## 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.

Selecting **Apply to every lead from this ad** corrects all already captured leads from the same ad in your account that your access permits, including other pages or tabs. CTWA and form leads can belong to the same ad. Without an identified ad, only the open lead changes. This does not create a rule for future leads or trigger conversions.

## 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)