Affiliate marketing has its own language, and it can be confusing if you are new to the channel or working in a second language. This glossary explains 40 of the most common affiliate marketing terms in plain English, grouped by topic.
The basics
Affiliate marketing
A form of performance marketing in which a brand pays partners for results, usually sales, that they generate through tracked links or codes.
Advertiser (or merchant, brand)
The business selling the product and paying commission to partners.
Affiliate (or publisher, partner)
The website, creator, app or community that promotes the advertiser’s products and earns commission. “Partner” is increasingly used because it covers every type.
Affiliate programme
The advertiser’s set of terms, commission rates and partners, run through a tracking platform or network.
Partnership marketing
A broader term for affiliate marketing that includes creators, brand-to-brand partnerships, B2B referrals and strategic partners, not only traditional affiliates.
Affiliate network
A platform that provides tracking, payments and a marketplace connecting advertisers with publishers. Examples include CJ, Rakuten Advertising and Awin.
Tracking platform (or SaaS platform)
Software that tracks partner activity and pays commission, often without a built-in publisher marketplace. Brands manage partners directly. Examples include Impact.com, Partnerize and Everflow.
OPM (outsourced programme management)
An agency that runs an affiliate programme on the brand’s behalf. Read what an OPM agency actually does.
Types of partners
Content commerce
Editorial content, such as reviews and buying guides, that recommends products and earns through affiliate links. See how to get into buying guides.
Editorial publisher
A news or magazine site that publishes shopping content alongside its journalism.
Creator (or influencer)
An individual who promotes products to their audience on social media, video, podcasts or newsletters, often paid through commission, fixed fees or both.
Cashback site
A site that shares part of its commission with shoppers as cash back, encouraging them to buy through its link.
Loyalty partner
A points or rewards programme, such as an airline or bank scheme, that lets members earn rewards by shopping with partner brands.
Voucher (or coupon) site
A site that lists discount codes and offers.
Deal site (or deal community)
A site where editors or users share the best current deals, often with active community voting and comments.
Card-linked offers
Offers attached to a shopper’s bank or payment card that reward them automatically when they spend with a brand.
Closed user group
A private audience, such as employee benefits schemes, student communities or membership groups, offered exclusive deals.
Technology partner
A partner that uses technology to place offers, for example post-purchase offers, browser extensions or checkout add-ons.
Sub-network
A company that aggregates many smaller publishers and joins programmes on their behalf.
Commercials
Commission
The payment a partner earns for a result, usually a percentage of the sale or a fixed amount.
CPA (cost per acquisition)
A model where the advertiser pays for each sale or conversion. The most common affiliate model. See how affiliate deals are priced.
CPL (cost per lead)
Payment for a lead, such as a sign-up, quote request or app install.
CPC (cost per click)
Payment for each click. Less common in affiliate marketing because it pays for traffic rather than results.
Tiered commission
Commission rates that rise as partners hit performance thresholds, or differ by product or customer type.
Fixed fee (or tenancy, placement fee)
A flat payment for a guaranteed placement, such as a feature in a buying guide or newsletter.
Hybrid deal
A combination of a fixed fee and commission.
Payout
The money paid to partners for validated commission, usually monthly.
Tracking and measurement
Affiliate link (or tracking link)
A unique link that records which partner sent a visitor.
Deep link
An affiliate link that sends visitors to a specific product or page rather than the homepage.
Cookie window (or attribution window)
How long after a click a sale can still be credited to the partner, for example 30 days.
Server-to-server tracking (or postback)
Tracking that records conversions directly between the brand’s systems and the platform, making it more reliable than browser cookies alone.
Attribution
The rules that decide which partner gets credit for a sale when several were involved.
Last-click attribution
Giving all the credit to the final partner clicked before purchase. Simple, but it can over-reward partners at the end of the journey.
Incrementality
Whether a partner drove sales that would not have happened anyway. The best measure of true value.
Conversion rate
The percentage of clicks that turn into sales.
AOV (average order value)
The average amount spent per order.
EPC (earnings per click)
The average commission a partner earns per click sent. Publishers use it to compare programmes.
Validation (or approval)
The process of confirming sales before paying commission, removing returns, cancellations and invalid orders. Rejected sales are often called reversals or declines.
Compliance and brand protection
Disclosure
Clearly telling readers that content contains affiliate links or paid promotion, as required by the ASA in the UK and the FTC in the US.
Brand bidding
Partners bidding on your brand name in search ads. Most programmes restrict it to avoid paying commission on customers who were already looking for you.
Put the jargon to work
Now you know the language, see how it fits together in our guides to why affiliate marketing works for market entry and how to launch an affiliate programme. Or talk to Red Thread about running your programme: see our services.
Ready to put this into practice? See our affiliate services for Chinese brands, or start with our complete guide.
FAQs
What is the difference between an affiliate and a publisher?
In practice they mean the same thing: the partner that promotes a brand and earns commission. “Publisher” is often used for websites and media, and “partner” is used as a catch-all.
What is a good EPC?
It varies widely by category and partner type. Publishers compare EPC between programmes, so improving conversion rate, order value or commission all make your programme more attractive.
What is the difference between an affiliate network and a SaaS platform?
A network usually includes a marketplace of publishers and handles payments; a SaaS platform provides the technology and leaves more of the partner management to the brand or its agency.
