Stop 10 · E-commerce & Performance MarketingTopics · 7/8

Affiliate Marketing Basics

In short

Affiliates are partners who send you customers and get paid only when a sale happens. You pay for results, not for promises.

Paying external partners (bloggers, creators, sites) a commission for sales they drive — a performance-based channel where you generally only pay when it works.

The blob waves from a yellow and green auto-rickshaw parked outside a little handicraft shop.

Think of it like this

The auto driver's commission

In a tourist town, an auto driver tells visitors, 'I know a good handicraft shop.' If they buy, the shop pays him a small commission. No sale, no money. Affiliate marketing is that deal, run with tracked links.

Watch it happen

How an affiliate sale is tracked

Creator

Follower

Store

Network

link: shop.in/?ref=riya

1/5A creator reviews a backpack and shares their unique affiliate link, with a clear 'affiliate link' disclosure.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Tracked links

Each affiliate gets a unique link or code so sales can be credited to them.

Cookie window

The time after a click during which a purchase still counts, like 7 or 30 days.

Commission models

Usually a percentage of sale or a fixed amount per sale or lead.

Disclosure

Affiliates should clearly say they earn from links. Indian advertising guidelines expect it.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Paying commission on orders that are later returned.

Do this instead

Pay after the return window closes, and say so in the affiliate terms.

Oops

Letting affiliates bid on your brand name in search ads.

Do this instead

Set clear rules so affiliates don't take credit for customers who were already searching for you.

Your mission

Draft an affiliate program

~25 min

Quick check

What's the main advantage of affiliate marketing for a brand?

Go deeper

1Research how a common affiliate program structures its commission (flat rate vs percentage).
2Learn the basics of affiliate tracking links and attribution.
3Understand the trade-off between broad affiliate networks and hand-picked, higher-quality partners.