Checklist: Direct-to-offer vs prelander routing

Checklist: Direct-to-offer vs prelander routing

Direct link (smartlink → offer):
☐ Fastest path, highest click-to-LP rate
☐ Best for warm traffic that already knows the offer
☐ No filtering layer — bots and mismatched users hit the advertiser

Prelander (smartlink → your page → offer):
☐ Adds a filtering and warming step you control
☐ Lets you read client signals before passing the click
☐ Costs conversion rate from the extra hop

Step — Route by traffic temperature inside one smartlink:
☐ Push/pop (cold) → prelander to warm and filter
☐ Search/native (intent) → direct, don't add friction
Step — Measure click-to-conversion end-to-end, not just LP CTR, or a 'good' prelander can hide a worse final number.

Tradeoff: direct maximizes speed; prelander maximizes control and quality at the cost of a hop.

A/B direct vs prelander per traffic source quarterly.