The difference between performance based and cost per click affiliate marketing extend well beyond what count as an action (i.e. how an affiliate gets paid). Because of the way the different models actually work, affiliates approach their relationship with merchants in very distinct ways.

Whereas performance based affiliates look to work with reputable brands so that users are more likely to click through and subsequently register or make a purchase with the merchant, CPC affiliates need only to get users to click on a link to get paid. Although there are many honest CPC affiliates out there, there are also many who care only about getting users to click on their links. This leads to problems of click fraud and retailers calling all affiliates scum bags.

Conflicting Interests

Now click fraud estimates are problematic, and much of what is counted as click fraud can be chalked up to invalid clicks rather than outright fraudulent ones. But that doesn’t mean that the CPC model doesn’t put the affiliate and merchant into a conflict of interest.

Consider these posts on using .htaccess to hide affiliate links and using PHP to redirect affiliate links from the Click Consultants blog. Simply put, they outline ways that affiliates can conceal their affiliate links from users.

The idea is that if the user doesn’t know it is an affiliate link, they are much more likely to click on the link. This way, the CPC affiliate can increase conversions. This increase, however, comes at the cost of the merchant. After all, if users aren’t willingly clicking away from the affiliate’s site, the chances that that click will be an invalid one is significantly higher. Consequently, the merchant ends up paying for a slew of visits that don’t convert.

These kinds of invalid clicks are why CPC advertisers are urged to pre-qualify their clicks. But when those CPC links are trusted to an affiliate, the advertiser/merchant does not have that much control.

Not All Rotten Apples

As I’ve already said, there are plenty of honest CPC affiliates out there. In fact, if they weren’t the majority, the model would have imploded a long time ago.

Nevertheless, merchants need to mindful of the potential of conflict of interest that the CPC model creates between themselves and affiliates. After all, the very fact that CPC blogs are openly sharing pseudo-black-hat techniques to refer unknowing users is proof of that.

Of course, for CPC advertisers that count mere page views as a conversion, this isn’t so much of a problem. But for actual ecommerce merchant, the performance based affiliate model is probably a much safer bet in terms of establishing a merchant-affiliate relationship where interests are more closely aligned.

[Hat tip to 5 Star Affiliate Programs Blog for the lead.]

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Differences Between CPA and CPC Affiliate Mindsets

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