Hello, community! What do you know about leads? Probably that they can pay quite well. At least sometimes. Many people even confuse lead generation with affiliate marketing. And that’s a mistake. Because in reality, lead generation is only a part of affiliate marketing. But let’s go step by step.
Today we’ll break down what lead generation actually is. But before we start, we recommend checking out our article about whether you should pay attention to tone of voice in affiliate marketing. A top-tier read!
What Is Lead Generation?
Let’s start with the basics. What is a lead? In marketing, a lead is a potential customer. And specifically — a potential one, not an actual buyer.
And here comes the logical question: how does a potential customer differ from a buyer? Simple. A buyer gives money to the seller in exchange for a service or product. But how does a potential customer differ from a random dude? By the fact that they’ve shown interest, even though they haven’t used the service yet.
Interest can be expressed in different ways. But usually, this happens through feedback forms: a person calls a store, leaves their contact details on a website, fills out a form, etc.
Lead generation is the process of collecting such forms and contacts. All of this is done for one simple purpose: to convert these potential customers into real ones in the future.
There are many niches where people aren’t ready to spend money right away. For example, in E-commerce. And that’s logical because the checks are often quite high. Overall, such hesitation isn’t a problem — it just means you need to work a bit more to get the profit. That’s how sales work, and you just have to accept it.
What Types of Leads Exist?
Now back to leads. There are three main types of potential customers. And the methods of lead generation depend on that.
Leads are divided into:
- Warm
- Cold
- Hot
Warm leads are people who independently show interest in the offer. They intentionally go to the online store’s website. And although they may not buy anything immediately, they might, for example, register — to make using the service easier in the future.
Cold leads are people who have just learned about the product — and most likely learned about it directly from you. So they aren’t very interested right now, but they might change their mind in the future. For example, when they get paid or when there’s a discount.
Hot leads are those who are already asking you to sell them the product or provide a service. These are loyal people who are the easiest to work with. But in reality, a hot lead is simply the final result of work you’ve already done.
Lead generation also works differently here. Hot leads will come to your landing page on their own, find a way themselves. But cold leads must be guided step-by-step, searched for, and retained — to lead them to the ultimate goal: a conversion.
How Does Lead Generation Work in Affiliate Marketing?
Now let’s be more specific and return directly to affiliate marketing. Here, lead generation works the same way it does in general marketing. However, there’s even a dedicated payout model for this — CPL, Cost Per Lead.
In affiliate marketing, there are two types of lead generation. They depend on how the lead is obtained and sometimes even on the niche. In general, they are divided into:
- White leadgen;
- Black leadgen.
White lead generation is the process of finding clients in a “legitimate” way and sending them to white offers. The main point is that the user must willingly leave their contacts. You can bring them through targeted ads, contextual ads, or SEO.
Black leadgen is getting leads through fake forms, stolen databases, etc. Such traffic is never accepted by “normal” offers. At best, it can be sent to shady products.
But white leadgen is not difficult enough to justify using its “black alternative.” Moreover, the potential profit from white lead generation is much higher. Because there’s a real chance to reach targeted customers who will keep returning — meaning an affiliate can earn from rebills. This is a common practice in some niches.
What Are Leadgen Offers in Affiliate Marketing?
There’s a separate category of offers where affiliates can earn specifically for generating leads. That is, payment happens when a potential customer shows interest in the product — for example, leaves a request for a callback.
But primarily, the most popular vertical using CPL is dating. Affiliates get paid when users fill out a sign-up form on a dating website via your link.
The finance vertical also features leadgen offers. Because forcing traffic to take a loan immediately is difficult. So CPL here is an excellent way not to lose profit. And when we mention the finance niche, we also mean insurance — where lead generation is similarly very popular.
Conclusion
Lead generation is a very important and necessary process that not only helps in affiliate marketing but can also become a standalone way to earn money. There are many ways to generate leads, and we’ll talk about them in future articles, so stay tuned.
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With respect, your Geek!