The affiliate glossary, in plain English

60 terms Australian brands actually encounter – each defined in under 60 words, with a worked example. No jargon defined with more jargon.

A
Activation campaign A time-limited push to get newly recruited or dormant publishers actively promoting an advertiser,… Read → Ad hijacking When an unauthorised party, often a publisher acting outside program terms, runs ads that… Read → Advertiser An advertiser, also called a merchant or brand, is the business running the affiliate… Read → Affiliate agency An affiliate agency is a services business that manages an advertiser's affiliate program on… Read → Affiliate disclosure A clear statement telling readers that a publisher may earn commission from links or… Read → Affiliate network An affiliate network is a third-party platform that connects advertisers with publishers, providing the… Read → Affiliate program audit A structured review of an affiliate program's publisher mix, traffic sources, and commission payouts… Read → AOV AOV stands for average order value – the average dollar amount spent per transaction,… Read → Assisted conversion An assisted conversion is a sale where a publisher's click occurred somewhere in the… Read → Attribution window An attribution window is the broader time period during which a conversion can still… Read →
B
Brand bidding When a publisher runs paid search ads on an advertiser's own brand name or… Read →
C
Card-linked offer A promotion that credits cashback or rewards automatically when a shopper pays with a… Read → Cashback publisher A cashback publisher is a site or app that shares a portion of the… Read → Click A click is a single recorded instance of a user selecting a publisher's affiliate… Read → Closed-group publisher A publisher who promotes offers to a private audience that outsiders cannot see or… Read → Commission leakage The loss of revenue an advertiser experiences when commission is paid on sales that… Read → Commission rate The percentage of a sale, or fixed amount per action, that an advertiser pays… Read → Commission tier A structure where the commission rate increases as a publisher hits defined sales or… Read → Content publisher A content publisher earns affiliate commission by producing editorial material – reviews, guides, comparisons,… Read → Conversion rate Conversion rate is the percentage of clicks that result in a completed action the… Read → Cookie window A cookie window, also called a cookie duration, is the length of time after… Read → Cost of sale The total cost of acquiring a sale through an affiliate channel, typically calculated as… Read → Coupon poaching When a coupon or deals site claims commission by capturing a shopper's click at… Read → Coupon publisher A coupon publisher, also called a voucher-code site, promotes discount codes and deals from… Read → CPA CPA stands for cost per acquisition – the amount an advertiser pays for each… Read → CPL CPL stands for cost per lead – the amount an advertiser pays for each… Read → Cross-device tracking The ability to attribute a sale to a publisher even when the shopper clicked… Read → CSS partner A Comparison Shopping Service partner is a Google-approved third party that lets retailers show… Read →
D
Datafeed A datafeed is a structured file, usually CSV or XML, that an advertiser supplies… Read → Deduplication Deduplication is the process networks and advertisers use to ensure a single conversion is… Read → Deep link A deep link is a tracking link that sends a customer directly to a… Read →
E
EPC EPC stands for earnings per click – the average commission a publisher earns for… Read → Exclusivity A program term that restricts a publisher, or an advertiser, from working with direct… Read →
F
Flat-fee commission A fixed dollar amount paid per completed action, such as a sale, lead, or… Read →
G
Gift card leakage Commission incorrectly paid on gift card purchases, which program terms usually exclude because gift… Read →
H
Hybrid commission A commission structure that combines two payment models, most often a percentage of sale… Read →
I
Impression An impression is a single instance of an affiliate link, banner, or piece of… Read → Incrementality Incrementality measures whether a sale attributed to a publisher would have happened anyway without… Read → Influencer partner A publisher who earns affiliate commission by promoting products through their own social media… Read →
L
Last-click attribution Last-click attribution is a model that credits an entire conversion to the most recent… Read → Loyalty publisher A loyalty publisher operates a rewards or points programme – such as a credit… Read →
M
Multi-touch attribution Multi-touch attribution is a model that splits credit for a single conversion across several… Read →
N
Network fee A charge an affiliate network applies to the advertiser for running the program, typically… Read → New customer commission A higher commission rate paid only when a publisher's referral results in a sale… Read →
O
Override An additional commission paid to a sub-network, agency, or managing publisher on top of… Read →
P
Paid placement Prominent positioning on a publisher's site or newsletter, such as a top banner or… Read → Postback A postback is an automated server-to-server notification an advertiser's system sends to a network… Read → Program terms The rules an advertiser sets for its affiliate program, covering commission rates, cookie window… Read → Promo calendar A shared schedule of upcoming sales, discount codes, and campaign windows that an advertiser… Read → Publisher A publisher, also called an affiliate, is any individual or business that promotes an… Read → Publisher recruitment The ongoing process of identifying, approaching, and onboarding new publishers to grow an affiliate… Read →
R
Reversal rate The percentage of tracked, commissionable sales that are later reversed due to returns, cancellations,… Read → ROAS ROAS stands for return on ad spend – total revenue generated divided by the… Read →
S
Server-to-server tracking Server-to-server tracking, often called S2S, is a method where conversion data passes directly between… Read → Sub-affiliate A sub-affiliate is a smaller publisher who promotes an advertiser's offers through a larger… Read → Sub-network A sub-network is a publisher that operates its own network of sub-affiliates beneath it,… Read →
T
Technology partner A partner in an affiliate program that provides software or infrastructure rather than driving… Read → Tenancy fee A fixed payment an advertiser makes to a publisher for guaranteed visibility, such as… Read → Tracking link A tracking link is a unique URL assigned to a publisher that routes a… Read →
V
Validation The process an advertiser or network uses to confirm a tracked sale is genuine… Read →

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