An offer in CPA and affiliate marketing is an advertiser’s campaign with a target action, payout, and traffic rules. A landing page is part of an offer, but it is not an offer by itself.
Updated August 11, 2026.
An offer answers four questions: who to bring, what they need to do, how much you will get paid, and what can later get you denied payment. For some reason, media buyers love reading that last part only after a rejection.
What Is in an Offer Card
- Target action. A registration, confirmed lead, install, purchase, deposit, subscription, or post-install event.
- Payout model. CPL, CPA, CPI, CPS, RevShare, or Hybrid. Look not only at the amount, but also at the event that earns it.
- GEO and language. Country, region, and sometimes city. A user outside the allowed GEO can convert and still not qualify for payment.
- Devices and OS. Desktop, mobile, iOS, Android, system versions, and sometimes specific models.
- Cap. The limit on paid conversions per day, week, or month. There may be a general cap, a personal cap, and a limit by GEO.
- Hold and validation. How long the review takes and which statuses count as approved, rejected, pending, or cancelled.
- Approval rate. The share of raw conversions that usually make it to payment. Historical numbers are useful, but they do not guarantee future payouts.
- Attribution window. How long after a click or impression a conversion can be attributed to your traffic.
- Allowed sources. Search, social, native, push, email, apps, SEO, incent, and other traffic types.
- Forbidden sources and methods. Brand bidding, misleading ads, cashback, incentivized traffic, adult, your own lists, proxies, and everything else the advertiser does not want to see.
- KPI. Deposit rate, retention, chargebacks, repeat purchase, lead quality, or another event after the main conversion.
- Creatives and tracking. Banners, copy, domains, tracking links, macros, and postback setup.
Offer Example
Suppose an affiliate network has a CPI offer for a mobile utility:
- GEO: US;
- device: iPhone;
- payout: 3.20 USD per approved install;
- cap: 300 installs per day;
- hold: 14 days;
- click attribution window: 7 days;
- incent and brand bidding are forbidden;
- KPI: D1 retention of at least 20%.
That is already enough not to run traffic blind. If your source cannot maintain D1 retention or calmly blows through the cap in an hour, a high payout will not save you.
Why a High Payout Does Not Mean the Best Offer
Suppose 1,000 clicks produced 50 installs. Raw CR is 5%. After validation, 40 remained approved, so the approval rate is 80%. At a 3.20 USD payout, revenue is 128 USD and EPC is 0.128 USD.
If a click cost 0.10 USD, you spent 100 USD on traffic. Before refunds, the tracker, and other expenses, 28 USD remains. An offer with a 5 USD payout but 30% approval and poor CR can easily be worse.
Compare payout, CR, approval rate, EPC, cap, hold, and quality together. One fat number in the offer card decides nothing.
Traffic and Restrictions
Do not promote an offer using a forbidden method. In the best case, the conversions will not be paid. In the worst, your account will be banned, your balance withheld, and you will be asked not to come back.
If a rule is unclear, ask the manager in writing before launch. The phrase “I thought it was allowed” works approximately not at all after you burn the budget. Be especially clear about brand bidding, celebrity names, your own creatives, prelanders, call centers, incent, and retargeting.
What to Check Before Launch
- Whether the tracking link opens in the required GEO and on the required device.
- Which exact event is paid and where it appears.
- Which traffic sources are allowed and forbidden.
- The cap, hold, approval rate, and attribution window.
- Whether there is a KPI and what happens if you miss it.
- Whether postback is configured and click ID and payout are passed.
- Whether the terms have changed since the last check.
Offer terms can change, or the offer can be paused. Before scaling, reread the card, save the current terms, and confirm the cap with your manager.
The best offer is not the one with the bigger payout. It is the one where your funnel produces the highest profit after approval and every expense.
Read about landing pages, choosing an affiliate network (in Russian), and other terms in the CPA Glossary.