In his recent MediaPost column, “The CPA Wave is Coming,” Glenn Meyers discusses the growing interest in the cost-per-action (CPA) marketing model. Meyers makes some valid points about the benefits of CPA over other models, however, he fails to point out that this model is already here. The idea of “cost per action” advertising, rather than “cost per click” is hardly a new idea. In fact, in many ways, it was being used before cost-per-click. Affiliate marketing has been using this model since its inception. The advertising site doesn’t pay unless someone actually buys something (the action) and then the publisher who pointed them there gets a share of the revenue.

A major reason CPA advertising has long been a favored model for marketers is that they are only paying for performance. While other models can offer marketers brand awareness, CPA only has a marketer paying for the media on the basis of only the number of users who complete a transaction, such as a purchase or sign-up. This is the best type of rate to pay for banner advertisements and the worst type of rate to charge. Similarly, CPL (Cost Per Lead) advertising is identical to CPA advertising and is based on the user completing a form, registering for a newsletter or some other action that the merchant feels will lead to a sale. Also common, CPO (Cost Per Order) advertising is based on each time an order is transacted.

Email marketing is an ideal medium for putting CPA to use and marketers have been using this model to their success for many years. So while Meyers is correct that CPA is burgeoning advertising model, many marketers already know this first-hand.