A recent article in eMarketer has given new hope to the Performance Marketing space by revealing that cost per action lead generation campaigns are “catching on among marketers dealing with issues of measurability and audience engagement. Impression-based media buys are giving way, in some cases, to cost-per-lead advertising.”

This is good news for those of us engaged in CPA network marketing. More stories such as this will attract larger budget advertisers looking to engage their customers on the 1 to 1 level.

I have always wondered why companies such as Wal-Mart and Sears do not attempt to ask for customer’s emails in the store. But my suspicion is that they look at such a list as a liability and not an asset. Most of these behemoths (and the agencies) would probably not know what to do with the emails if they did collect them. My guess is also that their legal departments have reviewed CAN-SPAM and have found that the penalties for messing up could be prohibitive, so emailing consumers directly falls too far on the risk side of the equation.

The article also shows that the most common engagement is through a brand/community site. Following that the most common methods include newsletters with deals in them or a free trial offer campaign.

The point is, large brands need to start connecting with their end consumers in a more relevant and personalized way. Getting the lead generated is only the first step to engaging them and getting them to become their word of mouth marketers. As this article suggests and I highly agree with, marketers need to focus on just getting the name and email first, then use surveys and polls or other online means (that can be automated to handle million of requests) to learn more about that particular consumer and then begin to build a profile and ultimately a conversation with them.

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