Pricing
How dynamic CPC pricing works, and why it beats a rate card
Dynamic CPC is a pricing model where the advertiser pays per click and the rate adjusts based on how a placement actually performs, instead of being fixed once on a rate card. Strong performance can lift the rate a good newsletter earns, and weak performance brings it down, so the price tracks results rather than a number negotiated up front.
The problem with a rate card
A rate card sets the price once, before anyone knows whether that audience converts for your brand. The advertiser carries all of the risk, and for a premium newsletter that risk is expensive, since a single send can run into five figures. The deeper problem is that only a fraction of newsletters hit an advertiser's performance goal at unoptimized, rate card pricing, so paying a fixed rate across the board means overpaying for the ones that do not work.
How dynamic CPC works
The advertiser sets a maximum CPC bid, the ceiling on what it will pay per click. During testing, each publisher's CPC is set based on audience fit and historical performance, up to that maximum. After a placement has run, its CPC tracks actual results: newsletters that perform can command a higher rate, and newsletters that underperform see their rate come down. The price is no longer a guess made in advance, it is a reflection of what the placement is actually delivering.
Why it aligns everyone
Because rate follows performance, incentives line up. Publishers are motivated to run the brands that fit their audience and to mail at a cadence that keeps performance high, so audience fatigue self corrects without a renegotiation. Advertisers pay a rate that reflects the value they are getting. Strong newsletters earn more, weak ones cost less, and nobody is subsidizing placements that do not work.
Rate card versus dynamic CPC
A rate card is fixed, set before results are known, and puts the risk on the advertiser. Dynamic CPC is variable, set by results, and shares the risk by tying price to outcome. The rate card rewards whoever negotiated well. Dynamic CPC rewards whoever performs. For a channel whose whole advantage is measurable engagement, pricing that moves with performance is the model that fits. It is how Wellput prices placements for brands and pays publishers.
Frequently asked questions
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Related: How much do newsletter sponsorships cost? and How Wellput works for brands.