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Too many or too few leads

Last updated on Oct 15, 2026

A campaign's precision is a balance between two complaints: "too much noise" and "too quiet". Each has its own levers. Start with the funnel: it shows where the flow gets lost. And if something is wrong with a campaign, Telegrin sends a campaign review to the Telegram bot in the morning (or by email if the bot is not connected): which words find nothing, which keep ending up rejected, where credits are spent without leads.

Quick diagnosis with the funnel

The Monitoring funnel is on Home (all campaigns) and on every campaign's page, Overview tab: Messages → Keyword matches → AI Processed → Rejected by AI → Cards.

  • many messages, few matches - the words are too narrow;
  • many matches, the AI rejected almost all of them - the words are too broad, or the campaign description is too strict;
  • nothing coming in - a problem with sources or the account, not with the words.

Too many off-target cards

Work through the levers from the top:

  1. "Why not a lead?" - when you reject a card, tap a reason. Three identical reasons within 30 days ("Colleague / competitor", "Offering, not looking" or "Off topic") - and the AI stops showing such posts in this campaign by itself.
  2. Stop words (the What to look for step) - a post with a stop word is cut off before the AI. Add the noise markers of your sources: "looking for a job", "for rent", competitor names. On Telegram, Threads, Bluesky and Hacker News such a post is free; on LinkedIn, Reddit, X and Jobs it still costs 1 credit - there a stop word cleans the feed but does not save money.
  3. Who is definitely not a lead (AI-search campaigns) or Micro-context for AI (campaigns with your own words) - add who is NOT a lead: agencies, freelancers, vacancies, round-ups.
  4. Languages - if the feed has posts not in your language, check Languages your customers write in on the What to look for step, and replace generic Latin words ("SEO", "PPC") with how your buyer actually writes.
  5. Monitoring rules - on the Where to look step, open Telegram (Configure). If it says Every message, switch back to Keywords only: otherwise the AI reads every message in your chats, and each costs 1 credit even when it is not a lead. This choice applies to your own chats only.
  6. Sources - look at Top Telegram chats on Home: if one chat brings many cards and zero leads, remove it from the campaign.

Too quiet

  1. Check whether the campaign is searching at all. A quiet campaign's card on the Campaigns screen names the reason: "Account disconnected - this campaign cannot search", "Out of credits - the search is stopped", "Campaign is paused". This is fixed faster than any words.
  2. Look at the words. On the campaign page, the Keywords card shows for every word how many messages were "checked" and how many "became cards". Dashed words were picked by AI. Remove a word that brings nothing with its cross; type a new one into the Add a word field - it starts working at once, with no need to walk through the campaign again.
  3. LinkedIn: empty words cost money. Every word that finds nothing in a check costs 1 credit. In Settings → Billing → Credit spend analytics this is the Words that found nothing line. Remove such words or replace them with phrases your buyer actually uses.
  4. Boost the search. In an AI-search campaign, the campaign page has the AI runs the search block with the Boost the search button: the AI widens the search and keeps running it by itself, your own words stay. A wider search means more posts: on LinkedIn and Reddit that costs more, on Telegram and Threads searching is free. If the campaign searches by your words only, the button there is Switch to AI search.
  5. Widen the words differently for different channels. For Telegram, add synonyms and casual wording. For Threads, Reddit, LinkedIn, X, Bluesky and Hacker News - 2-3 word phrases your buyer uses to describe the task: generic words like "SEO" or "advertising" bring posts from all over the world and expert posts by colleagues, not buyers.
  6. Add sources - more chats and subreddits on the topic.
  7. Soften the description. A description that is too strict drops real leads too. Look at Rejected by AI in the Feed: if there are good leads there, bring them back with Mark as lead and simplify Who is definitely not a lead or the micro-context.

💡 Tip: change one lever at a time and look at the funnel a day or two later - otherwise you cannot tell what actually helped.

Related articles

  • "How the AI decides whether a post is a lead"
  • "What to look for: description, keywords and stop words"
  • "Credits: what you are charged for and what is free"