Manual approval of affiliates

Manual approval gives you control over who can join your affiliate program. When enabled, you review each affiliate application before they can start promoting your products or services.

• Review affiliate applications before they join
• Verify affiliate quality and legitimacy
• Control who promotes your brand
• Reduce spam and low-quality affiliates

What is Manual Approval?

When manual approval is enabled in your program settings, new affiliate applications are placed in a pending state. You'll receive notifications and can review each application in your dashboard before deciding to approve or reject it.

This process allows you to verify that applicants are legitimate, check their promotion methods, review their websites and social media presence, and ensure they align with your brand values before granting access to your affiliate program.

When to Use Manual Approval

Manual approval is recommended when:

• Brand protection — You want to ensure affiliates represent your brand appropriately and maintain quality standards.
• High-value products — Your products or services require careful vetting to ensure affiliates understand and can properly promote them.
• Compliance requirements — You need to verify affiliates meet specific legal or industry requirements.
• Limited program capacity — You want to limit the number of affiliates or work with a select group of partners.
• Quality control — You've experienced issues with spam or low-quality affiliates in the past.

Reviewing Applications

When an affiliate applies to your program, you'll see their application in your dashboard under the Applications section. Click on any pending application to view detailed information about the affiliate.

Each application includes:

1. Affiliate information — Name, email, country, profile type (individual or company), and signup date.
2. Company details — If they selected company profile, you'll see legal company name, business address, and tax ID.
3. Promotion methods — How they plan to advertise your products or services.
4. Websites — Links to their websites, blogs, or platforms where they'll promote your brand.
5. Social media profiles — Their social media handles and follower counts if provided.
6. Payout methods — Their preferred payment methods (PayPal, Wise, or Stripe) and account details.
7. Performance history — If they've been part of other programs, you can see if they've generated sales or leads.

What to Check

When reviewing applications, consider the following:

• Website quality — Visit their websites to assess content quality, traffic, and audience alignment with your target market.
• Social media presence — Check their social media profiles for follower count, engagement rates, and content quality.
• Promotion methods — Review how they plan to promote your products. Ensure their methods align with your brand values and marketing guidelines.
• Previous performance — If available, check their performance history with other programs to gauge their effectiveness.
• Legitimacy — Verify that their information appears legitimate and matches their online presence.
• Compliance — Ensure they can comply with your terms of service and any industry-specific requirements.

Approving or Rejecting

After reviewing an application, you can either approve or reject it:

• Approve — The affiliate immediately gains access to your program. They'll receive their unique referral links and can start promoting your products.
• Reject — The affiliate is notified that their application was not accepted. They won't have access to your program, but they can reapply in the future if circumstances change.

You can approve or reject applications directly from the application detail page. The process is quick and straightforward—simply review the information, make your decision, and click the appropriate button.

Auto-Approval Benefits

While manual approval gives you more control, auto-approval can help you grow your affiliate program faster:

• Faster growth — Programs with auto-approval get 56% more affiliate signups on average.
• Less administrative work — No need to review every application manually.
• Better affiliate experience — Affiliates can start promoting immediately without waiting for approval.
• Performance-based filtering — You can still monitor affiliate performance and remove underperformers or those who violate your terms.

You can always switch between manual and auto-approval in your program settings. Consider starting with auto-approval to maximize growth, then switch to manual approval if you need more control over who joins your program.