What is an Affiliate Advertiser?
An affiliate advertiser (also called a merchant or advertiser) is a company or business that runs an affiliate program to promote their products or services. Instead of paying upfront for advertising, affiliate advertisers only pay commissions when affiliates successfully drive sales or conversions.
Affiliate advertisers create programs, set commission rates, provide tracking links, and manage relationships with affiliates who promote their products. They benefit from performance-based marketing where they only pay for actual results, making it a cost-effective way to grow their business.
Role and Responsibilities
As an affiliate advertiser, your main responsibilities include:
- Program setup: Create and configure your affiliate program with commission rates, cookie duration, payment terms, and program rules
- Tracking implementation: Set up tracking systems to accurately attribute sales to the right affiliates
- Affiliate recruitment: Find and recruit quality affiliates who can effectively promote your products to their audiences
- Relationship management: Communicate with affiliates, provide marketing materials, answer questions, and build partnerships
- Commission management: Track sales, calculate commissions, and process payments to affiliates on time
- Program optimization: Analyze performance data, optimize commission structures, and improve program effectiveness
How Affiliate Programs Work
When you run an affiliate program, affiliates sign up and receive unique tracking links. When someone clicks an affiliate's link and makes a purchase, your tracking system attributes the sale to that affiliate. You then pay the affiliate a commission based on your agreed-upon rate.
The typical flow:
- Affiliate signs up for your program and receives unique tracking links
- Affiliate promotes your product using their tracking links (in blog posts, videos, emails, etc.)
- Customer clicks the affiliate link and visits your website
- Tracking cookie is stored in the customer's browser (typically 30-90 days)
- Customer makes a purchase within the cookie window
- Sale is attributed to the affiliate and commission is calculated
- You pay the affiliate commission (usually monthly or when minimum threshold is reached)
Benefits for Advertisers
Running an affiliate program offers significant advantages:
- Performance-based costs: You only pay when affiliates drive actual sales, ensuring positive ROI
- Scalable growth: Each affiliate brings their own audience, allowing you to reach exponentially more customers
- Cost-effective: No upfront advertising costs—commissions are paid from revenue generated
- Built-in trust: Affiliates lend credibility to your brand, as their audiences trust their recommendations
- Multi-channel reach: Different affiliates reach customers at various stages of the buyer's journey
- Predictable budget: You know exactly what customer acquisition costs are (commission rate)
- Passive recruitment: Once set up, affiliates can discover and join your program organically
Advertisers vs Publishers
It's important to understand the difference between affiliate advertisers and affiliate publishers:
Affiliate Advertisers (Merchants):
- Companies that own products or services
- Create and run affiliate programs
- Pay commissions to affiliates
- Set commission rates and program terms
- Provide tracking links and marketing materials
Affiliate Publishers:
- Content creators who promote products
- Join affiliate programs to earn commissions
- Receive commissions from advertisers
- Create content (blogs, videos, emails) to drive sales
- Build audiences and recommend products they believe in
In simple terms: Advertisers run programs, while publishers promote products. If you want to learn more about what publishers do, check out our guide on what is an affiliate publisher.
Getting Started as an Advertiser
To start running an affiliate program:
- Choose a platform: Use an affiliate tracking platform like Revshare to manage your program
- Set commission rates: Determine fair commission rates based on your margins and industry standards (typically 20-50% for digital products)
- Define program terms: Set cookie duration, payment schedules, minimum payout thresholds, and program rules
- Create marketing materials: Provide banners, copy templates, product information, and other resources affiliates need
- Recruit affiliates: Reach out to content creators, bloggers, influencers, and other potential affiliates in your niche
- Track and optimize: Monitor program performance, analyze which affiliates drive the most sales, and optimize your program over time
Running an affiliate program is one of the most effective ways to grow your business through performance-based marketing. By partnering with affiliates who genuinely believe in your products, you can reach new audiences and drive sales while only paying for actual results.