Validating a lead and what gets shared
Validating a lead unlocks the customer's email and phone for that one inquiry. It's the moment you commit to following up — you're saying "yes, I want to talk to this customer about their event."
Validating costs $15 per lead. That's the per-lead fee Trucked Up charges for unlocking contact info. There's no monthly subscription, no fee for leads you decline, and no fee until you click Validate.
This article walks through the click, the modal, and what happens after. For the reasoning behind the gate and the price, see Why we gate contact info behind Validate.
What you'll need
- A lead in your queue (open it from truckedup.food/owner/bookings or the iOS app's Booking Inquiries screen).
- A clear yes on whether you can take the gig — if you're unsure, it's better to validate (the cost is small) than to lose the lead because you stalled.
Before you click
Open the lead. You'll see the event details (date, time, location, budget tier, headcount tier, message) and a customer first name. The email and phone fields show "Hidden until validated" in italic gray text.
Take 15 seconds to decide:
- Can you do the gig? Date open? Headcount within range? Budget tier sane?
- Does it fit your truck? Catering vs. on-site service vs. drop-off?
- Are you willing to commit to a follow-up call/email?
If yes to all → validate. If no → mark Declined instead and move on (no fee for declining).
The Validate click
On the web
Open the lead from the list.
In the detail panel, click Validate Lead.
A confirmation modal appears titled Validate this lead? with the message:
Validating reveals the requester's email and phone, and accepts the per-lead fee for this lead. This cannot be undone.
The per-lead fee is $15.
Click Validate to confirm, or Cancel to back out.
The lead's email and phone fields fill in immediately. The lead's status stays Read until you mark it Responded or Declined.
On iOS
Open the lead from Booking Inquiries.
Tap Validate Lead.
The same alert appears with the same message. Tap Validate to confirm.
Email and phone are revealed in the detail view.
What's revealed (and what isn't)
Validating reveals exactly two fields:
- Customer's email address
- Customer's phone number
Everything else (event details, message, budget/headcount tiers) was already visible. We don't reveal anything new beyond the contact info — that's the whole point of the gate.
The phone field becomes a tap-to-call link on iOS. On web, it's a text field you can copy.
After you validate
Once you have contact info, the next steps happen outside Trucked Up — email them, text them, call them. Trucked Up doesn't host the conversation today.
When you've reached out (or you've decided not to), come back to the lead and update its status:
Mark Responded — you've contacted the customer. Use this even if the booking ultimately falls through; it just means "I followed up."
Mark Declined — you've decided not to pursue (after validating). This is unusual after validation, but possible — for example, if the email bounces or the customer reveals more details that don't fit.
This is purely for your own tracking — the customer doesn't see your status changes.
What the customer sees
- The customer doesn't get notified when you validate. They submitted, they got the "Inquiry sent — the owner will be in touch" confirmation, and they're waiting for your reply.
- They will be notified when you reach out (because that's an email or text from you, directly).
- We deliberately don't auto-message customers when you validate — that would set the wrong expectation. Your reply is the signal.
What if you validate by accident?
Validation is one-way — there's no "unvalidate" button, and the $15 fee applies as soon as you click Validate. If you validated a lead you didn't mean to:
- The customer's contact info stays visible to you, but you don't have to use it.
- Mark the lead Declined to clean up your queue.
- If you validated by genuine mistake (misclick, wrong lead), email us — we can reverse the fee on a case-by-case basis. Don't make a habit of it; the gate exists precisely because the click is meant to be deliberate.
For more on the billing model, see Why we gate contact info.
Common questions
Can I unvalidate? No. Validation is one-way. Be sure before you click.
Does the customer know I validated? No. They only see your eventual reply (email/text/call) — that's the signal that someone's looking at their inquiry.
The phone number isn't formatted correctly / has a country code I didn't expect. Customers enter phone numbers as text; we don't normalize them. Most numbers will be US/Canada format (e.g., (555) 123-4567). If something looks weird, the email is your safer fallback.
The email bounced / customer's phone is disconnected. Sometimes happens. Mark the lead Declined with a mental note. If you want, email us so we can flag the customer if it becomes a pattern (potentially a fake account).
I validated and got busy — the lead is now stale. Am I still charged? Yes. The $15 fee is for unlocking contact info, not for your follow-through. The fee applies whether you replied or not.
Can I validate multiple leads at once? Not today. Each lead is its own click + confirmation. (Bulk validate is unlikely to ever make sense — each lead is a real commitment.)
Still stuck?
Email info@truckedup.food.