Case study: phone validation lifted FTD rate from 11% to 18%

Case study: phone validation lifted FTD rate from 11% to 18%

What it is: A mid-size forex affiliate ran raw FB lead-form traffic straight to a broker CRM with no pre-validation. We bolted a phone-line-status checker (HLR lookup) into the funnel before the API push.

Best for: Teams paying CPL on volume where junk numbers dilute payout quality.

What was done:
— Routed 9,400 leads over 6 weeks through an HLR check on submit
— Hard-rejected disconnected/invalid lines (8.2% of volume), soft-flagged VoIP
— Passed only live-line leads to the broker

Outcome:
— FTD rate on accepted leads: 11.4% to 18.1%
— Broker's call-center connect rate jumped from 31% to 47%
— CPL rose 6% (paying per validation), but cost-per-FTD fell 34%

Pros:
— Connect-rate gain is what actually moved FTDs
— VoIP soft-flag let the broker prioritize, not blanket-reject

Cons:
— HLR lookups cost ~$0.004–0.01 each; on huge volume it adds up
— Carrier data lags in some regions, so a slice of valid lines got false-flagged

Who should skip this: Anyone on a pure CPA deal with no payout tied to lead quality — you're optimizing the broker's economics, not yours.

Verdict: Validate the line, fix the connect.