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Affiliate marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts. Affiliate marketing is also the name of the industry where a number of different types of companies and individuals are performing this form of Internet marketing, including affiliate networks, affiliate management companies, and in-house affiliate managers, specialized third party vendors, and various types of affiliates/publishers who promote the products and services of their partners.

With marketing budgets becoming increasingly tight, merchants are turning towards performance based marketing channels to bolster sales. Performance based marketing takes many forms?cost per click, cost per lead, cost per call, and cost per customer acquisition-the common thread in all models is that merchants pay an affiliate or publisher based on a desired result (as opposed to a traditional flat media spend or CPM model).

How Performance Marketing Works

1. Affiliates or Publishers market a product via a variety of online or offline channels to promote consumer interest
2. Consumers are directed to the merchants website or sales facility to complete the sales transaction online or over the phone
3. Affiliate or publisher is paid when the customer transaction is complete. Sometimes the customer fulfillment includes an in-home installation, (For example: home security) in which case the affiliate is paid once the customers service is installed.

The purest form of performance based marketing is a cost per acquisition model, or CPA. Under a CPA agreement, affiliates are paid only when a new customer is acquired. This model aligns the interests of both parties: Affiliates strive to drive qualified traffic that converts into sales, and Merchants strive to increase conversion rates on their websites and in their call centers.

With cost per call and cost per lead programs, merchants pay affiliates for every qualified lead they receive. Regardless of how the lead is delivered (over the phone, or posting from a website), merchants have the ability to define what constitutes a qualified lead. Online lead generation forms utilized by affiliates are required to filter out unqualified customers by asking specific qualifying questions. Over the phone lead qualification generally happens via an IVR (interactive voice response) system. Phone leads are also not billable unless they meet a certain predetermined length (talk time) to minimize fraud.

CLEARLINK partners have the opportunity to work on a variety of performance-driven payment models from CPA to CPL and Cost per Call.

Pay per call is the equivalent to paying for an online lead, except the data is collected over the phone versus via an online lead form. Similar to online lead generation, phone leads still have to be qualified. With pay per call programs, the lead is qualified through an Interactive Voice Response system (IVR). The consumer is prompted during their call to make selections on their keypad. Calls that meet the qualification criterion also must meet a minimum talk time threshold in order to be considered billable. Required talk times vary depending on the product and lead cost.

The Benefits of Phone Leads

Affiliates benefit from higher response rates when they utilize a combination of lead forms and phone numbers. Giving the consumer the option to receive information via multiple communication channels increases overall responses. By placing dedicated toll free tracking numbers on their hosted landing pages or utilizing click to call technology, affiliates can capture additional leads they otherwise would have lost.

Tracking

CLEARLINK call tracking is exported directly from the phone system, allowing pay per call partners to view real-time statistics on call detail (volume, length, etc.). Partners receive unlimited toll free tracking numbers.