At the heart of our in-house performance ecosystem are the specific payout models that align the goals of brands and publishers. Unlike traditional advertising where you pay for clicks (CPC) or impressions (CPM) with no guarantee of ROI, affiliate marketing is driven by performance. The two most dominant models are CPL and CPA.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
The CPL model focuses on data acquisition. Advertisers pay publishers when a user submits their information—usually an email address, phone number, or a short form. This model is incredibly popular in verticals like Finance, Insurance, Sweepstakes, and Real Estate.
- Single Opt-In (SOI): The conversion fires the moment the user hits submit. Great for publishers due to high conversion rates, but requires strict fraud-filtering by the network to ensure lead quality.
- Double Opt-In (DOI): The conversion only fires after the user clicks a confirmation link sent to their email. Lower conversion rates, but much higher payouts due to the guaranteed lead quality.
Cost Per Action / Acquisition (CPA)
CPA is the holy grail of ROI for advertisers. A payout is only triggered when a specific financial action is completed—usually a credit card transaction, a software subscription, or an app deposit. Because the advertiser only pays after revenue is generated, CPA payouts are significantly higher, sometimes reaching hundreds of dollars per conversion. Our tracking infrastructure ensures that these high-stakes S2S postbacks are recorded with microsecond accuracy, guaranteeing publishers get paid for every single sale.