The theme of the year so far in affiliates and partnerships has been storytelling — specifically, telling a better story about the true value of our channel. I am massively in favour of this; in fact, I’ve joined an APMA task force for this very reason.
But in any story, the opening chapter is what decides whether we stick with the book. It has to grip us immediately. If the introduction isn't right, the reader never makes it to the end.
This is more true than ever for brands launching in the affiliate space. If we can get the introduction right, setting the correct expectations and providing the right tools, we start the narrative arc on the right foot. First impressions are everything.
This is at the front of my mind because I’ve recently audited several accounts that launched in the last 6 to 12 months. The results were concerning:
- Ad-hacking: Multiple accounts were riddled with it.
- Tracking Failures: One brand thought they were tracking both UK and US sales; in reality, they were only tracking the US.
- Misalignment: One brand explicitly didn't want to work with voucher sites, yet their entire program consisted of them.
I don’t enjoy being the bearer of bad news during an audit. While it feels good to play the hero and say, “I can fix this,” the reality is that sometimes the damage is already done, especially for smaller brands on tight budgets.
When you remove these low-quality partners, the high ROI and instant revenue used in the initial sales pitch often vanish. This leads to disillusionment and a reluctance to reinvest. It’s the exact opposite of what we want; we want new market entries to fall in love with the channel.
This isn't about bashing the affiliate story; it’s about switching into what I would say in my world ‘agency operation’ mode, where we need to set ourselves up for success and long-term relationships by making that first experience a great one. How do we make onboarding in our industry better? How do we provide the best first impressions so we can build better stories from the start?
As an industry, we need to address several key questions:
- Curation: Should we really be recommending high-risk partners in “recommended” sections?
- Education: Can we teach new brands how to spot “unusual” activity early on?
- Transparency: Can we better educate brands on what a sub-network is and how to verify traffic sources? To be clear, to find opportunity as well as spot where things might not be as desired!
- Technical Literacy: Can we ensure brands know how to check voucher code usage, for example and understand the fallout when an “exclusive” code leaks? Especially if that code has been set up as exclusive to an influencer and is all over browser extensions…
It would be amazing if platforms automated this, if flags appeared for suspicious growth or if sub-network reports were easier to navigate. While the education and insight exist, I would argue that they are not always the most digestible for new brands to channel. But empowering brands, whether they self-manage, work with network support or an agency, to be able to ask the right questions can only be a good thing.
We need more due diligence so brands can own and control the fundamentals of their programs from day one. I love solving client problems, but I have just as many conversations with brands that have shut down programs because of a bad first experience. They say, “We tried affiliates, and it wasn’t right for us.” Those doors are incredibly hard to reopen. If we want brands to stay in the channel, we have to make sure the start of the story is one worth reading.
