Quick 60–90 minute checklist
- Check provenance: require and capture UTMs, landing page URL and a lightweight form fingerprint (page path + referrer). If a paid campaign UTM doesn't match the landing page URL, flag it.
- Validate basics: block disposable or malformed emails (simple domain blacklist), basic phone pattern checks for UK numbers, and reject submissions with impossible timestamps (same millisecond or many in quick succession).
- Behaviour signals: pause leads with ultra‑fast form completion times, identical answers across different visitors, or repeated submissions from the same IP/ranges.
- Gate automations: add a simple quarantine property (e.g. `lead_status = quarantined`) so workflows ignore these records until validated.
Build a quarantine and validation pipeline (no engineers)
Add three lightweight fields to any form or CRM record: provenance (utm_source/campaign), capture page (landing_page), and intake_status (quarantined / clear). This is platform neutral — HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo and Pardot all support custom fields or hidden form fields.
Use two automated checks that are trivial to add: pattern validation (email/phone regex) and a timing/dedupe heuristic (same IP or identical answers within X seconds). Configure your ad form or webhook consumer to set `intake_status = quarantined` when either check fails, and route those records to a quarantine segment/list.
If you want a quick support page to follow while configuring workflows and suppression rules, see our marketing automation support page for local examples and practical templates.
Lightweight sampling, review and safe reintroduction
Create a quarantine view or list (HubSpot list, Salesforce report, Marketo smart list) and sample 5–10% of records each day for a one‑minute manual check: confirm UTMs, landing page match, and whether the email domain is legitimate. If a record is good, flip `intake_status` to `clear` and let downstream automations run.
Add two simple operational rules: an SLA timer to auto‑delete or archive quarantined leads older than 30 days, and an `exception_reason` picklist to capture why leads were quarantined (bot, invalid email, duplicate, manual‑review‑ok). Run a 10‑minute daily check on the quarantine counts so a small Fareham or South Coast team can spot spikes early.
If you want practical help implementing these steps — from form rules to the final review loop and CRM optimisation — Optira can assist with hands‑on setup, training and a short checklist to keep your automations safe.