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The Basics

This article explains the basic features of Affiliate Marketing, also known as Partner Marketing.

Introduction​

An Affiliate Campaign consists of Publishers (also known as Affiliates, Partners, Influencers / KoLs) who promote your products or services in exchange for a fee known as a Commission.

Publishers are issued with a unique Tracking URL from Optimise Dashboard that redirects to your Website or App. They promote the Tracking URL across their Media.

You will likely be operating your Affiliate Program alongside other acquisition channels. It is important to recognise that Affiliate marketing operates on a Cost-per-Sale (CPS) basis, meaning attribution and payment depend on completed sales / orders.

Unlike Cost-per-Click (CPC) campaigns on Google or Meta Ads, where advertisers pay for traffic regardless of conversions, affiliate marketing requires precise tracking. Conversion tags in CPC campaigns aid optimisation but are not essential, whereas in affiliate marketing, accurate tracking is critical for commissions and to confirm sales / orders have been completed.

Tracking must include an order reference and order value to enable offline validation and ensure correct commission payouts.

A Step by Step Guide​

The following shows a basic step by step guide for how a typical affiliate program works.

Affiliate Step by Step Guide

  1. The Campaign will be created on Optimise Dashboard. You will receive your login details once your account has been setup.
  2. You will need to install Tracking to record the sales / orders on your website / app.
    1. Once the Tracking is setup you should test it to ensure that sales are recording correctly into your account. You will a need a unique order reference and typically an order value to be recorded.
  3. One of the first steps is to configure a Commission Group — this will determine how much a Publisher will be awarded when they refer a successful sale / order on your website / app.
  4. Find & invite Publishers to promote your Affiliate Campaign. Understand the different types of Publishers and then use the Publisher Explorer to discover and invite Publishers.
    1. Publishers will discover your Campaign in the Campaigns Explorer and apply.
    2. If you've invited Publishers they will be automatically approved to your Campaign when they accept the invitation.
  5. Publishers will promote your Campaign using the creative you add in the Dashboard and drive clicks via their unique Tracking Link.
  6. Sales / orders will be tracked by the Optimise Tracking installed on your website / app and can be viewed in Optimise Dashboard via Reporting.
  7. You will need to review your sales/orders on a regular basis and update the status on your Dashboard for any returns or cancellations (to ensure you won't be charged for a Commission fee).
  8. Sales / orders are then finalised and an invoice will be issued for the Commissions owed to Publishers.
  9. Once Optimise receives payment, the Commission will be paid to the Publisher.

Publisher Media​

Publisher media typically consists of the following:

  • Websites.
  • Mobile Apps.
  • Social Media Profiles.

There are several different types of Publishers that can promote your campaign.

What Happens Next?​

There's a few things you'll need to complete (once you have your account login details):

  1. Install Tracking
  2. Test Tracking
  3. Complete the Setup Tasks