1. A method comprising: receiving packet flow optimization (PFO) configuration data that associates each rule name of a plurality of PFO rule names with a corresponding method for processing a data packet in a communications network based on data in a payload of a layer 3 protocol of the data packet; receiving, from a policy management process in the communications network, a first policy message that includes rule data that indicates a signaled rule name of the plurality of PFO rule names associated with a particular network address in the communications network; and in response to receiving the first policy message, processing a data packet of the particular network address according to a particular method associated with a particular rule name that is selected based on the signaled rule name.