The Affpinions Wiki is an encyclopedia for the affiliate marketing industry: 44 terms explained in plain English, from AOV to validation period. To suggest a term or an edit, please get in touch.
A
- Above the fold
- The part of a web page visible without scrolling. Placing a clear call to action or disclosure here usually improves visibility.
- Affiliate
- A publisher, creator or business that promotes another company's products in exchange for commission. Also called a publisher or partner.
- Affiliate link
- A unique tracking URL that identifies you as the referrer of a click or sale.
- Affiliate manager
- The person at a network or merchant who supports affiliates, approves applications and negotiates rates.
- Affiliate network
- A platform that connects many advertisers (merchants) with many publishers, handling tracking, reporting and payments.
- AOV (Average Order Value)
- The average amount spent per order. Higher AOV means higher commissions on percentage-based CPS programs.
- Attribution
- The rules that decide which affiliate gets credit for a conversion, such as last click or first click.
C
- Chargeback
- A payment reversed by the customer's bank or card issuer, which usually also reverses the affiliate's commission.
- CJ (CJ Affiliate)
- A global affiliate marketing network connecting advertisers and publishers across many industries; formerly Commission Junction.
- Click ID
- A unique identifier generated for each click, used to match conversions back to the affiliate.
- ClickBank
- An online marketplace for digital products where vendors list products and affiliates promote them for commission.
- Conversion
- A completed desired action — a sale, sign-up, lead or install — that triggers a commission.
- Conversion rate (CR)
- The percentage of clicks or visitors that convert.
- How long after a click a conversion can still be credited to you. Also called the attribution or referral window.
- CPA
- Cost per action (or acquisition): a fixed payment for a defined action.
- CPC
- Cost per click: payment for each click delivered.
- CPI
- Cost per install: payment for each app installation.
- CPL
- Cost per lead: payment for each qualified lead submitted.
- CPM
- Cost per mille: payment per thousand impressions.
- CPS
- Cost per sale: commission on completed purchases.
- Creative
- Banners, text links, videos and other promotional material supplied by the advertiser.
D
- Deep link
- An affiliate link that points to a specific product or page rather than the homepage.
- Direct linking
- Sending paid traffic straight to the merchant's site via an affiliate link, often restricted in paid search.
E
- EPC (Earnings per click)
- Total commissions divided by clicks. The most useful single number for comparing offers.
F
- First-party data
- Data a business collects directly from its own customers and visitors.
G
- Geo-targeting
- Restricting an offer or showing different offers based on the visitor's country.
H
- Hybrid commission
- A deal combining two models, for example CPA plus RevShare.
I
- Incentivised traffic
- Traffic that is rewarded for clicking or converting, such as cashback or points. Often restricted.
L
- Lifetime commission
- A program that pays you on all future purchases by a customer you referred.
- LTV (Lifetime value)
- The total revenue a customer generates over their relationship with a business.
M
- Merchant / advertiser
- The business that sells the product and pays affiliates commission.
- Minimum payout
- The balance you must reach before a network pays you. Also called the payment threshold.
N
- Net-30 / Net-60
- Payment terms meaning you are paid 30 or 60 days after the end of the period in which commissions were approved.
P
- Postback (S2S)
- A server-to-server call that reports a conversion to the network without relying on browser cookies.
- Publisher
- Another word for affiliate: the party that promotes offers.
R
- Rakuten Advertising
- A global affiliate marketing provider helping merchants increase sales and publishers increase revenue through performance partnerships.
- Reversal
- A commission cancelled after the fact, for example because an order was returned or a lead was invalid.
- Revenue share: a percentage of the revenue a referred customer generates over time.
S
- A performance-based affiliate network connecting publishers with merchants who want their products or services promoted.
- Sub-ID
- A custom parameter added to affiliate links to track which page, placement or campaign drove a result.
- Super affiliate
- An affiliate who generates a very large share of a program's sales.
T
- Tracking pixel
- A small image or script on a confirmation page that records conversions.
- Two-tier affiliate program
- A program that also pays you a commission on the earnings of affiliates you refer.
V
- Validation period
- The time a merchant takes to confirm a conversion is genuine before approving the commission.
Looking for acronyms only? See acronyms in affiliate marketing.