I used to run one campaign with an education related affiliate that paid bonuses to their top 5% of affiliates. They also emailed me a number of approximate sales I needed to reach that 5%.
The wonderful thing about this type of setup is that I could increase my PPC bids if it were near the end of the month and I was only a few sales away from the 5%. For the affiliate the bonus was usually between $500 and $5,000.
With that in mind, I would break even, or even take a loss on CPC because I knew if I could sale a little more, I could hit a bonus that would easily take me back into the profit.
If you are a high volume affiliate publisher, talk to your affiliate manager about getting a bonus for x amount of sales, or x gross sales.
Most affiliate managers I know are easy to work with and are willing to help out publishers. After all, they need you like you need them!
CJ.com is great about having managers that are dedicated. AzoogleAds usually assigns an account executive that deals between you and the advertiser.
Find the right person and send them an email, if you don't ask the answer is already "No"!
