Affiliate marketing builds a commission-based partner network tracked through unique links via a dedicated affiliate platform, paying out only on verified sales or leads. Works for ecommerce, SaaS and service businesses alike, with SaaS commonly paying a recurring share.
What's included?
- Affiliate platform setup, integrated with existing ecommerce or CRM
- Commission structure design matched to margin and business model
- Partner recruitment and onboarding
- Fraud monitoring to prevent commission abuse
Affiliate is simple in theory and messy in practice
You pay partners only when they deliver a sale or lead. In theory that is the safest marketing spend there is. In practice, poorly run programmes pay commission on sales that would have happened anyway, attract coupon sites that intercept your own customers at checkout, and let fraud slip through. Good affiliate management is mostly about choosing the right partners and paying for genuine incremental value.
What good affiliate partners look like
The best affiliates earn trust through useful content. Wirecutter, the product review site, built its business on affiliate revenue from detailed, independent recommendations, and The New York Times bought it in 2016 for a reported $30 million (Poynter, 2016). That is the model to look for: publishers and creators whose audience trusts their recommendations.
What we set up
- A commission structure that rewards new customers more than existing ones
- Partner recruitment focused on content publishers, comparison sites and relevant creators
- Tracking through a reputable network or platform, with clear attribution rules
- Fraud checks: cookie stuffing, fake leads, brand bidding and self-referrals
- Creative and product feeds so partners can promote accurately
Rules on disclosure
Affiliates must disclose that they earn commission. The FTC's 2024 rule on reviews and testimonials bans fake reviews and undisclosed insider endorsements (US FTC, Aug 2024), and the UK's DMCC Act gives the CMA power to fine businesses up to 10% of global turnover for consumer law breaches (Cooley on the DMCC Act, April 2025). We require clear disclosure in every partner agreement.
Watch voucher sites carefully. Many pay commission on customers who were already at your checkout. We set rules so voucher partners are paid only for genuinely new customers or specific promotions.
How we measure it
Incremental revenue, new customer share, commission as a percentage of revenue, reversal and fraud rates, and partner quality.