To kick things off in affiliate marketing, you have to make several critical decisions, including choosing the right commission model – something you want to do when you really understand the conversion potential of your traffic.
If your traffic exhibits a readiness to take action, ideally with conversion rates above the 2.35% benchmark, cost-per-action (CPA) affiliate programs are generally your best option due to their high value per event.
Keep reading to find the best cost-per-action affiliate networks, programs, and software that will help you manage and optimise your affiliate marketing.
Book a demo to learn how Phonexa can help you enhance your cost-per-action affiliate program.
Cost-per-action is a performance-based advertising model where advertisers pay publishers for actions, such as purchases, registrations, or installations.
Driving actions is definitely more challenging than, for example, generating clicks or impressions. Therefore, cost-per-action is best for marketing-savvy publishers – those who can translate the audience’s needs and emotions into conversion levers and use them for persuasion.
Cost-per-action formula:
| CPA = Total Campaign Cost / Number of Actions |
| Advertisers | Publishers |
| Cost efficiency: You pay only for tangible results, not for impressions and clicks that may lead to no conversions. | Monetisation of high-intent traffic: If you generate ready-to-act traffic, you can earn high rewards, even for a few conversions. |
| Measurable results: With accurate attribution, you can tie conversions to specific campaigns, garnering valuable marketing data. | Wide variety of programs: Because cost-per-action programs are very popular, you can find a suitable offer regardless of your niche or traffic channel. |
| Budget planning: As you pay only for high-quality, predictable traffic, it’s easier to project and allocate your budget. | Useful insights: By learning what drives your audience to action, you acquire actionable marketing data to guide your future campaigns. |
With over 3,000 programs, MaxBounty is one of the largest affiliate networks that uses a CPA pricing model. The network uses proprietary software that provides deep analytics, compliance, and fraud prevention for both parties.
These are the best cost-per-action affiliate programs at MaxBounty:
| Upstart – HELOC | Acorns Early – Kids Debit Card and App | Aspiration – Climate Friendly Banking | |
| Category | Financial, Loans | Financial, Credit Cards | Financial, Loans |
| Payout type | Fixed | ||
| Target action | Converting a user into a lead | ||
| Commission | $150 | $11 | $37.50 |
Profitise is a cost-per-lead network that operates within the insurance and solar niches and pays per qualified leads and callers while also providing you with dedicated affiliate managers.
Profitise helps you generate qualified leads through custom forms you receive upon joining the network. Designed by experienced performance marketers, they also maximise your conversions by reducing frictions during submission.
Partnering with such giants as McAfee and Walmart, Perform[cb] is a trusted affiliate network that, at the moment, offers two high-value cost-per-action programs:
| Program | Promotion subject | Cookie duration |
Dun & Bradstreet | A business assistant for compliance, finance, marketing, and consulting solutions. | 45 days |
Self Credit Builder | A solution that helps users build credit scores and expand their financial capabilities. | 30 days |
Both programs provide dedicated account management teams to help you reach maximum conversions.
Monetise is a popular UK affiliate network with over 10,000 publishers and two large cost-per-action programs: Consumer Cellular and Lowes Hosted Windows. You can join them if you’re a media buyer, social marketer, influencer, display publisher, email marketer, or incentive publisher, kicking things off with the help of dedicated managers.
DOPPCALL is a cost-per-action affiliate network ideal for publishers who specialise in call generation. To get the most out of DOPPCALL’s cost-per-action programs, you need a comprehensive calling software, like Phonexa’s Call Logic.
Here are some of Call Logic’s features:
| “You need Phonexa to squeeze the most revenue out of the calls, to monetise them as well as possible, keep fraud out of the picture, and keep everyone happy on both sides of the equation.” – Evan Weber, an expert in B2C and B2B digital marketing and online advertising, during the Pioneering Pay-Per-Call Excellence webinar |
Take a product tour to learn how Phonexa’s Call Logic can help you maximise conversions.
Here are the DOPPCALL CPA affiliate marketing programs you can power with our software:
| Bankruptcy Lawyer Consultation | Home Security Consultation | Real Estate Consultation | Medicare Insurance | Home Security | |
| Category | Legal Services, Bankruptcy Lawyer | Home Services, Home Security | Real Estate, Consultation | Medicare, Health | Insurance, Home Security |
| Allowed traffic | Search ads, SEO, Social Ads, Display, Native | Search ads, SEO, Social Ads, Display, Native | Search ads, SEO, Social Ads, Display, Native | Search, Social, Native, Display, Video, OnShore Transfers | Search, Social, Native, Display, Video |
| Payout | $40 – $80 (20% rev share) | $40 – $80 (20% rev share) | $40 – $80 (20% rev share) | $200 | $200 |
| Daily cap | 10 sales | 10 sales | 10 sales | Unlimited | 100 billable calls |
Over 1,000,000 monthly leads, 500 advertisers, and 1,000 offers – these are just some of Dynu In Media’s achievements. The platform is packed with cost-per-action programs, and, as of today, Cat Insurance is probably the most lucrative of them, offering a one-time commission of $63.
Awin is an affiliate network known for its quick CPA payouts and advanced reporting, which help publishers put their marketing on the right track.
Among Awin’s cost-per-action programs, Kredit Karma is a great choice. It requires you to promote a finance control application, comes with a 30-day cookie, and offers the following rewards:
Prioritising collaboration with its partners, SmartAdv affiliate network provides personalised solutions for content optimisation, tailors payouts to your business needs, and even handles compliance.
Furthermore, SmartAdv incentivises better performance by rewarding its most effective affiliates with money and other bonuses.
Here are the SmartAdv cost-per-action campaigns:
| Freshia Air Purifier – DTC | Smart Financial – Auto Insurance | Real Estate Bidders – Sell Your House Fast | |
| Category | N/A | Auto Insurance | Home Improvement, Services |
| Traffic types | Social, Banner, Native, Push, SEO, Search, Brand Bidding | Banner, Contextual, Display, Facebook, Native, PPC, Search, SEO, Social | Banner, Contextual, Display, Facebook, In-App, Native, PPC, Search, SEO, Social, Video, YouTube |
| Payout | $85 | N/A | N/A |
Currently, the most lucrative cost-per-action affiliate programs – the ones listed below – are targeted at the US market. That said, it doesn’t mean you can’t join them. Given the shared language, a large portion of your traffic likely comes from the US, making you eligible for the affiliate programs presented below.
The insurance market is always in demand of high-intent, targeted traffic – something cost-per-action affiliate marketing can provide. Let’s look at affiliate programs that let you capitalise on that.
If your traffic involves business-related users, you’re well-suited to join Hisocx’s affiliate program and promote small business insurance.
Here are the benefits of the Hisocx cost-per-action program:
To apply for the program, you need to sign up and wait around 3 days for the application review. If you’re in, you can download banners, receive links, and start earning.
Focusing on car, home, pet, and renters insurance, Insurify, as it claims, is the US’s fastest-growing insurance community and is open to partnerships.
To apply for Insurify’s cost-per-action program, you should provide your business details to affiliates@insurify.com. If approved, you gain access to competitive commissions and seamless website integration.
Liberty Mutual is an insurance company that operates within property, vehicle, business, and other niches.
At Liberty Mutual, you can find a US-targeted cost-per-action program with free creatives and commissions ranging from $3 to $10 per quote. However, if you want to address the UK audience, you can search for similar programs at Liberty Specialty Markets, the company’s UK subsidiary.
According to growth forecasts, the world is rapidly switching from traditional to solar energy sources:
These trends also indicate an accelerating competition in the solar market. To get ahead, solar installers tap into affiliate marketing and create lucrative deals for publishers – some of which are presented below.
Driven by respect for the planet and a love of adventure, Goal Zero is a brand that provides outdoor gear – like freezers and area lights – and portable solar panels to power them.
Managed by Partnerize, Goal Zero’s cost-per-action program allows you to earn up to 10% on all products. Affiliates receive not just banners and text links, but also an automated product feed, which you can place on your website to display up-to-date product information.
Being one of America’s most trusted solar providers, A1 SolarStore invites you to promote its panels, batteries, inverters, and other solar equipment.
See the benefits of partnering with A1 SolarStore:
Given that around 90% of US households have some kind of air conditioning, HVAC appeals to almost your entire US traffic. Combine it with high-ticket services that cover residential and commercial markets, and you have a prominent affiliate marketing industry that, by the way, is loaded with cost-per-action programs.
HVACDirect is a large seller of cooling, heating, ventilation, and other air-related systems, which you can promote for 5% on sale. The platform provides you with real-time performance statistics – including sales and traffic data – to help you optimise your efforts and boost conversions.
Backed by over 20 years of industry experience, Heat & Cool is a trusted HVAC provider with a wide assortment of heaters, air conditioners, and spare parts. You can promote them within the company’s cost-per-action affiliate program, earning 6% commission on sales with an average order value of $1,000. Cookie duration is 30 days.
AirFilter.com is apparently a filter provider that offers standard and customised solutions, which are claimed to be produced and shipped in just 24 hours. To promote AirFilter.com products and earn 12% on sales, you must complete verification by confirming your expertise and website ownership.
Cold Air Central specialises in HVAC spare parts, selling thermostats, motors, pneumatics, and other components for system maintenance.
Here are the Cold Air Central affiliate cost-per-action program conditions:
Without a doubt, there’s an evergreen demand for home-related services and products – the same applies to affiliates within this niche.
Striving to make in-floor heating available for everyone, HUG Hydronics provides these systems along with how-to-install courses. The platform also sells boilers.
HUG Hydronics uses an old-school promotional method: discount coupons. You can receive your unique coupon and earn 5% on its application after completing online or in-person training about HUG Hydronics. Payouts are made monthly with email checks.
It’s undeniably difficult to optimise and scale your campaigns simultaneously – yet it’s necessary to maximise your affiliate revenue. You can get a lot of help from affiliate marketing software. It provides valuable insights into campaigns, automates processes, and enables easy lead tracking and distribution.
Designed for performance marketing, Phonexa is an enterprise-grade tracking and distribution platform for calls, leads, compliance, fraud, clicks, email, SMS, accounting, and more.
If your traffic comes from a website, you might need our behaviour-tracking software – HitMetrix. It records your website sessions to highlight page elements that cause friction, so that you can improve them and unclutter your conversion pipeline.
Generate callers? Then you can amplify your efforts with Call Logic and its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature:
Book a demo to see how Phonexa can help you scale your call-based campaigns and enhance your performance marketing efforts.
In the market since 2016, Everflow has refined its functionality to handle multiple marketing tasks.
Everflow features are categorised into these packages:
If you leverage paid ads to promote affiliate products, you’ll make much use of Voluum – a comprehensive PPC reporting tool that exposes 30+ metrics.
Voluum automates your marketing by identifying and sending traffic to the best-performing landing pages. At the same time, the platform deploys anti-fraud algorithms that flag bots and prevent you from paying for traffic that will never convert.
With Voluum’s Automizer, you can set a list of rules that will stop inefficient campaigns and change your bidding strategies to restore your market standing – all features available for the majority of ad platforms.
CPV One offers an affiliate marketing tracker that allows you to stay on top of your email campaigns, mobile ads, links, calls, and more.
Here are some of the other CPV One features:
Developed for teams, Keitaro is an attribution and ad performance tracker that facilitates seamless collaborations between departments and features user-level reports to measure individual impact.
Keitaro’s kit has four areas of application:
Whether it’s web leads or callers, Phonexa surfaces their entire journey, highlighting how they were generated, the time between the first interaction and the sale, and other actionable details, including IP fraud scoring.
And the best part is that you don’t have to juggle tabs to find the lead’s ID or status – these and other crucial information are consolidated into two dashboards – one for callers and one for web leads – for a streamlined and scaling-oriented framework.
| “Having all in one place allows you to give your decision makers and your media buying team the right data – what’s happening and what stuff that’s working they should do more of. That’s the performance marketing logic. But it’s surprising how many systems just don’t allow you to do all of that quickly – spotting issues as you go.” – David Pickard, CEO, Phonexa, during the Pioneering Pay-Per-Call Excellence webinar |
Here are two core solutions you get at a single price:
| LMS Sync | Lead management & distribution software |
| Call Logic | Call tracking & distribution software |
Features that come along and expand Phonexa’s core functionality:
Book a demo to experience Phonexa’s game-changing software suite in action.
Cost-per-action offers are affiliate programs that pay publishers whenever their traffic takes action, such as completing a form or making a purchase. CPA offers are more challenging and have higher value-per-event than cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-mile (CPM) models.
MaxBounty, Profitise, Perform[cb], Monetise, DOPCALL, Dynu in Media, Awin, and SmartAdv are leaders in the cost-per-action landscape. They offer many rewarding programs for publishers with different traffic channels and audiences.
You can earn more with cost-per-action by making your communication more targeted and persuasive. Address users’ problems, and then position your offer as a solution to motivate a desired action.
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