‘Pay-Per’ – What Does it All Mean?

There are so many ‘pay per’ campaigns out there that you have to realize the true value of each one. You have the ones you pay in for, and the ones that pay you. A good blend of the two is usually advisable to maximize returns and make your website the most efficient

Pay per sale is a big deal. Usually you get paid if someone buys an affiliate product off of your site, or you pay another site that is carrying your product as an affiliate. The sale actually has to be completed for any money to trade hands.

Pay per action is next down the scale, and usually has some action just short of a sale involved. Nine tenths of the time this has to do with collecting some form of information from the customer. This could be an email box, a personal information page, or a survey.

Pay per click is next, and is probably the most popular. You pay or are paid for simply the click that the visitor enacts to carry them to the desired page. If they stick around and fill out the email address box or purchase the product, that is a conversion, and kicks the pay up to the higher level.

Pay per impression just means that the customer views the desired material. This often refers to banners – the idea is to build brand recognition through simple visual bombardment – much like a billboard you see every day.

Why all the different levels? You pay more for conversions than actions, more for actions than clicks, and more for clicks than impressions. All of these are important, however, as Google’s own Retail Team points out:

“Let’s look at an example. Say you have a campaign set at $1 per click with a two percent CTR. So for $2 you would get two clicks…but you would also get 100 impressions. Those impressions are a key factor in driving top-of-mind awareness and are another crucial element in customer engagement with your brand. In fact, in the study, researchers found that a lack of search presence negatively impacts awareness. In other words, not showing up in paid search can result in customers forgetting about your brand!”

Making an impression raises brand awareness. If people have become accustomed to seeing your brand name, they will think of you the next time they need service or products like yours. Even if they have never done business with you, they will have a sense of familiarity that will make them feel comfortable with you!

Pay attention to your pay-per program, and make sure you are allocating your money in the best way possible. This way your profits will climb, and your ad budget can be utilized to the full extent. Don’t ignore these powerful tools!