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How to start an affiliate program: a 10-step launch plan

By The Refficks team · · 13 min read

Setting up the software for an affiliate program can take an afternoon. Opening one that works takes a handful of decisions that are easy to put off until after launch, when changing them means changing what partners are paid and arguing about sales that already happened.

This plan puts those decisions first. It has ten steps, in the order they depend on each other, and each one ends with what to write down. There is a launch checklist at the end you can copy.

It is written for online stores, software and subscription businesses, and creators selling courses or memberships. The decisions are the same for all three; only the numbers you put in them differ.

Step 1: Check that a program can work yet

An affiliate program pays people to recommend you. It works best when three things are already true:

  • People recommend you without being paid. Partners can spread a recommendation further, but it is very hard to pay them into creating one. If customers rarely mention you to anyone, fix the product or the offer first.
  • There is margin to share. You need to be able to give a partner a meaningful share of a sale and still be glad of it. If a 10% commission would wipe out your profit, the program will only scale a loss.
  • You can see every sale, and every refund. Commission is only as good as the sales data behind it. Your checkout or billing system has to report sales, and refunds, to whatever tracks your partners. That includes sales made with a discount code and no click.

If one of the three is missing, you can still start, but expect the program to cost time before it earns. Write down which one is weakest; it is the first thing to fix.

Step 2: Decide who your partners are

"Affiliate" covers several different relationships, and each one is paid and managed differently:

Partner Who they are What they are usually paid for
Affiliate Content sites, newsletters, comparison sites, communities A share of each sale they send
Referrer Your own customers telling friends A reward for each friend who buys, often with a reward for the friend too
Creator People who make content for your brand A fee for agreed work, sometimes plus a commission
Ambassador Fans active in your community Points, rewards, early access or store credit
B2B partner Agencies, consultants, resellers A share of deals they bring or influence

Pick the one that matches the people who already recommend you, and start there. You can add a second kind later, such as a referral program alongside an affiliate one. Running two from day one doubles the setup before either has proven anything.

Write down: which kind of partner you are recruiting first, in one sentence.

Step 3: Decide what you pay for, and how much

Three choices, made from your own numbers rather than a rate table:

  • The event you pay for. A sale, a first subscription payment, every renewal, or a qualified lead.
  • The rate. A percentage or a flat amount, worked out from your gross margin and what you would pay to win a customer another way.
  • How long it pays. Once, for a set number of months, or for as long as the customer pays.

There is a full method, with worked examples for a store and a subscription, in affiliate commission structures: how to set a rate you can afford.

Two things are cheap to decide now and expensive later. First, whether a partner's discount code changes the rate, because the discount has already spent part of your margin. Second, the holding period: how long a commission waits before it is approved. Set it longer than your refund window, so a refunded sale never becomes a paid commission.

Write down: the rate, the base it applies to, the duration, and the holding period in days.

Step 4: Decide how a sale is credited

Attribution is a set of rules you choose, not a fact the software discovers. Partners will ask about them, usually the first time a sale they expected goes to someone else. Decide them now:

  • Links and codes. Give every partner a tracking link and a discount code. The link credits sales from people who click. The code credits sales from people who heard about you on a podcast, in a video or in person, and typed the code at checkout without clicking anything. Without codes, those partners are invisible.
  • The window. How long after a click a sale can still be credited. Thirty days covers most purchases people make within a few weeks of hearing about you; a longer window suits expensive purchases people think about for a long time.
  • First or last touch. When two partners sent the same customer, does the sale go to the most recent one (last touch) or the one who introduced them (first touch)? Last touch is simpler to explain. First touch rewards discovery.
  • Clicks against codes. When a customer clicked one partner's link and typed another partner's code, which wins? There is no universal answer, but there must be an answer.
  • Your own customers. Does a partner earn on a customer who already bought from you before? In a referral program the answer should almost always be no: somebody who was already your customer was not introduced by anyone.

Write down: the window, the model, the click-versus-code rule and the existing-customer rule, in plain sentences you can paste into your terms. Affiliate attribution explained covers each rule in depth, with a template to copy.

Step 5: Set up tracking, and test it before anyone joins

Connect your checkout or billing system and put the tracking script on your site, then test four paths with a real purchase in test mode or a cheap product:

  1. Click, then buy. Click a test partner's link, buy, and check the sale is credited to that partner.
  2. Code only. In a fresh browser with no click, buy with the partner's code. Check it is credited.
  3. Refund. Refund one of those orders and check the commission is reversed.
  4. Decline cookies. If your site asks for cookie consent, decline it, use a link, and buy with the code. Check what was credited, so you know what to tell partners about shoppers who decline.

A tracking problem is found either here or by your first partner, and your first partner is the one you least want to find it. If a path fails, fix it before launch.

Write down: the result of each test, with the date. When a partner asks whether tracking works, you will have an answer.

Step 6: Write your program terms

Terms are where the decisions from steps 3 and 4 become promises. They do not need to be long. They need to answer the questions partners will ask, before they ask them:

  • Joining. Who can apply, and how applications are reviewed.
  • Earning. The rate, the base it applies to, and how long it pays.
  • Crediting. The window, first or last touch, and the click-versus-code rule.
  • Approval and refunds. The holding period, what a refund or chargeback does before payout, and what it does after payout.
  • Payment. The schedule, the cut-off, the minimum, the methods, the currency, and the tax forms you need.
  • Promotion rules. What partners may and may not do. Rules worth deciding cover bidding on your brand name in search ads, posting codes to coupon and deal sites, spam, buying through their own link, and claims about your product you have not approved. Affiliate fraud prevention explains why each matters.
  • Disclosure. Partners must say they are paid to recommend you, clearly and where the recommendation is made.
  • Ending. What happens to commission that is pending when a partner leaves or is removed.
  • Changes. How much notice partners get before the terms change.

Disclosure deserves its own line because the responsibility is partly yours, not only your partners':

  • United States. The Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides say a commission on sales through an affiliate link should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and that advertisers should give their endorsers guidance, monitor what they publish, and act when something is wrong. The FTC's own suggested wording is "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", and it says "Paid link" right next to a link should be enough.
  • United Kingdom. The Advertising Standards Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority treat affiliate links and codes as advertising, hold the brand and the affiliate both responsible, and say labels such as "aff" or "afflink" are not enough. They ask for a clear label such as "#Ad".
  • European Union. The European Commission says EU consumer law already requires advertising, affiliate marketing included, to be disclosed.

Tell partners exactly what you expect, in words they can copy, and keep a copy of what you told them. Then check what they publish now and then, and follow up when a post leaves the disclosure out.

Have a lawyer read the finished terms. This article is a checklist, not legal advice.

Write down: the terms, as a page partners see before they apply.

Step 7: Build the partner's side

Everything a partner sees before their first sale decides whether there is one. Four pieces:

  • A signup page that says, in a paragraph, who the program is for, what it pays, and when. Put the rate on the page. Partners compare programs, and a page that hides the rate loses the ones who compare.
  • Two to four application questions. Where they would promote you, roughly how many people they reach, and a link to their site or channel. Enough to decide, and short enough to finish.
  • An approval rule. Review every application by hand at first: you will learn what a good partner looks like. Automatic approval can come later, for a program whose terms and fraud checks you trust.
  • Day one. The moment a partner is approved, they need their link, their code, the commission in one sentence, one ready-to-use piece of content, and somewhere to see their clicks and sales. Anything they have to ask for is a reason to put it off.

Write down: the signup page, the questions, and the approval email.

Step 8: Plan payouts before the first one is due

The first payout is the moment partners decide whether you are trustworthy. Decide:

  • The schedule and cut-off. For example, commission approved by the last day of the month is paid on the 15th of the next.
  • The minimum. A small transfer can cost more in fees than it moves. Balances under the minimum roll over to the next payout. Set it per currency.
  • The method. Bank transfer, PayPal or Wise, from a file or directly. Fewer methods means fewer mistakes.
  • Tax forms. A US business paying US partners usually collects a Form W-9 and may need to file Form 1099-NEC, by January 31, for each partner it paid at least the IRS reporting threshold in the year. The threshold was $600 and is $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025. Partners outside the US give a Form W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (entities) instead. In the UK, you can write your partners' invoices for them (self-billing), but only once each partner has signed a self-billing agreement. Other countries have their own rules. Ask your accountant which apply to you.
  • Who is not being paid, and why. Before a payout is sent, you should be able to see every partner who is owed money but will not receive it (no payout details, under the minimum) so you can tell them.

How to pay affiliates covers each of these, and the payout-day routine, in detail.

Write down: the schedule, the minimum, the methods, and the tax forms you collect at signup.

Step 9: Recruit a small first group

Start with ten to twenty people who already know you: customers who have recommended you, readers of your newsletter, creators who have mentioned you, and businesses whose customers overlap with yours. Invite them personally.

A small first group is a feature. You will onboard each one by hand, learn which questions the terms did not answer, and find any tracking problem while it affects a few people rather than a few hundred. Open the signup page to everyone once the first group has made sales.

Write down: the first twenty names, and why each one.

Step 10: Get each partner to a first sale, then review weekly

Approving a partner is not the finish line. Some approved partners never send a click, and some who send clicks never make a sale. That gap, between approval and a first sale, is where a program can quietly lose the people it worked to recruit, and you will only see it if you measure it.

Plan each partner's first 30 days: what they receive on day one, a nudge if they have not shared their link after a few days, a personal note if they still have not after ten, and an offer of help if they have clicks and no sales. There is a full plan, with email templates, in affiliate onboarding: getting new partners to their first sale.

Then review the program every week, with four questions:

  • Who was approved more than two weeks ago and has not sent a click?
  • Who has clicks and no sales, and enough clicks for that to mean something?
  • Whose refunds are high compared with everyone else's?
  • Who made a first sale this week, and have you thanked them?

Affiliate program metrics covers the weekly review, and the monthly numbers that tell you whether the program is working.

Write down: the 30-day plan and a weekly half-hour in the calendar.

The launch checklist

Copy this into your own tracker. Each line is one of the decisions above.

Before you build

  • People already recommend you without being paid
  • Gross margin per sale, and the most you would pay to win a customer
  • Your checkout reports sales and refunds, including coded sales
  • The first kind of partner you will recruit

Commission

  • What you pay for (sale, first payment, renewals, lead)
  • Rate and the base it applies to (before tax, shipping, discounts?)
  • Rate when the partner's code is used, if different
  • Duration (once, a set number of months, or as long as they pay)
  • Holding period, longer than your refund window

Attribution

  • Every partner gets a link and a code
  • Attribution window in days
  • First touch or last touch
  • Click against code: which wins
  • Existing customers: credited or not

Tracking tests (date each)

  • Click, then buy: credited
  • Code only, no click: credited
  • Refund: commission reversed
  • Cookies declined: result recorded

Terms

  • Joining, earning, crediting, approval and refunds, payment
  • Promotion rules (brand bidding, coupon sites, self-purchases, claims)
  • Disclosure requirement, with the exact wording you expect
  • Ending the relationship, and notice of changes
  • Reviewed by a lawyer

Partner side

  • Signup page with the rate on it
  • Two to four application questions
  • Approval rule (by hand to start)
  • Day-one email: link, code, commission sentence, one asset, where to see stats

Payouts

  • Schedule and cut-off
  • Minimum per currency
  • Payment methods
  • Tax forms collected at signup

Launch

  • Ten to twenty invited partners, by name
  • A 30-day onboarding plan per partner
  • A weekly review in the calendar

Where Refficks fits

Refficks is a new platform for running partner programs: affiliate, referral, creator, ambassador and B2B, from one account. It is built around the steps above, and in particular the last one.

  • Links and codes. Partners get tracking links and coupon codes, and a code credits a sale even when no click happened. Every attribution decision is stored with its reasoning, so "why did this sale go to someone else?" has an answer on screen.
  • Commission you can explain. Plans pay a percentage or a flat amount, once or on renewals, and every ledger entry stores its arithmetic. Refunds write a reversal beside the original rather than editing it.
  • Payouts with no surprises. The payout preview shows who is owed, who cannot be paid and why, before anything is committed.
  • What needs you this week. The activation funnel names where partners stall, and the Intelligence screen's Needs you list ranks the partners worth your attention, with the evidence beside each one.

It works with Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Chargebee, Paddle and a growing list of checkouts and billing platforms. The install guides say what each one can and cannot do, and are readable without an account.

Start free. No card needed.

Sources

All read on October 15, 2026.