Affiliate management software: what it is, what it does and how to choose

Affiliate management software is the platform where a company or a network runs its partner programme: who promotes, which link they used, which sales they brought and how much is owed. It replaces spreadsheets and hand-made links.

What it has to do

• Tracking: record each click with a click ID and tie each sale to the right affiliate, ideally by postback, which doesn't depend on cookies.
• Commissions: work out what each affiliate earns per sale, per lead, as a percentage or every month (CPA, CPS, revshare).
• Payouts: add up approved earnings, respect a minimum and a schedule, and keep a record of what was paid.
• Affiliate portal: offers, links, reports and balance, so partners don't depend on you to know what they earned.
• Anti-fraud: catch bots, repeated clicks and suspicious conversions before you pay for them.
• Reports: clicks, conversions, revenue and profit by offer, affiliate, country and sub ID.

Affiliate management or a tracker?

A campaign tracker measures a media buyer's traffic. Affiliate management software runs the relationship between advertisers and affiliates: offer access, approvals, commissions and payouts. A network needs the second; many affiliates use both and connect them by postback.

How to assess one

1. Is the price published, and do you know what you pay as volume grows?
2. Does tracking work without third-party cookies?
3. Can it pay every commission model you use?
4. Can your affiliates work in their own language?
5. Is there an API and an export, so you can leave with your data?

See the full list in how to choose tracking software.

In RastroAff

RastroAff combines postback, pixel and API tracking, payout rules, anti-fraud with a review queue, an affiliate portal, payouts and reports, in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. Plans start at €0 and Starter costs €24.99 a month. See why RastroAff or start with the free trial.