Guide
Pricing & Negotiation
Both
When you pay a creator for a specific outcome, you're typically paying for one of three things: a completed sale (pay-per-sale, often called CPS or CPA), a click that sends traffic to you (pay-per-click, CPC), or a qualified lead such as a signup or completed form (pay-per-lead, CPL). Pay-per-sale carries the least risk for the brand, because you only pay when the sale actually happens; pay-per-click and pay-per-lead pay for activity regardless of whether it converts, which means you need your own way to verify the click or lead was genuine. This article compares the three models, shows when each makes sense, and works through a hypothetical example where the nominally cheapest model turns out most expensive per actual sale.
When you pay a creator for a specific outcome, you're paying for one of three things: a completed sale (pay-per-sale, often written CPS or CPA), a click that sends traffic to you (pay-per-click, CPC), or a qualified lead such as a signup or completed form (pay-per-lead, CPL). The three models place very different risk on you as the brand: the earlier in the funnel you pay, the less you depend on the creator actually driving a sale — but the more you need to be able to verify that what you're paying for was genuine.
These definitions originate with affiliate networks like Awin, which has run all three models for years, but the same principles apply when you agree payment directly with a single creator.
| Model | You pay for | Per Awin's own definition | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay per sale (CPS/CPA) | A completed, tracked sale | "The amount you pay a partner when they drive a sale" — either a percentage of order value or a fixed amount per sale | Performance-based influencer marketing and affiliate links |
| Pay per click (CPC) | Every valid click on a link or ad | "The amount you pay a partner for each valid click they generate" — typically calculated daily from a fixed per-click rate | Traffic generation, often combined with CPL or CPA |
| Pay per lead (CPL) | A qualified lead — e.g. a signup, a completed form or a created account | "The fixed amount you pay a partner when they generate a qualified lead" — always a fixed commission, never a percentage | Lead generation ahead of a purchase, e.g. newsletter signups |
| Pay per sale | Pay per click | Pay per lead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do you pay if no sale happens? | No | Yes — you pay for clicks regardless of conversion | Yes — you pay for the lead regardless of whether it becomes a sale |
| Risk to the brand | Lowest — you only pay for what you'd have wanted anyway | Highest — low-quality traffic costs the same as good traffic | Medium — the lead can be genuine and still never convert |
| Risk to the creator | Highest — no payment without a sale, however good the content was | Lowest — paid for activity, not outcome | Medium — must deliver qualified leads, not just clicks |
| Requires verifying | The tracked sale (link, code or UTM) | That the click was genuine, not duplicated or automated | That the lead meets an agreed definition of "qualified" (e.g. a confirmed email) |
Most influencer marketing arrangements you encounter are either pay-per-sale or a flat upfront fee — genuine pay-per-click or pay-per-lead paid directly to a single creator is uncommon. The reason is practical, not principled: CPC and CPL both require a form of verification that a single brand-creator arrangement rarely has the infrastructure to provide. An affiliate network like Awin builds dedicated systems to validate leads against agreed rules and to track clicks per creative to avoid double-counting. Without an equivalent setup, you have no reliable way to tell whether a click came from an interested follower, an accidental tap, or the same person clicking repeatedly — and you pay the same amount either way.
That doesn't make the models unusable outside a network. It means you need to build the verification into the agreement yourself before you use them — see the decision rules below.
HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE. The numbers below are invented for illustration only. This is not a real Make Influence customer case, and none of the figures are benchmarks.
A brand tests three comparable creators on the same product at a DKK 500 average order value, but pays each one under a different model:
| Creator | Model | Total spend | Resulting sales | Real cost per sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Pay per sale | DKK 3,000 | 40 | DKK 75 |
| B | Pay per lead | DKK 5,000 | 16 | DKK 312.50 |
| C | Pay per click | DKK 6,000 | 40 | DKK 150 |
Creator A's model guarantees that DKK 75 per sale is the real price — it can't get any higher, because you only pay when the sale actually happens. Creator B's and C's nominal rates (DKK 25 per lead, DKK 3 per click) look cheap in isolation, but the real cost per sale depends entirely on how well those leads and clicks convert afterwards — something the creator neither controls nor is accountable for under either model. Never compare payment models on their nominal rate. Convert them to cost per the actual outcome you're using them to drive.
IF you already have reliable sales tracking (a link, code or UTM) → use pay per sale. It's the lowest-risk model for the brand.
IF you need traffic for a test or a new site with no sales history yet → pay per click can make sense, but cap the total spend and monitor traffic quality continuously.
IF the goal is building a list (newsletter, community, wishlist) ahead of a later sale → pay per lead is the right model, but define "qualified lead" in writing before the campaign starts — not after the invoice arrives.
IF you can't reliably verify clicks or leads yourself → choose pay per sale or a flat fee instead. Don't pay for something you can't check.
IF the creator has a large, engaged audience with low conversion risk → pay per sale rewards exactly what you want, without you needing to build click or lead verification.
This article is about which action you commit to paying for — a sale, a click or a lead. That's a different decision from CPM, CPE and CPA in influencer marketing, which is about which metric you use to measure a campaign's result after it has run. You can pay per sale and still report CPM to your team as a secondary awareness figure.
Pay per sale is also the core of performance-based influencer marketing, explained, which goes deeper on the "no cure no pay" model itself. See how much commission should influencers get for how to set the percentage itself, and upfront vs commission for the broader choice between a flat fee and performance pay.
Open affiliate networks like Awin use all three models in combination — see affiliate influencer marketing: how the model works for how the network's own infrastructure solves the exact verification problem described above. If you're working with Danish affiliate networks specifically, see affiliate influencer marketing in Denmark.
Whichever model you choose for what you pay for, there's still a separate question of how often you pay — per post or as a flat monthly amount. See should you pay influencers per post or per month.
Make Influence's own model is built on pay per sale: commission is calculated on a tracked, completed sale via a unique creator-specific tracking link or code, never on clicks or leads in isolation. That's a deliberate choice — pay per sale is the only one of the three models where the brand's spend and the actual business value always move together. We don't offer pay-per-click or pay-per-lead as payment models today.
No. Paid advertising (e.g. Meta Ads or Google Ads) pays the platform for an impression or a click on an ad you control. Pay per click to a creator pays the creator for clicks their own content generates — the creator, not the platform, receives the money.
Yes. Affiliate networks do this routinely — for example, a small fixed click rate plus a commission on sales. Doing it directly with a single creator is less common, but not impossible, if you can verify both parts.
Define it before the campaign starts — for example, a confirmed email address or a completed form with a valid phone number. Without a written definition, disagreement about payment will always end up unresolved, in one direction or the other.
Not necessarily on a nominal basis, but it's the only model where the price per sale is guaranteed to be the rate you agreed. See the worked example above for why a lower per-lead or per-click rate can end up costing more per sale.
Then pay-per-sale on the first order is only part of the picture — you also need to decide whether the creator earns on renewals, and for how long. See recurring commission structures for subscription and DTC brands for the cap structures and the math on expected cost per referred customer.
Most open affiliate programs default to pay-per-sale commission for exactly the reason described above — it's the one model that doesn't require you to verify a click or lead yourself. See how to set up an affiliate program for influencers, step by step for choosing a setup type, setting the commission and cap, and building a recruitment brief.
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