Affiliate Marketing Works for Lead Generation Websites, Too

Anne Garcia - September 7, 2011

Affiliate marketing can be a great strategy for both e-commerce and lead generation websites. A Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) affiliate marketing program works where you only pay an affiliate a fixed commission if a visitor completes a form on your site, thus generating a lead. The form can simply be a name and a phone number for your company to follow up with via phone or email. Given that you would be committing to pay your affiliates for each individual who completes a form, it is important that the landing page the individual is being sent to has enough qualifying information to discourage individuals who are not viable leads from completing the form.

If you want to only pay affiliates per lead, it is important to have some measures in place to reduce fraud, so that the advertiser only receives quality leads. Here are a few ways to reduce the number of unqualified leads that you may be paying a commission for:

• Implement a CAPTCHA box at the bottom of the form.
• Require an email confirmation or double opt-in.
• Verify your leads.

Successful lead programs have the following characteristics:

• A long history of generating online leads through multiple marketing channels with good results.
• A very clear definition of a qualified leads versus an unqualified lead.
• An automatic process to determine if a lead is qualified or unqualified.
• Strict security measures in place to protect the company from paying commissions on fraudulent leads.
• No restrictions on the number of leads produced on a monthly basis.

A CPL affiliate program can be easier to set up than other advertising campaigns and would not need as much time and focus once the set up is complete. In addition, you can choose a fixed commission that is less than the cost of a new lead from your email or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns.

Lead generation affiliate programs are more common in the finance or service verticals than retail. CPL affiliate programs can be an ideal match for your business if you are focused on closing sales once the online lead is generated.