Affiliate program audit checklist: 20 questions to ask about your program
Use these 20 questions to find where your affiliate program is leaking value — before you spend more on growth.
Before investing more in recruitment, it pays to understand what your affiliate program is producing today. These 20 questions are the core of the audits we run. You can answer most of them with data from your affiliate platform and analytics — and each answer points to a specific action.
1. Partner portfolio
- What share of approved affiliates generated at least one conversion in the last 90 days? A low share means activation, not recruitment, is the bottleneck.
- What share of revenue comes from your top five partners? High concentration is a risk: losing one partner could cut channel revenue sharply.
- Which partner types are represented — and which are missing? Compare your mix with where your customers research and buy.
- How many partners joined in the last quarter, and how many of those are active? This measures recruitment quality, not just volume.
2. Traffic and customer quality
- How does the value of affiliate-referred customers compare with other channels? Compare retention, revenue and refund rates by cohort.
- Are any partners bidding on your brand terms? Search for your brand plus common modifiers and check who appears in ads.
- Do any partners show unusual conversion patterns? Very high conversion rates, spikes at odd hours or many conversions from one device can indicate fraud.
- Is partner content accurate and compliant? Sample placements for outdated offers, misleading claims and missing disclosures.
3. Commission structure
- Is commission linked to a validated, valuable event? Paying on sign-ups or trials often rewards the wrong behavior.
- What does commission cost as a share of the revenue it generates, by partner type? Look for partner types where the ratio is out of line.
- When were terms last reviewed? Terms set at launch rarely fit a program two years later.
- Do tiers and bonuses reward quality as well as volume? If not, partners optimize for volume.
- Are your earnings per click competitive for the partners you want? Partners compare EPC across brands before choosing whom to promote.
4. Tracking and attribution
- Do platform conversions match your internal records? Significant gaps damage partner trust and your decisions.
- Is tracking resilient to browser restrictions? Server-side or postback tracking is more reliable than cookies alone.
- Are attribution rules written down and communicated? Especially for coupon codes and multiple partners touching one sale.
5. Operations and relationships
- How quickly do partners get answers? Slow responses are one of the main reasons partners deprioritize a brand.
- Are payments accurate and on time? Payment issues damage relationships faster than anything else.
- Is every partner relationship documented? Contacts, terms and history should not live in one person's inbox.
- Who owns the program, and what are they measured on? Without a clear owner and targets, programs drift.
What to do with the answers
Group your findings into three lists: problems costing you money now (quality issues, overpaid partners), blockers to growth (activation, terms, missing partner types) and operational fixes (documentation, response times). Tackle the first list before investing in growth.
If you'd like an independent view, our affiliate program audit covers all of these areas and ends with a prioritized 90-day plan.