As a new entrant, setting up and then choosing the best commission model for your mobile affiliate marketing at times can be both confusing and daunting.
The affiliate commission structure in India varies from industry to industry and the corresponding target group.
Hence understanding the different commission models and knowing which one suits your business is the fundamental step to a rewarding association with a brand. A little study and research on this will always put you in good stead.
indianaffiliateprograms.in is the best place to initiate your research and evaluate which commission model is apt for your business.
This article seeks to give you a sneak peek into the different commission types that an affiliate generally comes across and also guide you towards your first step to become a mobile affiliate marketer.
Before delving deep into the commission types, let us first guide you with the steps to be in a position to earn money.
Step-by-Step guide to earn money as a mobile affiliate:
- Identify the niche – The foundation of a successful affiliate lies in the identification of the right niche for you. It can stem from anything right from your love and skills for technology to fashion, e-commerce, entertainment, health, etc.
- Build an affiliate platform – A starter for most businesses, a website, or blog is a must if you intend to be in affiliate marketing for long. If you do not have a website or blog, use your social media accounts. The main motive is to create a platform or community from where you will be able to advertise or showcase the advertiser’.
- Traffic – The epicenter of the affiliate business is traffic. The chances of sales on your platform is directly proportional to your traffic. More the visitors, the higher the sale!
- Identification of affiliate product or brands – Another important aspect of affiliate marketing is the product to promote. Based on your niche, and the platform audience you have, to sign up with the brand as an affiliate. Once signed up with them, you get links and banners of their products.
- Promotions – Last but not the least comes the promotion. You have to promote the links and banners of these products to the right audience. There are different effective ways of doing so. Review of products, explainer articles and videos, comparative analysis of peer products, social media campaigns are some of the ways to promote the product.
For every sale, lead, conversion, or impression that happens during this promotion, you will get a percentage.
Once well versed with the setup steps, the second question that arises is what the different commission types are and how does it work for your business.
Different Commission Types
Since mobile affiliate marketing is performance-based, its commission is evaluated accordingly. The most commonly used commission types are detailed below.
#1 – Cost per Click (CPC)
As the name signifies, the affiliate earns revenue whenever a user clicks on an ad. If the publisher or brand is well aware of the target audience for whom the ad is shown, its chances of clicking on the ad increases. Google AdSense is one of the most go-to ad networks for most of the publishers.
Vcommision.com has tie-ups with both affiliates and major brands in India offering CPC commission models.
Advantage – High-end publishers from industry verticals like Real estate, banking, and entertainment have a higher CPC if there is good traffic on their sites.
Targeting the ad to the right audience benefits the affiliates.
Disadvantage
- As an affiliate, it is worth noting a static ad viewed without being clicked does not add to your revenue.
- The payment per click for different publishers and ads are not uniform and depends on the traffic, the demography, product niche, etc.
- There is too much reliance on the quality of the ad.
- If an ad is not attractive enough, we generally give it a miss!
- It is extremely tricky to determine the click-through-rate (CTR) right at the onset of a campaign.
New affiliates are advised to not put up all the ads and side banners at the same time, if opting for this commission type.
#2 – Cost per Mile (CPM)
The commission ‘Cost per mile’ or ‘cost per thousand’ impression is often quite lucrative for affiliates.
Here commission is calculated based on the total impressions and is not dependent on any specific activity on the ad like a click, download, or a signup.
Ads running on video streaming platforms use the CPM model.
Since the affiliate’s revenue is calculated, per thousand impressions, forecasting is easier for both the affiliate and the advertiser.
Advantage –
- It is Cheap to advertise and easy to implement.
- Easy to forecast the income flow.
- The revenue from this commission type is exclusive of any user action like click or installs. Thus steady.
Disadvantage –
- Since advertisers have to pay for repeated ads, the CPM can be extremely low.
- This commission type is a wee bit conservative in its working for the affiliate. An affiliate with good traffic might lose out on earning, through a safer CPM than a risky CPC with a higher CTR.
As a best practice, first understand your traffic and the target audience and then zero down on the CPM rates with the advertisers. As an affiliate, you are the best judge of your traffic and the probability of ads being clicked or viewed.
Data analytics of your site will give you an insight as to which is suited more for you – the CPC or CPM.
#3 – Cost per Action (CPA)
With a flurry of new mobile apps in the market across different industries and genres, CPA is one of the most dominating commission models in the mobile affiliate marketplace. Free online games, video-on-demand entertainment and music apps, payment, and utility mobile apps typically work on the cost per action model.
The revenue is evaluated on the below-mentioned activities:
- App Installs
- Subscriptions
- Product purchase
- Signups
The primary focus for advertisers who use CPA is customer acquisition. Affiliates make money, for every app install, subscription, or purchase.
Amazon.com, flipkart.com, admitAd, Yatra.com are some of the key players.
Advantages –
- It is by far the newest commission model and the most lucrative one since advertisers generally pay more for specific user actions.
- CPA as a model encompasses other commission types like the CPS (Commission per Subscription), CPL (Commission per lead), CPI (Commission per Install), so on and so forth. Therefore, it covers a wide range of mobile users’ actions, thus adding on to the overall revenue for affiliate.
Disadvantages –
- Tracking the user action for a complete install or a sign up is cumbersome.
- Ultimate count of app installs, and subscriptions are difficult to forecast and predict.
As a mobile affiliate marketer, if you capitalize on and study the analytics of your traffic thoroughly, CPA can give more returns compared to CPC or CPM models.
#4 – Revenue Share
As the name signifies, Revenue Share (popularly termed RevShare) is that commission model wherein an affiliate gets a percentage of the revenue that the advertiser makes. Affiliates deliver customers to brands. Therefore, it only makes sense to take a cut on every purchase of the customer.
Online Games, hotel bookings, and e-commerce portals typically use this model with affiliates.
Shopify India and booking.com has this model for many of its affiliates.
Advantage – Revenue Share is the most beneficial earning mechanism for affiliates in the long run. The reasons for it are not too far to seek. With RevShare, an affiliate gets his commission off every customer sale and not just a one-time commission.
Disadvantage – Not typically a disadvantage, but an additional task that you have to do as an affiliate if you opt for a revenue share model – To ensure that customers redirected through your network keep doing a transaction or renew their subscriptions on the brand app.
This engagement with the customer goes a long way for affiliates in making good money consistently for their lifetime.
Summary
Different mobile affiliate programs in India offer umpteen opportunities to earn money.
Choose the right commission keeping in mind the longevity of the business, the conversion probability and, the effort to maintain the customer engagement to entice and encourage to shop, subscribe, or simply signup.
indianaffiliateprograms.in will serve as your beacon and guide you as you tread ahead with mobile affiliate marketing.
Happy Earning!
