Performance marketing has developed its own terminology. You need to know it to effectively use the tools available within the affiliate marketing industry. Learn the most important terms.

 

Advertiser

A company/brand that promotes its products or services through affiliate marketing, mostly to boost sales.

 

Affiliate/Publisher

An entity that promotes advertiser's products or services for example via a website, blog, mobile application, landing page or social media channel. Affiliates are compensated in the form of a commission.

 

Affiliate link

Deep link. A unique URL of the promoted product. It allows the advertiser to verify results generated by the affiliate. It contains an individual tracking code. The publishers display the link on their website in the text form or as hidden behind the image. Clicking an affiliate link usually results in redirecting the user to the advertiser's website.

 

Affiliate Manager, OPM

A specialist managing an affiliate program. The affiliate managers act as a liaison between the advertiser and the publisher. They ensure the effectiveness and correct course of the campaign. OPM (Outsourced Program Manager) is an external affiliate manager.

 

Affiliate network

It associates publishers who, by means of appropriate affiliate tools, increase the sales of products and services offered by advertisers. An affiliate network provides an affiliate program that allows the advertiser to work efficiently with the publisher. The network also provides technology for monitoring results, ensures the correct course of the campaign, pays commissions, reports and supports both the publisher and the advertiser.

 

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

The number of people who clicked an affiliate link compared to the number of its views. The result is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and multiplying it by 100. It is expressed as a percentage.

 

CPA

One of the pricing models. Cost Per Action (conversion). The payment takes place when the specified purpose, such as purchase, registration, file download or other, is reached.

 

CPC

One of the pricing models. Cost Per Click, or the payment for each click on the affiliate link.

 

CPM

One of the pricing models. Cost Per Mille, or the cost incurred for one thousand impressions of an ad, offer and affiliate link. Also known as CPT (Cost Per Thousand).

 

CPS

One of the pricing models. Cost Per Sell, or the compensation for each purchase made. The publisher receives a commission when the user buys the advertised service or product.

 

CPL

One of the pricing models. Cost Per Lead, or the compensation for each contact or personal details such as email or phone number shared.

 

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)

Revenue generated by the money spent. It can be calculated by dividing the revenue by the ad spend and multiplying the result by 100.

 

ROI (Return On Investment)

ROI is the net profit divided by expenses and multiplied by 100. It measures the effectiveness of actions.

 

Frauds

Unfair practices that generate artificial traffic to increase commissions or harm competition. Fraudsters try to make fictitious transactions and assign profits from conversions in which they did not have a share to themselves. For this purpose, they use, for example, false leads or contact details of people who are not interested in the offer. Manipulations take place, for example, by installing cookies through adware or fake tools in the browser.