Incentivized Traffic Explained: When It Is Worth It

What incentivized traffic is

Incentivized traffic comes from people who complete an action in exchange for a reward. On Sharklio, they are users of websites, apps, and communities around the world that show our offerwall. They earn points in that publisher’s own currency, and the publisher pays them out.

Because the reward is the reason to start, the quality depends on how well the task is designed. Done right, it is one of the fastest ways to get a specific action from real people.

Incentivized vs organic users

Organic users arrive because they already want your product. Rewarded users arrive because they want the reward, and some of them discover that they like your product too. That difference is not good or bad, it simply means you should ask for an action that brings value on its own, and measure what happens afterwards.

Where it works well

• App installs with a goal, such as reaching a level or finishing onboarding, not just opening the app.
• Sign-ups for a service, newsletter, or waitlist, where the account itself has value.
• Social follows and community joins when you need a starting audience.
• Feedback and testing, for example trying a landing page or a new feature and describing the result.
• Visits to a page, with a minimum view time so short bounces do not count.
• Entering new countries, since you can target any country worldwide and set a separate bid for each one.

Where to be careful

• Retention. Some rewarded users leave after the task. Measure what happens a week later, not just the completion.
• Ratings and reviews. Paying for them breaks app store and platform rules, and our campaign rules do not allow it.
• Vague tasks. “Check out our app” invites minimal effort. “Reach level 5 and screenshot the badge” brings the result you want.
• Platform rules. Make sure the action you ask for is allowed on the platform you send users to.

Designing a task that brings value

1. Start from the result. Ask for the action you would happily pay for even if the user never came back.
2. Make it deep enough. A goal inside the app or a completed profile is worth more than a bare install.
3. Make it checkable. Describe the exact screen, username, or confirmation the proof must show.
4. Keep the steps short. Numbered steps with one action each are completed correctly more often.
5. Price it fairly. A longer task needs a higher bid, otherwise users skip it.

Our guide Write instructions that pass review has good and bad examples.

How to get quality results

1. Ask for a meaningful action and describe exactly what the proof must show.
2. Price by country, paying more where a result is worth more to you.
3. Use caps and frequency limits so a campaign cannot outgrow your ability to review it.
4. Review fairly and quickly. A short approval window attracts more users, and fair decisions keep good users coming back.
5. Use inclusion and exclusion to show a follow-up task only to people you already approved, or hide a task from people who did a similar one.

How to measure success

• Cost per approved result: your bid, plus nothing for rejected completions.
• Cost per retained user: total spend divided by the users still active after a week or a month, from your own analytics.
• Value per result: what the average result brings you over time, compared with what you paid.

If the value per result is higher than your bid, the campaign pays for itself. If it is lower, change the task, the countries, or the price. See What is ROAS for the calculation.

Three common myths

• “Rewarded users are all bots.” Bots are a risk on every channel. With device, network, and location checks plus proof review, the users you pay for are real people.
• “Rewarded users never become customers.” Many do not, some do. The share depends on the task, the product, and the first experience, which is why you measure retention.
• “It only works for apps.” Sign-ups, follows, feedback, and visits work well too, for websites, services, and communities.

Doing it with Sharklio

Every Sharklio campaign is reviewed by our team before it runs, automated checks filter out bots and duplicate accounts, and you approve each completion yourself. That combination is what makes rewarded traffic predictable.

For the user’s view of the same rules, read how Shark Earnings explains offer requirements to its members. Shark Earnings is the rewards site run by the same company as Sharklio, and its introduction to Sharklio covers the advertiser side.

Good and bad tasks, side by side

A 7-day plan for your first rewarded campaign

1. Day 1: define one result and its value, write the task with numbered steps, and choose two or three countries.
2. Day 2: submit for review with a modest bid, a total budget, and a daily completion cap.
3. Days 3 to 5: review completions twice a day, note the most common reasons for rejection, and clarify the instructions if many users misunderstand them.
4. Day 6: compare the cost per approved result by country and move budget toward the best markets.
5. Day 7: check your own analytics for what the new users did after the task, then decide whether to scale, change the task, or stop.

Frequently asked questions