Running a successful program takes time, consistency, and the right foundations. The following outlines industry best practices to help you build, grow, and protect your program over the long term.
You’ll learn how to keep your program healthy, what makes a strong commission strategy and how to effectively work with partners to drive engagement.
Key considerations
Affiliate marketing is a long‑term growth channel. Results improve as your program matures and partnerships develop.
Start with achievable goals and scale them as performance grows.
Allow partners enough time and notice to adapt to program changes.
Treat affiliate marketing as a performance-based model where dollar or pound spent should help bring in clear, measurable results.
Stay responsive and patient in your partner communications.
Test new partnerships and analyze results regularly.
Build a strong foundation and grow
Keep your program healthy
To keep your program compliant, attractive to partners, and easy to manage, it’s important to complete regular housekeeping tasks. These actions help maintain partner trust and support long-term performance.
Tip
Utilize our helpful housekeeping checklist to keep your program running smoothly.
Commission strategy best practices
A well‑designed commission strategy attracts partners and rewards the outcomes that matter most to your business.
Benchmark against similar programs in your industry.
Review commission levels regularly to stay competitive.
Creating multiple commission groups gives you greater control over how commission is paid. It allows you to offer higher rates for priority outcomes, such as new customer sales or selected products, and makes your program more attractive to partners.
Use temporary publisher commission increases or exclusive voucher codes to boost visibility during key periods.
Combine strong base rates with performance‑based incentives.
Use tiered commission structures to reward higher basket values and increase AOV.
Implement commission flexibility
Use the commission flexibility tools to tailor commission by:
Customer type
Product category
Voucher code
ClickRef
Publisher tags
Custom parameters
Partnership strategy best practices
A healthy program includes a diverse mix of partners aligned with your commercial goals.
Create a welcome pack to help you make a strong first impression with new partners.
Review publisher approvals frequently.
Test and learn by working with different partner types.
Expect performance to vary by partner and audience.
Use the partnerships pages and our smart search functionality that delivers high-quality matches and insights to discover and manage your partners.
Track performance regularly.
Adjust commission and budget allocation for top‑performing partners.
Nurture partnerships
Review partner quality and performance trends regularly.
Use automation where possible to save time on housekeeping tasks, such as commission validations.
Use Publisher Performance reports to identify and scale high‑performing partners.
Offer tailored campaigns or incentives to unlock further growth.
Exposure and negotiations
Partners may offer additional exposure opportunities in exchange for:
Increased commission
Exclusive offers
Tenancy (fixed‑fee) placements
Request media packs to review placement options and pricing before committing.
Voucher code strategy best practices
Use voucher codes to attract new customers and increase conversions.
Keep promotional windows short to reduce misuse.
Use single‑use or personalized codes when appropriate.
Enable voucher attribution to prevent code leakage.
Automatically applied vouchers can simplify redemption and support conversion.
Voucher code recommendations
Communicate clearly and highlight time-sensitive promotions.
Monitor sales daily to identify misuse early.
Test all voucher codes before they go live and monitor performance daily.
Clearly distinguish authorized and unauthorized codes in:
Program terms
Partner communications
Decline transactions only when partners knowingly promote clearly communicated unauthorized codes.
Avoid penalizing partners for sitewide codes outside of their control.
Turn partnerships into performance
Creative assets best practices
Strong, up‑to‑date creatives help partners promote your brand effectively.
Provide industry‑standard banner sizes.
Include a transparent‑background logo.
Use GIF or JPG formats for lightweight assets.
Offer at least six animated banners with clear offers and CTAs.
Refresh creatives seasonally or for major launches.
Communication and offers best practices
Keep My Offers and the Campaign builder updated with current and upcoming promotions.
Always maintain at least one evergreen offer.
Build a communication strategy that includes:
New offers
Updated creatives
Key program updates
Use triggered communications to automate outreach and re‑engage inactive partners.
Program optimization best practices
Keep your product feed up to date to support accurate promotion.
Be open to working with multiple Google Shopping (CSS) partners to broaden reach.
Diversify your partner mix to test different strategies and build a more resilient program.
Use Plugin Store technology partners to:
Improve conversion
Increase AOV
Support acquisition with minimal integration effort