What Is Scrubbing?

Scrubbing is a dishonest business practice in the world of affiliate marketing and online lead generation. Scrubbing is frankly stealing done by unethical advertisers or lead buyers. In the case of Cost Per Action (CPA) affiliate marketing what happens is that some sales are not reported. In the case of Cost Per Lead (CPL) arrangements some leads are examined and declined when in fact they are kept. This results in lower total payouts to affiliates.

The main reason that this practice exists is so that affiliates who seek the highest bounty (i.e. highest payouts) can be told a higher than realistic payout. So, for example, a stated payout of $10.00 and a real scrub rate of 25% results in an effective payout of $10.00 * (1 - 0.25) = $7.50.

What are experienced affiliate marketers, publishers, and lead generators to do to combat this practice?

Seed leads the way direct mail data providers have done for decades. E.g., use email addresses that you can track since any dishonest company in the business is bound to use it.

Monitor your financial figures and vote with your feet. If your Earnings, Earnings Per Click (EPC), or Return On Investment (ROI) don't work then pull the plug.

Always test some portion of your traffic or lists against other advertisers, lead aggregators, and online lead generators. Who knows? You may get a better deal elsewhere!