Bad Leads

When affiliates promote pay-per-lead offers the customer typically doesn’t have to pay for a service. They simply provide information about themselves if they are interested in an offer or product that is being promoted. If the customer provides the information, the affiliate gets credit for the lead.

Howevever, many merchants have recently began what is called "qualifying" or "scrubbing" leads. That means that if the lead does not meet their standards or if the information submitted is not to their standards, the company wont pay the affiliate for the lead.

This cuts down on affiliate fraud where affiliates enter bogus information and submit the lead to get a commission. But for the honest affiliate, this impacts you more if you are sending low quality traffic to the offer. For example, if you are promoting an offer where the customer can sign up to get a free sample of heart burn medicine, the merchant might ask if how frequently they experience heartburn. If they answer that they rarely or never experience heartburn the merchant may flag that lead as being a bad lead.

Another example would be if you are promoting free quotes on getting a new roof for a house. If the potential customer is asked qualifying questions and answers that they do not own a home the lead may be tossed out.

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