<b>Q: Should I pay affiliates per lead or per sale?</b>

<b>Q: Should I pay affiliates per lead or per sale?</b>

Pay per sale unless you have a strong reason not to, because per-lead shifts all the conversion risk onto you. With cost-per-lead, you pay for a form fill that may never buy, and affiliates optimize for volume of leads, not quality.

When per-sale is right:

— You have a reliable checkout and can track the full path
— Your sales cycle is short enough that affiliates see the payoff

When per-lead can make sense:

— Long or offline sales cycle (the affiliate can't wait months to get paid)
— You qualify and convert leads yourself, so lead quality is in your control

The hybrid that protects you: pay a small per-lead amount only on validated leads (passed a quality check), plus a larger per-sale bonus. That aligns the affiliate with quality, not just quantity.

Caveat: if you go cost-per-lead, define 'valid lead' precisely and hold a rejection right for junk. Without it, you'll fund a flood of fake form fills within a week.

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