Metrics
CPL
Cost per lead — what you pay per generated lead.
CPL (cost per lead) is the affiliate-side payout (or the advertiser-side cost) for one lead — typically defined as a name + email + phone form completion or a confirmed double opt-in. CPL offers dominate finance, insurance, education, home-services, and solar verticals. Payouts range from $1.50 (low-quality SOI sweeps) to $80+ (qualified mortgage or insurance lead). Lead quality is the variable that breaks most CPL deals — advertisers scrub leads after the fact and claw back payouts on duplicates, fakes, or leads that don't pick up the phone.
Formula
CPL = ad spend / leads
Example
MaxBounty pays $32 per US auto-insurance lead (zip + year + driver). At a 4% LP CVR and a $0.40 CPC, breakeven CPC is $1.28 — there's room.