Here’s a controversial statement that shouldn’t be controversial: If your affiliate program still uses voucher attribution for generic discount codes, you’re actively burning money.
Let me tell you a little story about one of the most expensive mistakes I still see brands make in 2025.
It starts innocently.
A brand launches an affiliate program.They hand out a few generic codes: “SAM10,” “RESET20,” “WELCOME15.”The team feels smart, organised, and efficient.
“Voucher attribution will handle it,” they tell themselves. The user applies the code → code belongs to Creator X → Creator X gets paid.
Simple. Clean. Automated. Or at least… that’s the fantasy.
Because the minute the influencer posts the code, the real story begins.
The code doesn’t stay put; it escapes.
Within hours, it’s scraped by LLMs, picked up by coupon sites, auto-injected by browser extensions, reposted in Telegram channels, forums, Discord servers, Reddit threads — everywhere except where it was meant to be.
Suddenly, the influencer’s “performance” looks incredible. Conversions spike. ROI is “insane.” The Slack channel is celebrating.
But deep down, you know something’s off. There’s no way that an influencer with such a low follower count can be generating that much revenue.
Well, that’s because half of those customers never even saw that influencer. They just asked an AI model: “Any discount for Brand X?” And the LLM happily delivered the generic code.
There’s no click or real influence; just a scraped code and a broken attribution model. Yet voucher attribution pays the influencer anyway. And that’s where things go off the rails.
This isn’t just messy, it’s financially dangerous.
Generic codes cause:
• Corrupted performance data• Budget decisions based on fiction• And a surge in code leaks you cannot reverse
You’ll always over-attribute sales to the wrong creators, or under-attribute the creators who did drive the sale (by paying 0% if they did not have a click).
It’s the fastest way to burn money while thinking you’re scaling.
So here’s the truth brands don’t like to hear: If you’re still using generic discount codes with voucher attribution, you’re handing your budget to whoever the internet feels like rewarding that day.
If you want to fix it:
• Give creators unique, one-time use codes
• Stop issuing generic codes, they will be scraped
• Tie code usage to click paths, not blind voucher rules
Mixing generic codes with voucher attribution isn’t optimisation, it’s chaos disguised as performance.
And it’s costing you far more than you think.
