The affiliate glossary ↗AFFDude / Field notes
CPL
In plain English
What does CPL mean?
Cost per lead: payment for a completed form, email submit or registration, regardless of whether the lead later buys.
CPL offers pay for information rather than money changing hands. Single-opt-in (SOI) leads pay less and convert more; double-opt-in (DOI) leads require an email confirmation and pay more. Lead quality is policed hard: advertisers scrub leads that never respond, so cheap incentivised traffic usually ends in a chargeback.