This article will cover the following:
This article focuses on LeadGen-specific tabs and settings on the Offer Card. For a full overview of all tabs, see A Guide to the Offer Card.
LeadGen Offer Types Explained
When creating or reviewing an Offer for LeadGen, the most important setting is the Offer Type, found on the Home tab. There are two LeadGen-exclusive types:
- Hosted – Leads submitted to this Offer are routed into a Queue or Review Queue before being sold to a Buyer. Use this when you want to validate, filter, or manually review leads prior to sale.
- Host-n-Post – Leads are posted directly to a Buyer in real time as soon as they are received. Use this for live ping/post scenarios where speed of delivery is critical.
The 3rd Party Offer Type does not support LeadGen functionality and should not be used for lead collection.
Offer Card > Home (LeadGen Fields)
The Home tab of the Offer Card contains the core configuration for your Offer. For LeadGen Offers, pay special attention to the following fields:
- Offer Type – Set to Hosted or Host-n-Post for any LeadGen Offer (see above).
- Vertical – Every Offer must be tied to a Vertical. The Vertical defines the field schema for leads collected under this Offer.
- Advertiser – The company or individual who owns or has brokered this Offer.
- Price Format – Determines how the Affiliate is compensated. CPA is most common for LeadGen; RevShare is used when paying a percentage of lead revenue.
- Received – The amount you earn from your Advertiser per lead.
- Default Paid – The advertised payout displayed to Affiliates. This can be overridden at the Campaign level.
- Status – Controls Affiliate visibility. Set to Private for LeadGen Offers that should not be publicly discoverable.
The Home tab also displays breadcrumb links to the associated Vertical and Advertiser cards, making it easy to navigate between related entities.
Offer Card > Contracts (Buyer Contracts)
The Contracts tab is where Buyer Contracts are managed for this Offer. Buyer Contracts define the rules and terms under which CAKE will attempt to sell a lead to a specific Buyer.
- Buyer Contract List – Displays all Buyer Contracts associated with this Offer, including their status (Active / Inactive), priority, and acceptance rate.
- Priority – Determines the order in which CAKE attempts to post leads to Buyers. Lower priority numbers are attempted first.
- Caps – Each Buyer Contract can have daily, weekly, or monthly caps to control lead volume delivered to a specific Buyer.
- Payout – The amount a Buyer pays per accepted lead, configured at the Buyer Contract level.
- Timeout – The duration CAKE waits for a Buyer response before moving to the next Buyer Contract. The system default is set under SetUp > LeadGen Settings > Default Post Timeout, but can be overridden per Buyer Contract.
- Return Settings – Controls whether a Buyer can return a lead after acceptance and how returns affect Affiliate payouts. See Setup - Buyer Returns also Removes Affiliate Payment for details.
An Offer with no Active Buyer Contracts will result in leads going unsold. Always verify at least one Buyer Contract is Active and within its schedule before routing live traffic.
Offer Card > Traffic
The Traffic tab controls which sources and geographies are permitted to deliver leads under this Offer. Properly configuring this tab ensures that only qualified, compliant leads enter your LeadGen pipeline.
- Geo Targeting – Restrict lead acceptance to specific countries, states, or regions. Leads from excluded geographies will be rejected.
- Rules – Define additional traffic qualification rules (e.g., allowed device types, connection types).
- Allowed Media Types – Specify which media types (e.g., email, search, social) are permitted for this Offer.
- Blacklists – Block specific Affiliates or Sub IDs from sending traffic to this Offer.
Offer Card > History
The History tab provides a full audit trail of all changes made to the Offer Card, including who made each change, when it was made, and which fields were modified along with their previous values. This is especially useful for troubleshooting unexpected changes in lead routing or Buyer Contract behavior.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your dedicated CAKE Client Success Manager/Account Manager or contact the CAKE Support Team at support@getCAKE.com.