Choosing CPA Offers

August 6th, 2009

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For someone just getting into CPA marketing, the variety of different offer types can be
confusing – it might seem overwhelming at first to try and figure out what all the different
offers are.

Some common types you will find in nearly any CPA network’s portfolio are free-trial offers,
zip-submit offers, and e-mail-submit offers.

Let’s begin with free-trial offers, because they are so popular among both advertisers and
the marketers who promote them. The reason is simple: These free trial offers are often
completely free to the customer, except for a small fee (as little as $1.95 or so) for
shipping and handling. The customer gets a product they are interested for an incredibly
low price, and the advertiser gets a valuable lead.

As a marketer, you might be wondering how this benefits you. Even though the offer is
free, or nearly free, companies are often more than willing to pay generous commissions
(as much as $20-$100 per lead). The reason is that many of these free trial offers are
forced continuity programs – by accepting the free trial offer, the customer is agreeing
to pay for more of the product when the free trial is up, often through a monthly
auto-ship program.

All you need to worry about, however, is delivering the lead – retaining the customer
is up to the advertiser. That means that you get a high commission on an offer that
is easy to convert, and all you have to do is get the customer to the company’s
landing page. Free-trial offers are popular for a reason…

Another very common type of CPA offer is a “zip submit.” All a visitor has to do in order
for you to get paid is enter their zip code. You can be sure that the company running
the promotion has a way to make money from the customer on the back end, but you
as the CPA marketer get paid just for the customer’s zip code. These offers convert
extremely well, although they are generally low-paying – you might earn as little as
75 cents to $1 for a zip submit, but if you can drive a lot of traffic to them even small
change can add up to big money.

Another similar kind of offer is an “e-mail submit.” You have probably heard many
marketers say that “the money is in the list,” but building a list of prequalified buyers
can be tough, and so companies are willing to pay a lot for the right e-mail addresses.
That’s where you come in: All the visitor needs to do is enter their e-mail address and
you get paid. Like a zip-submit, the payouts can be a little low, but you can make up
for that in volume.

You can learn a lot more about the various types of CPA offers and, most importantly,
how to choose the right offer to promote and how to promote it, by checking out the
newly-released Zero Friction Marketing.