Affiliate manager guide
You are the human side of the network: recruiting affiliates, approving them, helping them succeed and rewarding the top performers. The system gives you the tools - this is the guide to them.
What's within your authority (and what isn't)
| Yes | No |
|---|---|
| Approving/rejecting affiliate applications, approving vendor offers, setting special rates, viewing reports | Billing and subscription, inviting team members, deleting the organization - these belong to the Account Owner only |
The application queue - the daily work
Every affiliate who wants to promote an offer that requires approval appears in your queue. Before approving, take a look at their profile:
- Site / channel - does it exist? Is it active? Relevant to the product?
- Promotion channels - blog, YouTube, mailing list, groups? A promotion method that suits your brand?
- Audience description - is their audience your target audience?
Rule of thumb: a completely empty profile = reject or inquire. A serious affiliate fills in a profile. Rejected someone? The affiliate sees they were rejected, but consider writing to them why - a reasoned rejection leaves the door open for an affiliate who improves.
Special rates - your powerful tool
Every offer has a default commission, but you can set a specific affiliate a different rate on a specific offer. This rewards leaders without raising the commission for everyone.
- How it works: you set an override for an affiliate+offer pair. From that point, every new conversion of theirs is calculated at the new rate.
- What the affiliate sees: simply "your commission: X%" - no negotiating numbers with them and no "you got a raise from Y to X". Clean and simple.
- When to give it: an affiliate bringing significant volume who threatens to move to a competitor, a strategic affiliate you want to lock in, or a temporary incentive for someone who's almost there.
- Caution: a special rate is a fixed cost on every future sale of that affiliate. Give it based on proven performance, not promises.
Affiliates with clicks but no conversions
The most common pattern requiring your intervention. Possible causes, in order:
- Wrong audience - the affiliate brings traffic, but not the kind that buys. A conversation about audience fit or about another offer from your catalog that suits them better.
- Weak landing page - if several affiliates have the same pattern on the same offer, the problem is probably the product page, not the affiliates.
- Technical issue - clicks counted but no conversions at all, for everyone? The site's connection to tracking may be broken. Check with the troubleshooting guide.
Approving vendor offers
In a network with external sellers, every new offer a vendor submits awaits your approval. Check: is the product legitimate and suitable for the network? Is the proposed commission reasonable and attractive to affiliates? Are the description and image at a level that won't embarrass the network? You can reject with a reason - the vendor will fix it and resubmit.
About your compensation
If your bonus derives from portfolio performance (e.g. a percentage of the profit from the affiliates you manage) - that's an internal arrangement between you and your employer. The system gives you the portfolio's performance report to base it on, but does not calculate or pay internal bonuses.