You launched an affiliate program for your business, hoping to drive growth and connect with new customers. Affiliates are sending traffic your way, and the clicks are rolling in – but the results aren’t quite what you expected.
Conversions are lagging, and your budget feels stretched thin. Sound familiar?
Many small business owners find themselves asking the same question: Is there a smarter way to make affiliate marketing deliver? Enter pay per lead (PPL) programs.
PPL affiliate programs often offer a sharper, more cost-effective approach to marketing. By prioritizing quality over quantity, affiliates help you generate real, measurable results while keeping your budget focused on what works.
In this post, we’ll break down how PPL affiliate programs work, why they could be the missing piece in your marketing strategy, and the steps to get started.
An Introduction to Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
A pay per lead (PPL) affiliate program is a performance-based commission model where affiliates are rewarded for driving leads to your business.
Unlike traditional pay per sale programs – where affiliates earn a commission only when a referred visitor makes a purchase – PPL programs focus on generating potential customers.
Here’s how it works: instead of tracking and paying solely for sales, you incentivize affiliates to send you leads. The key is that these leads are already showing interest in your products or services, making them valuable prospects for your business.
The PPL model offers flexibility, too. You can choose to pay affiliates for any traffic they bring to your site or set the bar higher by compensating them only for qualified leads.
A qualified lead is a visitor who performs a specific action on your site, such as signing up for a free trial, opting into a mailing list, or creating an account.
This adaptability allows you to tailor the program to your goals and budget.
While larger companies like Grammarly, Semrush, and Skillshare have successfully leveraged PPL programs, they’re not just for the big players. Small and mid-sized businesses can benefit just as much, if not more.
Deciding Whether a Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program is Right for You
Pay per lead affiliate programs give you the power to design a commission structure that fits your business perfectly.
As the business owner, you decide what qualifies as a “lead” for your goals – whether it’s something as simple as a page visit, a more engaged action like signing up for your email list, or even completing a detailed form.
You can also enhance your program with secondary payouts. For example, some businesses, like Semrush, reward affiliates not just for generating leads but also for any resulting subscription purchases – creating multiple earning opportunities:
However, there are drawbacks to a PPL to keep in mind:
- Smaller payouts per lead: Commissions can range from $0.01 to a few dollars depending on the action, which may not feel significant for affiliates.
- Higher lead volume: Since it’s often easier for affiliates to drive leads than sales, costs can add up if your program criteria are too broad (e.g., rewarding for simple page views).
- Non-converting leads: Not every lead will result in a sale, so you may pay for leads that don’t generate direct revenue.
Is PPL right for your business?
PPL programs work best for businesses targeting early-stage prospects in the sales funnel. If your audience is more likely to engage with a demo, sign up for a newsletter, or explore your offerings before buying, this model can help you build a pipeline of potential customers without relying on direct sales upfront.
How to Start a Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program (In 3 Steps)
Starting your own pay per lead affiliate program is simpler than you think – especially with the right tools. If you’re serious about building a successful affiliate program, Easy Affiliate is the solution you need.
Designed to integrate seamlessly with WordPress, Easy Affiliate provides everything required to set up, manage, and optimize your PPL program effortlessly.
You’ll also have complete control over your program’s structure, including defining what counts as a lead and tracking affiliate performance.
Plus, when you pair it with Formidable Forms, a leading WordPress form builder, you can unlock unlimited ways to generate and capture high-quality leads – whether through signup forms, demo requests, or newsletter opt-ins.
Below, we’ll guide you step by step to get your PPL affiliate program up and running with Easy Affiliate and Formidable Forms.
Step 1: Install and Connect the Necessary Plugins
To get started, you’ll need to install and activate both Easy Affiliate and Formidable Forms on your WordPress website. These tools work together to help you create and manage a pay per lead affiliate program seamlessly.
To do this, head to Easy Affiliate in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. Select Settings, and then navigate to the eCommerce tab:
Once both plugins are installed:
- Navigate to Easy Affiliate → Settings → eCommerce in your WordPress dashboard.
- Locate the Formidable Integration option and switch it to the “on” position.
- Click Update Options to save your changes.
Your plugins are now linked, and you’re ready to set up your affiliate program. How you do this is up to you, but we’d suggest starting by configuring your settings, creating key pages, and most importantly setting your commission rate.
Step 2: Create a Lead Generation Form
With your plugins connected with your freshly created affiliate program, it’s time to create a basic lead generation form that affiliates can use to bring in referrals.
- Go to Formidable → Forms → Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Choose between starting with a blank form or selecting a pre-built template.
- Use the drag-and-drop editor to design the form based on the type of lead you want to collect (e.g., email sign-ups or contact requests). Tip: Keep the form simple for higher conversion rates.
Once your form design is ready:
- Open the Settings tab in the form editor.
- Scroll down to the Easy Affiliate section.
- Check the box to enable commissions for this form.
- Use the Payment Amount drop-down to select the field that determines the commission value (e.g., Total or a custom field).
- Optionally, add a Payment Description for clarity.
Click Update to save your changes.
Step 3: Make Your Program Pay-Per-Lead
In this example case, the pay per lead is that you’ll pay your affiliates each time this form is submitted by a new lead they’ve referred. To set this up, you’ll need to place a hidden field anywhere on your form (visitors won’t see this).
Add a Hidden Field:
- Drag and drop a Hidden field into your form. This field will store the calculated value for the commission payout.
- Determine the hidden field value by dividing the amount you want to pay per lead by your default commission rate.
For example:- If you want to pay $5 per lead and your default commission rate is 10%, enter 50 as the hidden field value.
Update Affiliate Settings:
Go back to the Settings tab in your form editor.
In the Easy Affiliate section, set the Payment Amount drop-down to the Hidden field you just added.
Click on Update to save changes. You’ve now created a basic pay-per-lead affiliate form for your program.
Bonus Tip: To make your program even more appealing, consider customizing your form’s appearance with branding elements to create a polished, user-friendly experience for leads and affiliates.
All that’s left is to add the form to your site so affiliates can direct their audience to fill it out. This helps grow your business while giving affiliates the opportunity to earn a commission.
Conclusion
A pay per lead affiliate program can be a great way to spread the word about your business. It’s an attractive model for potential affiliates, yet still more cost-effective than most forms of advertising.
By following these 3 key steps, you’ll be well on your way to setting up your own pay-per-lead program:
- Install and activate the Easy Affiliate and Formidable Forms plugins. These tools work seamlessly together to help you build and manage your program with ease.
- Create a lead generation form. Design a simple yet effective form that aligns with your business needs, whether it’s collecting email sign-ups, contact requests, or other key information.
- Make your program pay per lead. Configure your form and settings to ensure affiliates earn commissions based on the quality leads they bring in.
With these steps in place, you’ll not only build a program that rewards affiliates for their efforts but also one that fuels the growth of your business.
Have questions about getting started or optimizing your pay-per-lead affiliate program? Drop them in the comments—we’d love to help you succeed!
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