Pay-Per-Call vs. Pay-Per-Lead: Which Model Drives Better ROI?

What Is Pay-Per-Lead Advertising?

Pay-per-lead (PPL) is a performance-based advertising model in which advertisers pay affiliates for generating qualified leads. A “lead” refers to a user who has shown genuine interest in a product or service by completing a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, requesting a quote, downloading a guide, or submitting a form.



Pay-per-lead tends to attract more people because people are more likely to complete such low-commitment actions. That’s why affiliates typically focus on bringing as much relevant, converting traffic as possible. To maintain quality, advertisers and affiliate networks closely monitor traffic sources, validate lead data, and ensure accurate attribution for every conversion.

What Is Pay-Per-Call Advertising?

Pay-per-call advertising is a performance-based advertising model in which businesses pay affiliates for generating qualified incoming phone calls. Instead of driving users to complete online forms, the affiliate encourages them to call a company using their unique number.

This conversation will be considered qualified only when it meets the advertiser’s requirements. These may include a minimum call duration, the caller’s location, the type of enquiry, and other factors.

Here, affiliates need to focus on which efforts result in qualified calls. If the pay-per-call advertising campaign generates hundreds of thousands of views but only a few calls, affiliates need to rethink their strategy.

To maintain transparency, both the affiliate and the merchant use pay-per-call software that evaluates call quality, records conversations, calculates potential outcomes, and ensures accurate attribution. Such solutions provide reliable monitoring and sufficient insights to improve future campaigns.

Callers are actively seeking information to help them make a decision. For merchants, it results in fewer nurturing efforts. That is why commissions for pay-per-call advertising are typically higher.

Pay-Per-Lead vs. Pay-Per-Call Advertising: Fair Comparison

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for performance marketing. The lead generation approach depends on your niche, target audience, sales process, and operational capacity. But there is one crucial thing in both cases: using proper lead generation tools to accurately measure first-party signals across multiple channels, derive actionable insights from them, and automate most of the nurturing process.



Once the toolset is in place, it becomes much easier to compare performance metrics to determine which option suits you better. Below, we examine key factors to help you make an informed decision.

Purchase Intent

Callers are at the late stages of the customer journey. They are actively seeking professional assistance and are ready to convert into customers. A pay-per-call lead seeking plumbing services is likely to need a handyman right now. Meanwhile, a potential insurance policy owner evaluates available options and selects the best option to get answers to any remaining questions.

Pay-per-lead campaigns, on the other hand, capture users who are interested enough to submit a form but not yet ready to purchase. For instance, a person wants to evaluate their French level to determine whether they need tutoring. They are less likely to call language schools, but they can take an online test and share their email address with you to receive their results. Their purchase intent is typically lower, so you should segment and nurture them to a successful purchase.

Lead Quality

Users who react to pay-per-call advertising are ready to take action. Advertisers just need to gently nudge the lead towards the purchase. It’s especially true in niches such as insurance, legal services, financial products, healthcare, and urgent home repairs, where customers often require quick solutions to their issues.

At the same time, pay-per-lead campaigns have much more variability in lead quality. Some prospects can be at late stages of the customer journey, while others are only researching the market. So, advertisers need to properly sort them and nurture them until they are ready to buy.

Payouts

Pay-per-call advertising campaigns usually offer higher payouts since each qualified lead has strong potential to convert into a sale. That’s why advertisers are ready to pay extra here to get quick access to such a potentially profitable lead. Depending on the campaign, commissions typically range from tens of pounds to several hundred per call.

Pay-per-lead campaigns have lower commissions because advertisers need to spend their efforts nurturing leads. Typically, payouts range from £1 to £50 per lead, reflecting the minimal commitment from users. That’s why affiliates here create campaigns to generate as many leads as possible. It allows them to earn a significant overall income despite the lower per-lead rate.

Scalability

The advertiser’s call-handling capacity dictates the scalability of pay-per-call advertising campaigns. If their call centre is small or they do not have enough staff, there won’t be as many qualified calls as expected, even if the affiliate did everything right. Before creating such a campaign, advertisers need to evaluate their staffing levels and hours of operation to give affiliates comprehensive instructions.

Pay-per-lead campaigns are far more scalable. Since users submit information digitally with no human interaction, it can be collected in large quantities across multiple channels. Advertisers can process these leads at their own pace, using automated follow-up systems. As a result, these campaigns are far easier to scale.

But in both cases, affiliates must generate as many leads as possible. They can do it by optimising every touchpoint, creating data-driven content that gently nudges users to take a target action, and providing personalised recommendations. Typically, modern lead generation tools provide them with enough insights to plan and execute their campaigns effectively.



Fraud Risks

A phone call is generally harder to manipulate than a web form. Calls are logged, recorded, monitored, and reviewed when needed, giving advertisers and affiliates much clearer visibility into what’s legitimate and what isn’t. Modern call-tracking tools help verify the caller’s intent and the quality of the interaction, which keeps fraud levels in pay-per-call advertising campaigns relatively low.

By comparison, pay-per-lead campaigns face noticeably higher scam risks. Fraudsters can use bot traffic, fake form competition, or even incentive-driven sign-ups from people who aren’t interested in the product itself. To protect themselves, advertisers use robust verification systems to filter out unreliable leads.



Final Thoughts

Determining which model delivers higher returns depends on the advertiser’s goals, the nature of the promoted product, and the specifics of the customer journey. It’s common for even the same niche: one advertiser gets better ROI with pay-per-lead, while others perform best with pay-per-call advertising. 

This happens due to several factors. First, each merchant’s sales process and operational capacity can significantly influence outcomes. A business with skilled call agents quickly handles inbound calls. But if it has weak call centre representatives, they should focus on strong email nurturing to extract far more value from large volumes of digital leads.

Audience behaviour and targeting methods are also crucial here. Some customers prefer speaking directly to a specialist before making a decision, especially for high-stakes purchases such as insurance or legal services. Businesses with such clients should leverage pay-per-call advertising. Others are more comfortable researching on their own and convert once they research every detail. In this case, pay-per-lead suits them better.

At the end of the day, each advertiser has its own pricing models, compliance rules, and internal capabilities. For businesses with lengthy verification steps or complex approval processes, taking calls in real time can be impractical. By contrast, companies with leaner systems can turn every incoming call into a sale almost instantly.

Maximising ROI depends on how well incoming leads fit the advertiser’s sales process. Pay-per-call advertising campaigns shine in sectors where agents respond immediately. Contrarily, pay-per-lead suits businesses that benefit from reaching large audiences and gradually converting them through automated follow-up.