sold rate by traffic source, then by placement inside it	Some placements bring people who do not match the offer
Ad angle	Sold rate for each ad in the same ad set	Some copy qualifies the reader; some only gets clicks
Time of day and day of week	Sold rate by time block, if you split it by sub ID	Buyer demand changes during the day and week
Search term (Google)	Sold rate by keyword or term group	Some terms bring people researching a different problem

Look for a gap that is large and covers enough leads to be real. A segment with a handful of leads can look very good or very bad by chance. Wait until each segment you compare has produced enough leads that one more sale would not flip the result.

Checks for each traffic source

Each approved source has its own usual cause of unsold leads. Once your sheet points to a source, start with the check for that source.

[Meta](/publishers/meta-traffic): compare placements and ads inside each ad set. Feed placements and in-app placements often sell very differently. Broad audiences rely on the ad to qualify the reader, so weak copy shows up as unsold leads.
[Google](/publishers/google-traffic): open the search terms report and group terms by intent. Terms about a different problem (a traffic ticket, a car repair, a renter's question) belong in your negative list. See match types and negative keywords.
[Native](/publishers/native-traffic): compare sold rate by site or widget placement where your network shows it, and pass that placement into a sub ID. Cut the sites whose readers do not match the offer.
[SEO sites](/publishers/seo-sites): compare sold rate by page. A page that ranks for a loose question may send readers who are not ready, while a page about a specific problem sends readers who are.

Step 3: Work the levers in order

Some changes lift sold rate quickly and cheaply. Others take longer. Work through them roughly in this order, and change one thing at a time so you know what helped.

01
Cut the segments that do not sell
Pause the placements, terms or ads at the bottom of your sheet that also carry real spend. This is the fastest lift and costs nothing to test.
02
Shift budget toward state groups that sell
Move budget from weak state groups to strong ones within the same offer. Keep a small test running in weaker groups so you notice if demand changes. See geo-targeting by state.
03
Make the ad angle more specific
Name the situation the offer is for. For MVA, that means the type of accident, that the person was hurt, and that it was recent. For home improvement, it means the service and that the reader owns the home. Specific copy gets fewer clicks from people the offer is not for.
04
Match the ad to the lander
If the ad talks about roof storm damage and the lander is a general home improvement page, some readers drop off and others fill in the form for the wrong reason. Choose the offer and lander that fit the ad. See hosted landers vs your own landers.
05
Move toward the offers with more demand
If one offer in a vertical sells consistently better for your traffic, give it more of your budget and test the others on smaller budgets.
06
Test the time blocks
Once the above is done, check whether some hours or days sell better for you. The day-parting guide shows how to find that in your own data.

Ready to send traffic that sells? Apply with your sources, offers and states.

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Step 4: Protect what already works

A rise in sold rate is easy to lose. Each time you make a change, write down the date, the segment and what you changed. Compare the next period to the one before using segments that had the same time to collect results. If sold rate falls after a change, undo it before you try something else.

Watch returns at the same time. Some changes raise sold rate and also raise returns, for example copy that pushes harder for the form fill. Judge a change on leads that sold and stayed sold.

Sold rate checklist

Sub IDs split traffic by source, offer, state group, ad set and ad.
Your sheet shows total, sold, unsold and returned leads for every segment.
You compare segments only when each has enough leads to be meaningful.
Every ad names the situation and the reader the offer is for.
Every ad points to the offer and lander that match its message.
Budget follows the state groups and offers that sell for your traffic.
Changes are logged with a date so you can see what moved the number.
Ads and landers follow our traffic guidelines.

Common mistakes

Optimizing for cheap leads. Ad platforms find people who fill in forms easily. Those leads often do not match the offer and go unsold.
Reading sold rate only in total. One weak placement can hide inside a decent average.
Changing several things at once. You may get a better number without knowing which change caused it.
Chasing short-term swings. Buyer demand moves during the day and week. Compare like periods.
Editing the lander or consent text to lift form fills. Consent language on Summit landers is not changed or removed. See consent language: what publishers must not change.
Forgetting returns. A higher sold rate that brings more returns may not raise your payout.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good sold rate?

It depends on the offer, source and states, and it changes with buyer demand. Use your own segments as the benchmark: find your best ones and work to bring the others closer to them.

Why do some of my leads go unsold?

A lead goes unsold when no buyer bids on it or takes it, usually because it does not match buyer filters for that offer, location or time. The exact qualifying criteria are confirmed with each publisher during onboarding.

Are unsold leads paid?

No. Summit pays rev share on sold leads, and unsold leads are not paid. See how payouts work.

Should I change my ads or my targeting first?

Start by pausing the segments that clearly do not sell, then adjust state groups, then copy. Targeting cuts are faster to test; copy changes take longer to read.