Approve rate (CPA)
Approve rate is the share of leads that the advertiser recognized as valid and approved for payment, out of all leads received.
In plain words
Out of all incoming applications, the advertiser approves only some: those where the person is real, got in touch and meets the offer’s conditions. That share, expressed as a percentage, is the approve rate.
How it is calculated
Approve rate = approved leads / all leads for the period x 100%.
A hypothetical example: 200 applications came in, 90 were approved. The approve rate is 45%. Leads still “in progress” are usually left out until they get a final status, otherwise the figure is understated.
What drives it
It is common to think that approve rate depends only on traffic quality. In fact, two sides shape it. Traffic determines how real and interested the people are. The processing team determines how fast they got a reply, whether they were reached and whether the conversation made sense.
The same leads in two different teams produce different approve rates. An application answered in five minutes and one answered the next day are two different clients.
Why it matters to a manager
Approve rate is the common language of advertisers and traffic suppliers. A low rate scares affiliates away, while a high rate without checks raises spending on junk leads. For a team lead, it shows how many applications are lost because of processing: unanswered calls, no reply in a messenger, abandoned chats.
Common mistake
Looking at the overall rate without a breakdown. It should be calculated by source, by sales rep and by time to first reply. Then you can see where the problem is in the traffic and where leads were simply not handled in time.
More in Signals
- Sales team motivation: what to pay for when sales happen in chatSales motivation works when the variable pay is tied to money actually paid, not to activity: message counts and time online are easy to inflate. You need a clear formula, a fair way of assigning clients and every rep seeing their own results. Non-cash motivation in chat means recognizing specific conversations, not saying generic words.
- What a messenger sales team really costs and where it loses moneyA sales team in messengers costs more than salaries: money also leaks out through seven channels. These are slow replies, abandoned conversations, forgotten follow-ups, a sales rep leaving with the client base, blocked numbers, broadcasts with no result and broken payment promises. Each leak can be sized on your own numbers: lost conversations times your close rate times your average deal.