Business Logic Phase

Overview

The business logic phase is where your flow makes critical go/no-go decisions about each lead. This is your automated purchasing department, evaluating every lead against your business rules to determine:

Should you accept this lead?
Have you seen it before?
What's it worth?
Are you within limits?

Only leads that pass all gates continue to processing. Failed leads are rejected immediately with specific reasons.

The Four Gates

Every lead must pass through four sequential gates:

1. Acceptance Criteria

Your first line of defense - rules that enforce your business requirements.

What They Do:

Validate lead quality meets standards
Enforce geographic restrictions
Require specific fields or values
Check purchasing decision results

Configuration Hierarchy:

Flow-level criteria - Apply to ALL sources
Source-level criteria - Override for specific sources

Example Rules:

Flow Level:
- email is present
- phone_1.valid is true
- state is in ["CA", "TX", "FL"]

Source Level (Premium Vendor):
- loan_amount is greater than 50000
- credit_score is greater than 650

Using Purchasing Decision Data:

- trustedform_decisions.valid is true
- trustedform_decisions.age_seconds is less than 300
- phone_verification.connected is true

Rejection Behavior:

First failed rule stops evaluation
Specific rejection reason returned
Source receives detailed feedback
Lead marked as rejected in events

2. Suppression Lists

Prevent duplicate purchases and compliance violations.

Types of Suppression:

List Type	Purpose	Configuration
Duplicate	Prevent re-buying same lead	Fields to match, lookback period
DNC	Compliance with Do Not Call	Phone number lists
Customer	Don't buy existing customers	Email/phone matching
Custom	Business-specific exclusions	Any field combination

How Matching Works:

Extract comparison values from lead
Check against historical data
Match = immediate rejection
No match = continue processing

Configuration Example:

Duplicate Check:
- Match on: email + phone_1
- Lookback: 30 days
- Result: "Duplicate lead - seen 5 days ago"

DNC Check:
- Match on: phone_1, phone_2, phone_3
- List: National DNC + State DNC
- Result: "Phone on DNC list"

Advanced Features:

Partial matching (e.g., phone without area code)
Multiple list priorities
Time-based exclusions
Pattern matching

3. Pricing Determination

Calculate what this lead is worth using a sophisticated layered system.

The Four Layers (First Match Wins):

Source Pricing Service
- External API for this source
- Dynamic, real-time pricing
- Based on lead quality/demand
Source Pricing Rules
- Configured rules for this source
- "Last match wins" evaluation
- Source-specific adjustments
Flow Pricing Service
- External API for flow default
- Fallback dynamic pricing
- Market-based rates
Flow Pricing Rules
- Default rule-based pricing
- Safety net pricing
- Always configured

Example Pricing Stack:

1. Check: Premium Vendor API
   - Returns: $25 for high-quality lead
   - Result: Use $25

2. If no response, check: Source Rules
   - Rule: state = "CA" → $20
   - Rule: state = "TX" → $15  
   - Default: $10

3. If no match, check: Flow API
   - Market pricing service

4. If failed, use: Flow Rules
   - Default: $8

Special Behavior:

Pricing uses "last match wins" (opposite of other rules)
Multiple matching rules? Last one sets price
Supports complex conditional pricing
Price of $0 is valid (free leads)

4. Volume Caps

Control inventory and spending through sophisticated limits.

Cap Types:

Type	Purpose	Example
Simple	Basic limit	100 leads per day
Conditional	Rule-based limit	50 CA leads per day
Nested	Hierarchical limits	1000/month → 50/day
Percentage	Proportional limits	20% from each source

Evaluation Logic:

Check parent caps first
Then evaluate child caps
Most specific matching cap wins
First exceeded cap triggers rejection

Advanced Configuration:

Monthly Strategic Cap (Parent)
├── Daily Operational Cap
│   ├── Premium Daily (credit > 700)
│   ├── State Caps
│   │   ├── CA Daily: 25
│   │   ├── TX Daily: 30
│   │   └── Other Daily: 45
│   └── Source Caps
│       ├── Vendor A: 40%
│       └── Vendor B: 60%
└── Weekend Caps (different limits)

Time Considerations:

Timezone-aware (configure per cap)
Flexible periods (hour/day/week/month)
Rolling windows supported
Automatic reset at period end

Evaluation Order Matters

The sequence is critical for efficiency and cost:

Acceptance Criteria - Reject bad quality immediately
Suppression Lists - Don't pay for duplicates
Pricing - Know the cost before checking limits
Volume Caps - Manage inventory with known prices

This order ensures you:

Don't price leads you'll reject
Don't cap leads you won't accept
Get clear rejection reasons
Optimize processing speed

Decision Outcomes

After business logic evaluation:

Accepted Leads

All gates passed successfully
Price is set and recorded
Lead continues to Step Processing
Source tracking updated

Rejected Leads

Failed at specific gate
Rejection reason recorded
Source receives immediate feedback
No further processing
Events capture full decision trail

Common Rejection Reasons:

"Missing required field: email"
"State not serviced: NY"
"Duplicate lead - seen 14 days ago"
"Daily cap exceeded: CA leads"
"Invalid consent certificate"

Using Business Logic Data

Data from this phase is available throughout the flow:

In Events:

Acceptance outcome and reasons
Suppression check results
Final price determination
Cap status at time of lead

In Reporting:

Acceptance rates by source
Rejection reason analysis
Price distribution
Cap fill rates

For Sources:

Real-time acceptance feedback
Specific rejection reasons
Helps improve quality

Best Practices

Acceptance Criteria

Start permissive, tighten over time
Use flow-level for universal rules
Source-level for vendor-specific needs
Always provide clear rejection reasons

Suppression Lists

30+ day lookback for duplicates
Combine email + phone for matching
Regular DNC list updates
Monitor suppression rates

Pricing Strategy

Use rules for stable pricing
Services for dynamic markets
Source-specific when negotiated
Always have fallback pricing

Volume Management

Set conservative initial caps
Use nested caps for complex distribution
Monitor fill rates daily
Adjust based on quality metrics

Performance Notes

Business logic is highly optimized:

Rules evaluate in microseconds
Suppression uses indexed lookups
Pricing caches when possible
Caps use atomic counters

Total phase time: typically 10-50ms

The business logic phase is where your flow's intelligence shines. Well-configured gates ensure you only pay for leads that meet your exact requirements while providing clear feedback to improve quality over time.