Lead — a potential customer who has shown interest in an offer and completed a target action on a website, landing page, or in an app.
In traffic arbitrage, every recorded conversion for which the advertiser is potentially willing to pay is called a lead.
What can be considered a lead
The target action depends on the vertical and payment model (CPA, CPL):
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E-commerce and nutra: A completed purchase application.
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Gambling and betting: Registration on a casino/sportsbook website.
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Finance: An application for a loan, credit card, or microloan.
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Dating and sweepstakes: Registration with a service, email verification, or completion of a questionnaire.
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Utilities and software: App installation or trial subscription activation.
The lead journey: from click to payout
Not every acquired lead generates revenue for the affiliate marketer. A lead usually goes through several stages:
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Application (New Lead): The user completed an action, and the conversion appeared in the tracker or the AP (affiliate program) dashboard.
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Verification: The lead is sent to a call center for a verification call or checked by a bank scoring system or anti-fraud system.
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Result:
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Approve: The lead is confirmed, and the affiliate marketer receives a payout.
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Reject / Trash: The lead is rejected (the customer changed their mind, the number is invalid, or the lead is a duplicate or fraudulent).
Important: The number of leads alone does not show actual revenue. Some of them will be rejected, so the approval rate is always considered alongside the number of leads. If two media buyers generate 100 leads each, but one has a 70% approval rate and the other has a 40% approval rate, their final profit will differ by almost two times.
