What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing rewards partners for agreed actions they help generate, such as a qualifying sale or lead. Tracking links or codes connect those actions to the partner.
Affiliate Marketing
Build a partner programme with clear offers, practical tracking and commissions that make sense for your business.
Get in touchThe essentials
Understand affiliate marketing.
How does an affiliate programme work?
A business sets its offer and programme terms. Approved partners promote it, results are checked, and commissions are paid for actions that meet the agreed conditions.
Who can be an affiliate?
Partners may include publishers, creators, specialist websites or businesses with a relevant audience. Their fit with your offer matters more than the number of partners recruited.
What needs to be planned?
Define eligible products, commission rules, tracking, reporting, returns and payment timing. Clear terms help both the business and its partners understand the arrangement.
Background reading: Mailchimp: Digital marketing methods
Your questions, answered.
Is affiliate marketing the same as influencer marketing?
No. Affiliate marketing is organised around tracked actions and commission. Influencer marketing is usually organised around content and audience access. They can overlap.
How much commission should I offer?
Work from your margins, customer value and other acquisition costs. A rate that attracts partners but makes sales unprofitable is not a sustainable starting point.
Do I need a large business to start?
No, but you need a clear offer, reliable fulfilment and a way to track and validate results. It is sensible to test the process before recruiting widely.
What is a tracking window?
It is the period during which an eligible action may be attributed to a partner after a referral. The rules vary by programme and must be stated clearly.
How are returns and cancelled orders handled?
Define this in your terms. Programmes often validate an action before paying commission, so both parties know how cancellations affect payment.
Can a programme prevent all fraud?
No. Clear eligibility rules, review processes and monitoring can help identify problems, but tracking and partner activity need ongoing attention.
What costs should I plan for?
Consider commissions, tracking tools, programme management and creative materials. These costs are separate from the cost of supplying your product or service.
What should I prepare before enquiring?
Bring your offer details, margins or allowable acquisition cost, fulfilment process and preferred partner types. These help determine whether the programme is practical.
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