Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a distribution model where you pay partners — affiliates — a commission for each sale, lead, or click they send your way. The appeal is obvious: you only pay for results. An affiliate builds an audience, recommends your product through a tracked link, and earns a cut when someone converts. For the business, it turns marketing spend into a variable cost tied directly to revenue, which is why affiliate programs are a staple for e-commerce, SaaS, and digital products.
The reality is more nuanced than the pitch. Affiliate channels can be incredibly profitable, but they also attract low-quality traffic, cookie stuffing, and partners who bid on your brand terms in paid search, effectively charging you a commission for sales you would have gotten anyway. Managing an affiliate program well requires clear terms, active partner vetting, and an attribution model that does not let last-click affiliates claim credit for journeys they did not start.
From a growth perspective, affiliate marketing works best as a scale channel, not a launch channel. You need a product that converts reliably and margins that can absorb the commission. When those conditions are met, affiliates become an army of marketers you do not have to manage day-to-day — but you do have to set the rules and enforce them consistently.