# What is Affiliate Marketing?

What is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliates earn a commission (5-30%) on each sale via a unique link. The business pays only for results.

## How it works in practice

Affiliate marketing is a 'sales army' that works without a base salary. But: managing affiliates takes time.

## Related metrics

- UGC — content created by affiliates
- CAC — affiliate commission counts toward CAC
- Attribution — a challenge: who gets the credit?
- Coupon — affiliates usually use a coupon code

## Common misconception

'Affiliates mean easy money with no work.' A quality affiliate requires onboarding, materials, support, and timely payment.

## How to fix it

Not generating sales? (1) is the commission competitive? (2) are there quality materials for affiliates? (3) is the attribution window 30 days? (4) a newsletter to affiliates about promotions.

## Real-world example

A cookware store: 120 affiliates, only 12 active. Narrowing to 20 focused affiliates plus a monthly newsletter grew sales 3.5x within 60 days.

## Where to start

Consider affiliates once margin exceeds 30% and after achieving PMF.

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Category: Marketing · From the [Jimmy OS KPI Glossary](https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi.md) · Source page: https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi/affiliate-marketing