15 of the Highest Paying Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
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In search for the best pay per lead affiliate programs? We've got you covered.
Most affiliate marketers focus on receiving commissions by generating sales for a product offer.
For instance, you put a link on your website, and when a visitor clicks the link and then purchases the product or service you receive a commission. But that's not the only way to earn as an affiliate.
But you can get paid for just sending leads from your affiliate site as well.
All you need to do is send a lead to an advertiser irrespective of whether the prospect purchases or not.
Affiliate programs that use this model are called Pay Per Lead (PPL).
Most times pay per lead programs pay a minute amount.
However, the great ones can convert into regular sales for you as you won't require prospects to purchase anything for you to receive a commission.
That said, certain Pay Per Lead programs pay a lot higher, with some paying as much as $150 per lead.
We'll see such programs in this roundup.
These kinds of affiliate models are also called Cost Per Lead (CPL) programs. If the prospect is required to act to qualify so you receive a commission, then the program is referred to as a Cost Per Action affiliate program.
Usually, the action is something as basic as:
- Submitting an email address
- Creating a survey
- Signing up for a free trial
Here's what we'll cover in this roundup:Â
Contents
- What is a Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program?
- Why You Should Promote Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
- High Paying Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
- ClickFunnels – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- ShareASale – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Rankpay – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Canva – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Grammarly – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- FreskWorks – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Personal Capital – Financial Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
- ConstantContact – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- CITBank – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Skillshare – Education Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
- National Debt Relief – Financial Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
- Merchant Equipment Store – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
- Hiscox – Insurance Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
- SwagBucks – Side Hustle Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
- CreativeLive – Education Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
- Final Thoughts
What is a Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program?
To know how an affiliate programs work, let's have a look at the difference between the different types of affiliate marketing programs:
- Pay-Per-Lead (PPL): This type of affiliate program pays you a commission every time a new lead (contact data) is received by the business running the program.
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC): PPC programs pay commissions to affiliates every time a prospect clicks on their affiliate link even if they don't become a customer or a lead.
- Pay-Per-Acquisition (PPA): This is the conventional affiliate marketing model. Affiliates earn commissions per sale generated via their marketing efforts.
Conventional affiliate marketing means you receive commissions when you send a paying customer to a business. However, when it comes to PPL affiliate programs, you receive payments when you send in a new lead, irrespective of if they convert to a customer or not.
That said, with certain pay-per-lead programs, the referred lead has to be qualified. This means your lead needs to take a particular action for you to earn a commission.
The action includes any of the below:
- Inputting a phone number, a zip code, or an email address.
- Opting into an email list
- Downloading a piece of software
- Registering for an account
- Requesting a quote
- Schedule a meeting
- Requesting a demo
Businesses will pay you commissions as an affiliate just for sending traffic to their website (and you can also get inspired by learning about solo ad vendors).
The model is very simple to understand and to make it work you just have to find how to spend less money per click than you make from the business.
After you achieve that you can scale it to as high as you want.
Most of the high-paying PPL affiliate programs on this list typically provide a bonus based on the percentage of traffic that converts into qualified leads.
Why You Should Promote Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
You may think that a lot of Pay Per Lead affiliate programs aren't worth the promotion stress as they pay little commissions. However, that isn't the best way to look at it.
If you promote only high ticket offers then your sales will likely be infrequent even if they are great offers.
In addition to that, you would also require certain sales skills to convince prospects to purchase high ticket offers to earn cash consistently.
Promoting a couple of great Pay Per Lead offers that convert well will assist you to earn money steadily per month.
So a great way to look and think about it is that PPL offers make sure that your affiliate marketing methodology includes a mix of a couple of great high ticket offers and some Pay Per Lead lead offers for consistent income.
With this approach, successful affiliate marketers make money from PPL programs consistently, scoop up high commissions as well, and create a recurring income with their affiliate programs.
After you've gained mastery in your copywriting and sales skills you can then focus on high ticket offers if you choose.
Affiliate marketing becomes popular every passing year with a rise of interest of about 200% from 2015.
So as more people begin affiliate marketing it makes a lot of sense to create enough room to earn money online by adding some PPL affiliate programs to your marketing strategy.
High Paying Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
There are so many CPA and PPL offers currently that will give you a commission per free sign-up. But it's very hard to locate the best high paying affiliate programs.
When you find them without recommendation it can be difficult to know if they would convert as you send leads to them. And it may take you a couple of years to find the best ones.
So, in this roundup, we have listed some of the high-paying pay-per-lead affiliate programs available to save you the “years” and “months” of searching.
ClickFunnels – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
ClickFunnels is an excellent piece of software that enables you to create landing pages, sales funnels, build email lists, recruit affiliates, and receive payments for your services and products.
The ClickFunnels affiliate program is nice too. And it is one of the highest pay-per-lead offers available. This is because of the money that can be made on the upsells for a couple of their products.
Though their affiliate tracking has received complaints of being a little off on some occasions they're still an excellent product to promote.
Their products are very popular and you have the opportunity to make some sizable commissions.
Promoting some of their low-earning offers like their affiliate marketing books (copywriting secrets, expert secrets, traffic secrets, and DotCom secrets) will reward you with $1 per lead.
While that may not sound like much but after you have referred a lead you also earn commissions on anything that the customer purchases on the back end of the funnel.
Here is an example to explain.
You receive $1 for any Expert Secrets sign-up >> customer purchases Funnel Scripts later at $797 >> you receive $297 commission on their Funnel Scripts sale.
- Commission Rate: Various – Affiliates receive $1 for books and 30 to 40% on every product. 20% on particular products for up-sells and new affiliates, as well as re-bills for affiliates that have satisfied particular criteria.
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: Lifetime sticky cookie
ShareASale is one of the most reputable and largest affiliate networks on the scene. The platform caters to a broad range of niches and has a wide variety of products. Generally, the products are either software, service-related, or physical.
For example, you can see anything from web hosting services to mattresses on the network, so it's quite a varied list.
You will receive $30 for referring other affiliates to ShareAsale and after they reach their first $20 on the network.
However, if you refer an advertiser then you get $150 after they set up their ShareASale affiliate program and make their first $100.
Or, after the advertiser has been on the network for more than 6 months, irrespective of which comes first.
- Commission Rate: $150 for merchant/advertiser referral and $30 for affiliate referral.
- Affiliate Network: ShareASale
- Cookie Duration: 365 days
Rankpay – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
Rankpay is an SEO service, essentially. But you only pay them if they successfully rank your website. Just let them know the keywords you intend to rank for and they will help you make it happen.
For affiliates, they will pay you a good commission for a free sign up. So they're very simple to make money with.
- Commission Rate: $25 to $50 per lead
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 60 days
Canva – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
Canva is the one-stop graphic design software for many digital marketers, business owners, influencers, and bloggers. You use it to create different kinds of graphics for social media posts, infographics, logos, banners, and lots more.
One of the primary reasons it's very popular is that anyone with zero design experience can use it quickly to make amazing-looking graphics.
With the Canva affiliate program, you can earn up to $6.50 per lead, or for each free sign up that you send their way. As well as, 25% on paid accounts.
You also receive a 100% commission on the first month of your referred customer's paid plan.
- Commission Rate: $6.50 per lead and 25% for paid plans
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
Grammarly – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
Grammarly is one of the top online punctuation, plagiarism, and spelling checkers on the market. A lot of content writers, bloggers, and businesses use it daily for crafting error-free content.
The brand has an excellent pay-per-lead program and is known to convert easily as well as has an average conversion rate of 20 to 30%.
So after you get prospects to click on the links, making money should be pretty easy.
As a Grammarly affiliate, you can earn $0.20 per lead and $20 for a free sign-up.
- Commission Rate: $0.20 per lead, $20 per free sign-up.
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers or Private
- Cookie Duration: 90 days
FreskWorks – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
Formerly known as FreshDesk, FreshWorks is a popular customer relations management (CRM) software service. The tool helps you to offer excellent customer support if you sell your products.
Freshworks is built for small and medium-sized brands and supports various communication channels including emails, social media, phone, and website.
Their affiliates earn $5 per lead and an additional 15% recurring commissions in the first year from referrals that sign up for a paid account.
- Commission Rate: $5 per lead and 15% recurring commissions for sales.
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 90 days
Personal Capital – Financial Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
Personal Capital is a very handy financial tracking software. It enables you to track and manage all your financial activities. Their customers use the tool to help them budget effectively as well as plan for crucial things like purchasing a house, planning retirement, or saving for their children's education.
This is a high-paying pay-per-lead affiliate program and is a good one to join if it satisfies your niche choice.
You can earn between $50 to $100 just for referring a lead.
But, there is a spin to this.
Your referred leads will have to put in a minimum of $100,000 worth of assets to the brand's tracking software for the affiliate to qualify for a commission.
This may seem like a lot but it isn't much if your referral will include things like the equities in their home, their 401K, savings, which most of the software users do.
In summary, this is an excellent program to earn money online as a PPL affiliate.
- Commission Rate: $50 to $100
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers or Private
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
ConstantContact – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
ConstantContact is amongst the oldest email autoresponders available, with more than 20 years in the business.
SMBs use ConstantContact to help market their products, grow their email list, and support their customers.
When you sign up to promote ConstantContact as an affiliate and send a prospect for a free trial signup you will get $5 for the lead.
If the lead proceeds to open a paid account then you receive an additional $105.
In general, this is a stellar affiliate program to earn money online with.
- Commission Rate: $5 per lead and $105 per upgrade to a paid account
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers or Private
- Cookie Duration: 45 to 75 days
CITBank – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
CIT Bank is an online bank. They provide very compelling savings products and a seamless way to shop.
The company offers its customers an easy-to-use eChecking account. This enables you to pay your bills easily and access cash from their mobile application.
The customers are also attracted to the bank because they can earn interest with zero monthly fees.
CITBank provides one of the top-paying pay-per-lead affiliate programs. Affiliates with the bank can earn up to $100 per lead which is excellent for a PPL program.
- Commission Rate: $100 per referral
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
If you don't know what Skillshare is, it is an online learning platform where users can visit to access both paid and free courses.
They have all kinds of courses covering a broad range of topics such as marketing and design, business skills, photography, writing, art, and much more.
Each class is taught by an expert in the field of study. So you can be certain that you are sending people to a platform where they can learn profitable skills taught by people who know their stuff.
If your audience has to acquire any type of skill then joining the Skillshare affiliate program should be a sure path for you.
Affiliates of the program receive $10 per lead. And as long as the prospect signs up for a free trial you'll receive your commission.
- Commission: $10 per free trial sign-up
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
National Debt Relief – Financial Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
As you already would have guessed, the National Debt Relief assists people to come out of debt. However, they do it without encouraging you to file for bankruptcy or use loans.
Their Pay Per Lead affiliate program is a high-paying one.
If you opt to promote the product then you can expect to receive $27.50 for qualifying leads that you send to them.
- Commission Rate: $27.50 per qualifying leads
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 60 days
Merchant Equipment Store – Pay Per Lead SMB Affiliate Program
The Merchant Equipment Store offers businesses the capability of accepting credit card payments via their payment processing equipment.
The company is popular among SMBs due to their prices being set close to wholesale.
Affiliates of the brand that send leads to their products receive $20 per lead and an extra 5% on all purchases made by that referral.
- Commission Rate: $20 per lead, 5% per sale
- Affiliate Network: ShareASale
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
Hiscox – Insurance Pay Per Lead Affiliate Programs
Hiscox is an insurance company based in the United States for small businesses that offer customized policies to their customers. They cover all the necessities such as cybersecurity, business owner policies, short-term liability, general liability, and professional liability.
I
f you choose to promote Hiscox as an affiliate, your efforts can give you $25 per lead that generates a quote via your link.
- Commission Rate: $25 per lead
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers or Private
- Cookie Duration: 7 days
SwagBucks – Side Hustle Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
SwagBucks is a website that enables people to make cash for performing certain actions like completing surveys. But users have to be in either Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, or the United States.
Fortunately, you don't have to be in any of the above countries if you intend to promote SwagBucks as an affiliate.
Affiliates with the platform earn $3 for every qualified lead, which isn't too bad for a PPL program.
- Commission Rate: $3 per lead
- Affiliate Network: FlexOffers
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
CreativeLive – Education Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program
CreativeLive is an online learning center just like Skillshare with more than 1500 courses. This platform just like Skillshare offers both paid and free courses, most of which are taught by experts in different fields including Gary Vaynerchuk, Ben Greenfield, Tim Ferriss, Mel Robbins, and Lewis Howes.
This is an excellent pay-per-lead affiliate program as it enables you to earn recurring commissions from referrals simultaneously.
For referring a prospect to CreativeLive, you'll receive a $1 affiliate commission when they sign up for a free trial. And 20% on their first-course purchase as well as 10% on all subsequent purchases.
- Commission Rate: $1 per lead, 10% on future course purchases, and 20% for the first paid course.
- Affiliate Network: Private
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
Final Thoughts
There are so many amazing affiliate marketing offers available for you to earn money online. Fortunately, with Pay Per Lead or CPA affiliate programs you don't have to depend on making sales to receive commissions.
You can just receive a commission for free sign-ups.
Granted, some businesses require that your lead performs certain actions for you to get paid but these actions are usually what you would expect from quality traffic. And some expected actions are quite basic – signup or subscribe to an email list.
Adding a couple of great PPL affiliate programs to your marketing strategy can assist you to make money consistently and build a healthy affiliate income online.
Remember, the idea with pay-per-lead offers is that they can bring in consistent income that can take you on a month-to-month basis while you push the heavy offers which may not convert consistently.
That said, to know the best PPL affiliate program to go for, choose one that you have access to relevant traffic in the niche that you can direct to the program. Also, make sure that you can receive payments using their available payment methods as it can be very frustrating, if not.
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