## Overview

In the Ads Manager **Leads** tab, every **Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA)** ad click becomes a lead attributed to
its source campaign. But not every lead there is **yours**: if **your connected number** clicks **another
advertiser's** ad, the pre-filled message goes out from your number and the platform still receives the ad
attribution — except it's the **opposite** of the lead you want.

To keep these apart, the platform classifies each lead as **Yours** or **External**:

- **Yours** — a contact clicked **your** ad and messaged you. A real lead.
- **External** — it was **your connection** that clicked a **third-party** ad (or the ad isn't one of your
  synced ads). It's kept for reference, but it's **not a lead of yours**.

External leads are **not counted** in **Total**, **ROAS**, and they don't fire a **conversion (CAPI)** back
to Meta. That way the dashboard reflects only your real results.

## Prerequisites

- The **Growth Ads** module enabled on the account.
- Nothing to set up: the classification is automatic and retroactive (existing leads were reclassified).

## How the platform decides (two signals)

1. **Direction** — if the ad message was **outbound** (your number initiated the click), the lead is marked
   **external** (reason `self_click`). A legitimate Click-to-WhatsApp ad is always **inbound** (the contact
   messages you).
2. **Ownership** — if the ad (`source_id`) is **not** among your synced ads, it belongs to another
   advertiser and the lead is **external** (reason `foreign_ad`). If the account hasn't synced any ads yet,
   the platform gives the benefit of the doubt and keeps it as **yours**.

## Step by step

1. Open **Ads Manager → Leads**.
2. Use the ownership tabs at the top of the list:
   - **Yours** (default) — only your real leads.
   - **External** — third-party ads your connection clicked.
   - **All** — both together.
3. In the KPI row, the **External** number shows how many third-party clicks exist (outside Total).
4. An external lead's row shows an **External** badge. Open the lead to see the detail panel: a **banner**
   explains why it's external (you clicked the ad, or the ad belongs to another advertiser) and reminds you
   it does **not** count in Total, ROAS or CAPI.

## Settings & options

- **Fix it manually**: when your ad account is **not synced**, auto-detection can't always tell your ad from
  a third-party's. Open the lead and use **Mark as mine** or **Mark as third-party** — tick **Apply to every
  lead from this ad** to correct the whole ad at once.
- **Sync your ad account** to make auto-detection accurate: ownership is then checked automatically (an ad
  that isn't yours becomes external on its own).
- External leads are still **kept** (conversation, contact and attribution preserved). Nothing is deleted.

## Use cases

- **Clean up the dashboard**: view only your real leads under **Yours** to measure ROAS without noise.
- **Audit team clicks**: under **External**, see which competitor ads your number clicked.

## Tips, limits & best practices

- Sync your ad account to improve the **ownership** signal — without synced ads, the platform can't tell
  "your ad" from "a third-party ad" and keeps it as yours.
- An external lead **never** promotes the contact to *Lead* or fires a conversion to Meta.

## Troubleshooting

- **One of your leads shows as external?** Check that the ad is synced (ad account connected) and that the
  conversation's first message was really **inbound**.
- **Want to see everything together?** Use the **All** tab.

## See also

- [CTWA ads and lead forms](/hc/ajuda/articles/growth-marketing-ads-ctwa-leadgen-en)
- [Ads conversion tracking (Meta CAPI)](/hc/ajuda/articles/growth-marketing-ads-conversion-tracking-en)