What is Pay per Lead?
Pay per lead (PPL) is a marketing agreement where you pay partners for each successful lead they provide.
What is meant by ‘successful lead’ depends on the terms of your agreement, for instance, with Upcision it means that your sales team was able to get a willing lead on the phone, but it can also be characterized by the lead taking a pre-defined action. That action could be something like filling out a contact form, signing up for a trial, downloading apps or software, signing up for a webinar, or any other action you agree upon.
It’s the ‘action’ part of your agreement that makes pay per lead different from either pay-per-click or pay-per-conversion models.
Pay per Lead vs Other Methods
Of all the different ways to market your small business, why should you consider pay per lead?
In many ways, pay per lead falls right between pay-per-click and pay-per-conversion.
Pay per Click
Pay-per-click advertising is simply paying for traffic. The rest of the work is left to you. You’ve got to get your visitor to your site, then move your visitor through your sales funnel, making sure they complete each step, until they become a customer.
Pay per Conversion
Pay-per-conversion is a little different and can make your life a bit easier, but there’s a slight drawback. It’s much harder for your marketing partners to make the actual sale than to simply send you traffic, so they expect a much bigger payout, making your cost per lead much higher.
What are some of the Benefits of Pay per Lead
Automate Your Lead Generation
Automating your lead generation allows your sales team to focus on their conversion rates. If you’ve got a great sales team, then pay per lead can be very cost-effective while greatly improving your customer conversion rates.
Built in Interest
When paying per lead, you’re getting leads that have already expressed interest in your product or service. This also greatly increases your odds of converting that lead to a paying customer.
Scalability
With PPL, it’s easier to record and monitor your return on investment (ROI). You can easily set up your campaign in a way that allows you to see how each lead cost and conversion affects your bottom line.
