Warning! CPA experiment and the results(you won't like them)

I've decided to make an experiment with a CPA offer. Why? I was just curious if everything works as it should be.

So here is the setup. Dating offer that converts on first page submit, US, no age restriction. I basically copied the page of the offer and put a simple PHP script that will catch the information filled in the fields. That's all.

Wondering what the results was?

Sending traffic for about 30-40 minutes - got 23 clicks and 4 conversions on my page where the script is. Checked the IPs, the information that was entered(all of it was valid) and I was sure these was 100% natural conversions.
Then I've swtiched to one of the CPA networks that I'm using. The result was horible! 68 clicks, not a single conversion!
Tried with another network - almost the same result.

You didn't wait long enough or your traffic wasn't that good at this moment, you'll say. Well, I know that my traffic converts good because there is really good call to action before send the user to the offer.

So I believe if I got 50 conversions per day in a network, I probably made about 65-75 if not even more.

The points is... how can I trust my networks now?

I'm sure if I continue with this experiment, I'll see really bad and sad things/results.
I won't mention which networks I've used for this since it can be advertiser that shaves the leads. But no matter what, I'm screwed and it sucks!
If you doubt in your network/advertiser go ahead and copy what I did to check if they shave you too.

wow, I'd be curious to see if others experience the same results...

actually, I'm sure there's a way to capture all the information from the customer on your own landing page, and then post it to actual offer form?

this way you will have the users data and know exactly what the networks are getting.

Almost all networks scrub leads, you will be lucky to find a good one. Even the big ones do it.

hellnation said:

wow, I'd be curious to see if others experience the same results...

actually, I'm sure there's a way to capture all the information from the customer on your own landing page, and then post it to actual offer form?

this way you will have the users data and know exactly what the networks are getting.

Click to expand...

yes you could definately proxy the post data to the network(and save the data at the same time), however it would all appear to come from your server IP.

Never heard of anything like that. I don't think advertisers/CPA networks will like it because they can't shave if there is something like this

@jeromespitfire, yeah. I can get the info and send it as a POST request but it's not allowed(because of the same IP address). Highly doubt there is a network that will accept such leads.

jeromespitfire said:

yes you could definately proxy the post data to the network(and save the data at the same time), however it would all appear to come from your server IP.

Click to expand...

hmm, yeah. Or perhaps you gather the customer's details, you redirect the user to the offer's page, and pre-fill all the fields with the infos you got, display a popup asking if they are "sure" the infos is correct, then they press submit

not very transparent, but it could work?

I don't know, but a way to do this would enable you to build your own targeted list at the same time...

I could have told you this before even doing the experiment! THE DAYS OF AFFILIATE MARKETING ARE GONE WITH CPA NETWORKS!

Back in like 2005, there were a ton of good networks that paid, and converted. Now I can't find a single one that converts. They scrub 100% of my leads and my traffic has never changed.

I caught Gooffers.net giving a false description on when an offer converted, wonder how many more lie about when they convert.

I am DONE with CPA marketing. I'm so fricken tired of wasting my hard earned money promoting for these idiots that don't pay for a SINGLE lead.

So glad you did this experiment though because I was about to make a rant thread about my hatred toward CPA networks these days. Face it people, it's not how it used to be. Get away from CPA!

scooby, whats up with the rep?

Damn. I read this thread right when I was about to start doing some CPA. One question, does this happen in affiliate markets like clickbank, clicksure, etc? I have had my suspicions, but no solid proof.

so no one on this board makes bank with CPA cos they shave 100%?

ok, I'm done with cpa! :>

Well i had the same idea, out of 30-40k monthly traffic i was getting like less than 1k leads.
Not bad you could say but i noticed the same trend (and i was unsure why) i had less conversions on cpa offers than i had on my own ads/surveys. And yes i changed backgrounds + urls, always made them look 'new'.

I'm making money with CPA. The thing is that I can double my income if they doesn't shave.

@jgf213, it happens everywhere. If there is a way for someone to screw you, he will do it.

Damn this thread has inspired me to create my own product and promote it through my own network.

jgf213 said:

Damn this thread has inspired me to create my own product and promote it through my own network.

Click to expand...

This is the best thing you can do! Good luck with it!

You'd be helping us if you reveal the name of the network that converts and that don't convert..

I can't believe that so many people still do CPA. It has a horrible wrap, 99% of them scrub leads and traffic, and then not to mention that 99.99% of them get their leads from another CPA network

By the way..for those asking for the name of the affiliate network...
just do a quick google search for "CPA affiliate network", the major majority of all of the networks you find will be crap, scrub/steal leads, and get their ads from a CPA network where they are an affiliate. Unless you are an incredibly high converter and can get into a private network, CPA is really pointless

^ I agree. CPA used to be good back in like 2005. I made anywhere from $300-$1000 a month when I was 18. Now all the networks do is scrub leads. If you are making money with CPA networks then more power to you. I am just tired and frustrated of wasting my hard earned money on advertising when these idiots keep scrubbing leads.

By the way... add Peerfly to the list of "EMAIL SUBMITS THAT ARE NOT EMAIL SUBMITS" . They don't convert on email submit even after my affiliate manager said they do. I don't even understand why they are called email submits anymore...

They scrub just like Maxbounty, Gooffers, and CPAWay. I can't even get dating leads to convert from these networks either.

although of course scrubbing and shaving take place a lot of times, sometimes it really can be explained by other variables.

a lot of offers (such as dating and email submits) rely on UNIQUE users. so if someone is already in their database (which could be a shared database amongst many different offers) then it will not be counted as a lead. And with dating in particular, a lot of people already have signed up for a 'free' signup in the past on one of the many sites and could be in the database.

also, other things are automatically checked in realtime, such as the email address. checks are run to test that it is a valid email address. if it is not, you wont get credit. (and by 'valid' i mean that the email actually exists and is in service, not just checking that it is formatted properly as [email protected]. they actually run an email validator )