Leveraging the affiliate marketing system for lead generation is a highly successful technique for many a marketer in the digital space. But even though it’s far from a new strategy, lead generation still presents its unique set of challenges. The key to a successful lead generation campaign? Ultimately, it boils down to transparency.

As increasing importance is put on lead generation, there’s an evident need for better marketing measurement and analytics. The expectation is not only to track the number of leads, but to increase transparency around the lead data. 

For lead generation marketing tactics to move into the future, transparency is key, and affiliate marketers are upping their game to provide better insight than ever. 

Greater Incentive for Transparency

 Why are performance marketers tackling the task of transparency in lead generation marketing? Because there’s an incentive for every player in the equation.

Unlike the set-up for retail-focused offers that pay on a purchase action, lead generation offers pay commission on the submission of a lead’s contact information. Since there’s no guarantee a lead will result in a sale, advertisers want the most authentic, quality leads upfront with the highest chance of a conversion. The more granularly they can define their lead values, the better they can hone their marketing efforts resulting in quality leads that will convert.

To keep up with the current climate of advertiser needs, affiliates are incentivized to provide greater transparency into their traffic. Though an affiliate will be paid a commission once the advertiser’s desired action has occurred, if they can’t provide the insight the advertiser requires, the affiliate can expect to be dropped – and quickly. With stakes like this, the motivation to provide insight is high. 

Better Insight into Lead Geo and Traffic Channel Preferences

For optimal lead generation, it’s key to have visibility into lead geos (territories, states, etc.) and traffic channels. Why? Imagine starting an affiliate program only to realize you’ve been paying for leads in countries you don’t or can’t do business in. If there’s no visibility into the locations your leads are coming from, your lead quality is doomed to decline. A meritable performance network should provide the tools or means to localize ad campaigns to the advertiser’s most relevant geographic areas. At Clickbooth, our proprietary Performance Exchange Platform provides highly effective tools for segmenting traffic and designating desired geos for optimum performance.

Utilizing affiliate marketing for lead gen efforts can provide advertisers an improved look into the channels that produce the highest quality leads, and the ability to scale based on those insights. An experienced network can benefit all parties involved – both providing publishers with offers in categories that have proven successful in their traffic type, and recommending channels with proven success to advertisers based on their lead generation needs.

More Granular Analytics for Better Decision-Making

With many other marketing channels, detailed measurement can be difficult to achieve because there is no way for the lead to explicitly consent to have their data collected. Thanks to regulatory measures such as the GDPR, without an opt-in, capturing the lead’s information is a no-go.  But with lead generation in affiliate marketing, leads are volunteering their information and actively want to hear from the advertiser. Their voluntary information submission means more granular insight on each lead than most other marketing channels.

The more transparency there is surrounding the lead data, the better the affiliate campaigns can be optimized. But the optimization doesn’t have to stop with affiliate marketing. Marketers can take the lead generation knowledge they learn from their affiliate campaigns and apply it across the board to benefit their other marketing efforts.

Summing Things Up

Lead generation is setting the trend for increased transparency in affiliate marketing. Regardless of campaign-type, lead generation or otherwise, a quality affiliate marketplace includes access to key indicators such as clicks, conversions, impressions, geos and traffic types. Through comprehensive reporting, publishers can monitor their performance for improvement, and advertisers can make effective, strategic decisions regarding their leads.

At Clickbooth, we ensure that our platform provides the right tools for marketers to define lead values with more confidence than ever before. Our network of top-performing publishers, knowledgeable representatives, and industry-leading technology are here to help you maximize your lead generation results. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you have on improving your lead gen efforts.