{"id":21397,"date":"2020-01-28T17:38:27","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T17:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/affiliate-program"},"modified":"2026-09-18T10:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:18:25","slug":"affiliate-program","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/affiliate-program","title":{"rendered":"Affiliate Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AffiliateDefinition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

An affiliate program<\/strong> is a system through which a company rewards external partners for sales, registrations or other actions that can be attributed to their promotional activity.<\/p>\n

The program defines which actions generate a commission, how they are identified, how long they can be attributed to an affiliate and which conditions need to be met for validation. Remuneration may take the form of a percentage or fixed amount per sale, a payment for a valid registration or action and, in some cases, a payment per click.<\/p>\n\n

How an affiliate program works<\/h2>\n

The advertiser or merchant provides affiliates with links, codes or other identifiers. Affiliates incorporate them into content, comparison services, communications or other permitted channels. When a person interacts with them and completes the defined action, the system records the attribution and determines whether a commission is due.<\/p>\n

The program may be managed directly by the advertiser or through an affiliate platform or network.<\/strong> A network acts as an intermediary and may support tracking, affiliate recruitment, result validation and payments, but it is not equivalent to the program or to affiliate marketing<\/a> as a whole.<\/p>\n

Attribution depends on the agreed rules. These include the attribution window, the treatment of several affiliates involved in the same conversion, returns, cancellations and actions regarded as fraudulent or invalid.<\/p>\n

Affiliate program management<\/h2>\n

Conditions need to be understandable to advertisers and affiliates and consistent with the user experience.<\/strong> Management commonly includes the following steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Define the action and remuneration:<\/strong> Establish whether sales, registrations or other actions will be rewarded, how the commission will be calculated and when it becomes valid.<\/li>\n
  2. Document the conditions:<\/strong> Specify attribution, time limits, cancellations, permitted promotional methods and rules governing use of the brand.<\/li>\n
  3. Select suitable affiliates:<\/strong> Assess the relationship between the product, content, audience<\/a> and the quality of traffic sources.<\/li>\n
  4. Prepare tracking:<\/strong> Configure links, codes or integrations and apply the relevant information, privacy and consent requirements when identifiers or cookies<\/a> are used.<\/li>\n
  5. Validate and analyse results:<\/strong> Review conversions, returns, costs, fraud, commissions and profitability before payments are confirmed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Affiliate program evaluation<\/h2>\n

    An affiliate program can expand distribution and link part of the remuneration to defined results. Its usefulness depends on the product, margins, affiliate quality and the reliability of the attribution system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Distribution:<\/strong> It supports collaboration with websites, creators, publications or comparison services that already serve related audiences.<\/li>\n
    • Economic model:<\/strong> It enables commissions and payable actions to be defined, although technology, management, recruitment and supervision also involve costs.<\/li>\n
    • Measurement:<\/strong> It provides information about attributed actions, but results may be affected by tracking errors, multiple touchpoints or fraudulent practices.<\/li>\n
    • Transparency:<\/strong> The commercial relationship needs to be disclosed when content could appear independent and must comply with advertising, privacy and channel rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Definition: An affiliate program is a system through which a company rewards external partners for sales, registrations or other actions that can be attributed to their promotional activity. The program defines which actions generate a commission, how they are identified, how long they can be attributed to an affiliate and which conditions need to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79827,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1356],"class_list":["post-21397","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-relationship-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/21397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=21397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}