Mistake: quoting a rate card with no performance floor

Mistake: quoting a rate card with no performance floor

Failure mode: you pay a flat $1,500 for a post, it converts at 0.2%, and you have no clause to recover. The creator has zero downside, so they put zero effort into the call-to-action.

Fix: every flat fee gets a paired floor in the same contract.

Phase 1 — Set the floor: expected EPC times projected clicks, divided by 2. That is your break-even tripwire.
Phase 2 — Structure: 60% flat on post, 40% released only after the floor (e.g. 80 tracked sales in 30 days) is hit.
Phase 3 — Renewal: if floor missed twice, creator moves to pure-CPA on the next cycle. No negotiation, it is in the SOP.

Decision rule: if their audience is under 25k, skip flat entirely and run hybrid (small flat + CPA).

Checklist before sending:
— Floor number written as a hard threshold, not a vibe
— Tracking window stated in days
— Recovery mechanism if floor missed
— Renewal trigger documented

A rate card without a floor is a donation.