Pay-Per-Call Success Combo: Conversational AI and Affiliate Networks

Note: For anyone unfamiliar with conversational AI, pay-per-call affiliate marketing, and affiliate networks, I strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with these concepts before you start reading. For those who already know the ropes, just go on.

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Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

Who could have guessed that, in such a short time, you wouldn’t even need to speak to a customer to drive them to a purchase? I bet not many—nor could I have. But here we are, embracing and confronting a future that has changed business once and for all.

Those who adapt will survive; those clinging to old strategies – perish.

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But fear not – I’m going to give you a winning formula that works hellishly well for big and small affiliates and advertisers alike:

Conversational AI + Pay Per Call + Affiliate Networks = Profits

That’s it – meeting adjourned. Use the formula and fill your coffers with cash.

Jokes aside, I’ve witnessed great success in generating and selling phone calls, and I’m happy to elaborate on what you need to repeat Phonexa’s success, and maybe even surpass it.

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[Can’t help it – I love GIFs.]

Farewell and godspeed – I’m leaving you with condensed insights that will guide you through pay-per-call marketing empowered by conversational AI, all in three tightly packed chapters:

• Chapter 1: How To Increase Pay-Per-Call Conversions with Conversational AI [For Advertisers]
• Chapter 2: How To Generate More Phone Calls with Conversational AI [For Affiliates]
• Chapter 3: How to Grow Your Pay-Per-Call Affiliate Network with Conversational AI

Chapter 1 – How To Increase Pay-Per-Call Conversions with Conversational AI [For Advertisers]

First of all, for those unaware, here’s how pay-per-call affiliate marketing works:

Source: Pay-Per-Call: What It Is and How It Works

Now that you’re in the context, I bet it’s obvious that the combination of (1) well-implemented chatbots, voice assistants, and an AI-powered IVR system and (2) the right affiliate network can automate customer acquisition from top to bottom, whether phone calls or web leads.

For advertisers, this means you can drive leads to conversion in a semi-automatic way, only stepping in at the journey’s climax. You don’t need to commit to marketing or lead nurturing much – instead, you can set up your AI system to qualify the traffic you buy.

The Synergy of Conversational AI and Pay-Per-Call Affiliate Marketing

Alright, let’s move from theory to practice.

Imagine you need more phone calls from potential customers.

Below are the five major acquisition steps:

Step 1 – You Join a Pay Per Call Network

First, you set up your affiliate program – what leads you need and how much you are willing to pay for them – and join an affiliate network to connect to a large pool of affiliates. For example, you may only need solvent men from New York aged 30 to 45.

While all affiliate networks ensure attribution, only some provide advanced affiliate management software so you can analyze your traffic in depth. Cloud-based affiliate management software suites are quite affordable, starting at around $100 per month.

Step 2 – Potential Clients Use Your Call Tracking Numbers

Once your affiliate program is up and running, affiliates can generate phone calls using the unique phone number you assign to them. Through these numbers, your inbound phone traffic will be attributed to the right affiliate.

Read also: How to Set Up Your Pay Per Call Number for Maximum Impact

To make it easier for affiliates, you can share marketable customer insights and provide branded creative materials so content creators can advertise your products organically. This way, you can control the first impression and ensure a smooth transition between touchpoints.

Step 3 – Your Conversational AI Qualifies the Call

Upon dialing your number, the customer is redirected to your conversational voice AI system, which asks questions and then connects them to a matching live operator or solves the request independently for simpler requests like regular payments or subscription renewals.

Nothing unusual happens on the caller’s side: they move through the sales funnel smoothly until connected to an operator. At the same time, you collect valuable marketing information that can be used further in the conversation.

Here’s how it may look in practice:

1. The AI greets the caller: “Thank you for calling CoolAir Solutions. My name is CoolBot, and I’m your virtual assistant. How can I help you?”
2. The caller specifies the request: “I need to buy a powerful air conditioner, and I’m on a budget”
3. The AI zeroes in on the request: “Great choice! Our line of affordable AC units includes over 20 different air conditioners. Let me ask you a few questions to better understand the issue. Do you have an AC installed now?”
4. AI questions the caller. The bot drives the caller through a tree of questions and stops when it finds an accurate answer or upon reaching a pre-set limit of questions.
5. The AI delivers the answer: “Based on the received information, I would recommend you consult with your New York-based technicians, who can help you choose the best affordable AC unit for your apartment. Would you like to schedule an appointment?”

 

Step 4 – Your Live Operator Converts the Caller

For callers willing to speak to an operator, the system routes them to the best-fitting agent. The routing criteria are the crucial factor here: the better you distribute your callers, the more calls you will convert—and it’s not easy at all.

If the call is qualified, it’s paid to the affiliate. By “qualified,” I mean that the call matches your conditions in length, quality, source, etc. For unqualified calls, you don’t pay.

Finally, the live operator in charge tries to convert the call.

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Finito. 

For the caller, that is. For you, the race continues.

Step 5 – Post-Call Analytics Adds New Data to the System

As the client hangs up, analytics starts.

Serious advertisers use advanced call analytics software—usually beyond what most affiliate networks offer—to dissect business calls on the fly and strategically so that their marketing system constantly updates itself based on the new data.

To learn more about call analytics, here’s our call analytics software guide.

One more thing: 

It’s critical to employ a system that not only has the fancy “AI” acronym but actually does what it’s supposed to do: self-learn. Only self-learning AI systems can continuously improve call routing without manual intervention.

Otherwise, your call distribution will always be suboptimal, with some leads landing wrong. But then again, you still set the initial criteria manually. 

Here are some important initial call distribution parameters:

• Caller’s location, source, status (new or repeated caller), and demographics
• Agent’s availability, specialization, and performance
• The distribution priority: state, performance, revenue, etc.

With such an elaborate pay-per-call marketing system in place, I have no doubt you can maximize your sales and appointments and improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Case Study: How USAmeriCare Found New Insurance Publishers with Phonexa

How To Generate More Phone Calls with Conversational AI [For Affiliates]

From a technical perspective, conversational AI surely works the same when used by affiliates. However, there are some non-standard strategies beyond segmentation and personalization that you can employ.

Here are some of these advanced strategies*:

Strategy #1 – Route Calls Selectively

Selective call routing is what differentiates regular and S-tier affiliates. The lead’s intent is much more likely to be realized if they are connected to the right operator—and this is where your conversational voice AI should kick in.

Here are the two moves you can make:

• Route shorter calls to merchants with shorter qualification time. For example, if your typical call lasts around 80 seconds, it would be safer to choose an affiliate program with a 40-second qualification mark than one with a 60-second threshold.
• Route the most profitable calls to your own sales reps. It’s a rare case, but if you have a product that competes with your advertiser’s product, you can direct the calls with the highest expected profit to your own store while routing the rest to the advertiser.

With advanced conversational voice AI, your routing will improve as you accumulate more data. Modern AI voice AI systems recognize speech AND derive a caller’s intent from the speaker’s language and tone. For example, such a system can redirect callers to a supervisor once it spots signs of irritation.

Strategy #2 – Ensure Multi-Channel Coverage

Conversational AI isn’t limited to conversational voice AI but covers all traffic channels, including website, social media, email, SMS, and paid advertising. Even if you’re focused exclusively on pay-per-call marketing, make sure you use all available call sources.

Website	A website chatbot can optimize your on-site lead distribution, handling some requests independently and redirecting the rest to a customer support agent or sales operator.
Social media	Social media chatbots can send data-driven personalized messages, handle RSVPs, and send reminders while ensuring users can quickly contact a customer agent or request a call.
Email	Conversational AI can handle automated email sequences based on the user’s response. Over time, the AI will learn how to respond to specific emails to maximize engagement and conversions.
SMS	AI-driven SMS marketing works the same as AI-driven SMM. The more data you have, the more effective your SMS campaigns.
Paid Advertising	Conversational AI can allow users to engage with the advertisement and even make a purchase on the spot. For example, an ad may provide a few questions and recommend the best product based on the answers.

Interconnecting different marketing channels into an overarching lead generation strategy will help you get the most out of your traffic, not letting callers go until they convert while not being obtrusive. Conversational AI does what human marketers have been doing for decades but much faster and more accurately.

Strategy #3 – A/B Test Your Campaigns

From call scripts to qualification questions to CTAs to routing logic, conversational voice AI can test different variations of responses and choose the winners for all future calls. Moreover, it can identify complex patterns – keywords, tone of speech, etc. – that usually remain elusive.

Here’s an example of how you can test your AI scripts:

• Version A (currently used): “Thank you for calling. I can help you schedule a free consultation with our experts. Would you like to proceed?”
• Version B (potential replacement): “Thanks for reaching out! We offer a 20% discount on our services if you book a consultation today. Would you like to proceed?”

By offering these options to different audiences, your AI system can identify the best script for a specific advertiser. For example, Version A may work with the regular audience, whereas Version B may be offered to customers on a budget if you have such information.

Case Study: How Call By Brand Lead Generation Network Increased Conversion Rates by 20% with Phonexa

*These strategies assume you run advanced software affiliate management software. Not all pay-per-call affiliate networks provide quality lead routing and analytics, so you may need third-party software to close the gap.

How to Grow Your Pay-Per-Call Affiliate Network with Conversational AI

Affiliate networks that employ robust conversational voice AI are one step ahead of the competition. For both affiliates and advertisers, it’s much easier to join a network that provides the necessary software than to search for the required solutions independently.

Case Study: How Affiliate Networks from the Finance Industry Increased Revenues by 25% with Phonexa

Here’s how conversational voice AI can help affiliate network managers grow profits:

Lead Qualification	For an affiliate network, it’s paramount that all leads are routed to the best-fitting advertisers while passing their qualification criteria. Affiliate networks with failproof call qualification systems quickly grow in size because affiliates and advertisers see that their leads are used in the best ways possible, even leads that are not sold or sold at a lower price,
Personalized Engagement	Consumers don’t need to know about the underlying marketing strategy, call redirects, and other possible twists—what they need is an instant connection to a sales or customer support agent who handles their issue without asking unnecessary questions.For affiliate networks, this translates into providing software and creative materials that ensure their affiliates and advertisers are on the same page: affiliates match the advertiser’s branding when promoting, while customers get the best service.
Unlimited Scalability	For a bigger affiliate network, it’s only possible to handle the workload if call transfers are automatic. Conversational voice AI can handle dozens and hundreds of concurrent calls without sacrificing the quality of service. At the same time, only calls requiring the human touch are routed to live operators, which is extremely cost-effective.
24/7 Availability	Conversational voice AI works 24/7, redirecting calls to available businesses or using any other custom distribution model. This way, you can operate around the clock and ensure the best coverage for your calls.
Live Cross-Selling	Customers who buy a car may also be interested in auto insurance; those looking for a smartphone may want a protective case. Conversational voice AI cross-sells based on the customer’s intent, which is an effective way to increase the value of the sale.

Last but not least, conversational voice AI is insanely good at detecting and preventing affiliate fraud. Smaller affiliates and advertisers – those who don’t run their own software – always look for safe affiliate networks that filter their traffic and guarantee due payouts.

Example: Conversational voice AI picks up a mortgage refinancing call and asks qualifying questions while screening the duration, source, and intent. Upon analysis, the AI detects that the call was made from a region associated with fraudulent activity, the responses were scripted, and the caller used the keywords that spammers and fraudsters usually use. Result: the call is disqualified as potentially fraudulent.

Fraud detection systems can be quite complex; for example, an AI conversational software can include voice biometrics – a unique print of the caller’s voice. In this case, even if the caller uses a fake ID, the fraud will likely be detected and the call blocked.

Complete this fraud prevention quiz to learn how safe you are.

Likewise, an AI can identify low-intent and downright fake leads. For example, if many calls come from the same location and provide the same answers, the system will likely block such calls from reaching the advertiser.

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Building Your Ultimate Pay-Per-Call Tech Stack

For full control over your pay-per-campaigns, you need a robust software suite that tracks, routes, and analyzes inbound and outbound phone calls AND – a rare feature – coordinates over-the-phone marketing with your other marketing avenues.

I’m talking about Call Logic, the underlying Phonexa product that has proved brilliant for buying and selling phone calls:

From dynamic phone numbers to IVR to call analytics, Call Logic is a blend of top-tier products that synergize with seven other Phonexa performance marketing solutions.

Here’s how Call Logic looks on the inside:

You can switch between tabs to check performance across leads, clicks, emails, and more, all from a single comprehensive dashboard. Getting used to it might take time, but make no mistakes, such granular insights bear fruit.

But that’s not all – you can take it one step further, especially if you’re in high-ticket niches like insurance, finance, solar, or home services.

Meet Phonexa’s Cloud PBX, a dedicated cloud-based phone system that will put you in full charge of incoming and outgoing calls. With minimal setup fees, you can ensure uninterrupted service for your business – never run offline during peak hours – and score your calls and agent performance.

 

Finally, there’s an absolute beast of analytics: Phonexa’s predictive modeling. The path to success shouldn’t be thorny anymore because you can predict which affiliate campaigns are more likely to succeed.

This is how it’s done with predictive modeling:

 

Thinking about A/B testing? Then what about simulating these with predictive modeling software without any risk? Never has marketing improvement been so safe—just run virtual campaigns and recreate the winners.

Be The Boss of Your Pay Per Call Campaigns with Phonexa

Whether you rely on conversational AI or simpler technologies, it’s much easier to drive and convert leads when your affiliate and traditional marketing are in sync.

And this is what Phonexa offers—comprehensive performance marketing coverage for affiliate, email, SMS, and social media campaigns. The free data flow ensures you use your potential to the fullest, optimizing the conversion path for every lead.

 

Here are the eight proprietary solutions you get at a single price starting at $100 a month (online price calculator):

Get your all-in-one pay-per-call software suite, or book a demo to explore Phonexa.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is pay-per-call affiliate marketing?

Pay-per-call affiliate marketing is a business model in which affiliates generate phone calls for businesses and receive a commission for qualified calls. At the same time, the advertiser establishes the qualification rules: the call lengths, source, etc.

For example, if a call lasts 90 seconds, and the qualification minimum is 120 seconds, then the affiliate won’t receive a commission for this call. Likewise, if only calls from New York are accepted, all calls from other states won’t get paid.

How do I start a pay-per-call business?

To kick things off with a pay-per-call business, you should enroll in an affiliate program if you are an affiliate or create one if you are an advertiser. To speed up the process, you can use one of the affiliate networks that run various affiliate programs and provide affiliate software.

What is conversational AI?

Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is a type of AI that enables computers to interact with humans in a close-to-natural way: voice assistants, chatbots, IVR systems, conversational agents, etc. Even though AI doesn’t understand (in a human way) what it is talking about, such conversations usually look quite organic and are helpful.

What is the best pay-per-call affiliate program?

Here is our list of the best pay-per-call affiliate programs.

However, keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all pay-per-call program, as it all depends on your business objectives, niche, scale, and priorities. Make sure to research at least several relevant pay-per-call programs before taking action.

What is the best pay-per-call affiliate software?

We can’t vouch for any software other than Phonexa’s eight-in-one performance marketing software suite, which covers pay-per-call affiliate campaigns from top to bottom.