How to Audit your Affiliate Programme

If you manage or oversee an affiliate program, it can be challenging to assess how well it’s performing. Affiliate programs involve a diverse range of partners and promotional methods, making it difficult to evaluate success – so how do you know if your program is performing well?

In this article, we highlight key checks that anyone can make to assess their affiliate activities, even without extensive technical knowledge. These checks are things that any competent affiliate manager should be doing regularly—not every day, but as part of a periodic evaluation of their affiliate efforts.

If you’re already doing all of these, fantastic! You’re building solid foundations for growth. If you notice that your program isn’t quite where you’d like it to be, don’t worry! Affiliate programs can be reshaped with time and effort—there’s always room to improve.

Affiliate audits can sometimes get technical, especially when compliance is involved. However, the following checks are designed to be accessible and will help you ensure you’re accurately evaluating your activity. Audits aren’t just about spotting issues—they’re an opportunity to uncover areas for growth!

5 Key Auditing Checks You Can Make Today:

Check 1: Is your affiliate program meeting and hopefully exceeding - your KPIs?

We work with retailers who have a variety of KPIs, all aiming to achieve different goals through their affiliate channels. Aligning your affiliate program with business goals is a surefire way to build value. Start by assessing how your affiliate activities align with your broader business objectives, which will help you evaluate individual partnerships effectively.

Examples include:

• CPA targets, AOV growth, or new customer acquisition.

These metrics will lead to different kinds of programs and activities when optimised correctly. For example, targeting new customers may favour upper-funnel activities or partnerships with coupon and deal sites, which align with acquisition goals.

If you find that certain KPIs lack the necessary tracking via your affiliate platform, consider upgrading your tracking or using manual data checks through your CRM. Upgrading your tracking is always the preferred option, as it ensures access to real-time data.

Key Data to Evaluate:

• How does your affiliate AOV compare to other channels? How does it vary across your top 20 partners?
• What’s your new customer rate within the affiliate channel? If possible, break it down by partner. A lower existing customer rate can be positive if a partner focuses on acquiring new customers.
• Examine loyalty and cashback partners—these often yield repeat purchases and can present opportunities to refine partner strategies.

Check 2: Are you overly reliant on one partner or partner type?

One of the biggest advantages of affiliate marketing is its diversity. With a wide array of partners, you can build a robust affiliate base. But if all your revenue comes from one partner or partner type, you’re exposing yourself to risk.

Here are the risks of over-reliance:

• If one key partner stops performing, you lose a large chunk of your revenue.
• Relying on just one partner type (like voucher sites) limits your program’s potential and reduces its ability to reach new customers, as these partners often engage similar audiences.
• If your business shifts strategy—say, moving away from widespread discount codes but relying heavily on voucher sites—your optimisation options may become very limited.

Key Data to Evaluate:

• How much of your revenue is driven by your top five partners? How dependent are you on your top partner?
• What is the partner mix driving sales? Assess partners' categories in the network, but also take the time to verify their offerings. If you can’t tell what a partner is doing to drive sales, that’s a red flag.

This data isn’t about cutting ties with your top partners, but rather about ensuring you're not overly reliant on a small group. By nurturing less prominent partners, you create more growth opportunities and reduce dependency.

Check 3: Do you have a clear understanding of how your sales-driving partners are generating revenue?

A well-managed affiliate program requires insight into how sales are being driven. If you look at a partner and can’t easily determine how they’re promoting your brand—whether from their profile or direct communication—that’s a sign to dig deeper.

Affiliate marketing offers great opportunities, but sometimes partners may not represent your brand correctly or align with your goals. You want affiliates who add value to your KPIs while maximising your budget by building meaningful relationships.

Things to Evaluate:

• Review your top 10 affiliates (at least) over a 6-month period. Visit their sites and check:
  
  • Can you easily find your brand on their site?
  • How is your brand being promoted (e.g., displayed codes, banners, etc.)?
  • If it’s a browser extension like Honey, test its functionality during checkout.
• If you use sub-networks like Skimlinks or Digidip, ask for a list of sites driving traffic to your brand.

If you're unable to see how a partner promotes your brand, that’s a clear flag to contact them for clarification. Ensure your partnerships align with your brand and consider removing or reinvesting in underperforming affiliates.

Check 4: Are you engaging new partners and testing opportunities?

The affiliate industry is dynamic, with new partners emerging all the time. There are always fresh opportunities to explore or experiment with new partners. Similarly, testing is a crucial part of growing an affiliate program. Great programs are constantly testing and setting clear testing criteria with realistic expectations.

Things to Try:

• Use affiliate approvals to spot new opportunities, don’t just approve and hope to reach out later.
• Explore network publisher discovery tools (even if they can be clunky) to find potential partners.
• Reach out to your network contact for new opportunities, or ask for a gap analysis to uncover underutilised potential.
• If you're unsure where to start with existing partners, have a direct conversation to clarify how you can collaborate more effectively.

Testing is just as important as recruitment—it helps you find what works. Even if a test doesn’t succeed, it’s often more beneficial than not testing at all.

Check 5: Do your partners fulfill different roles in the customer journey?

A well-rounded affiliate program features a variety of partner types, each fulfilling a distinct role in the customer journey. Ideally, your top partners should span across different categories - cashback sites, closed-user platforms (like Blue Light Card), CSS partners, direct voucher sites, and content partners.

This mix indicates a thoughtful, optimised program rather than one focused on low-quality affiliates or purely deal-based sites.

Things to Evaluate:

• Use data from your KPIs to assess how different partners contribute to the funnel (e.g., AOV, customer type).
• Understand the demographics of your partners—ensure your message aligns with their audience.
• Consider the role each partner plays in the customer journey. Cashback sites, for instance, typically cater to existing customers, but they may drive frequent, higher-value purchases.

These five checks are fundamental to ensuring your affiliate program is performing well. While not exhaustive, they offer a solid starting point for evaluating your program. How does your affiliate program measure up?

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