Before signing up for any affiliate marketing program, five details on the terms page matter more than the headline commission rate the landing page advertises. A program bragging "up to 50% commission" is meaningless if the cookie window is 24 hours, the payment threshold is $500, and the product converts at 0.3%. This is a guide to reading past the headline number — the metric that actually predicts earnings, how the major program types differ structurally, and the checklist worth running through before joining anything, whether it's a household-name marketplace program or a niche direct affiliate deal from a small software company.
EPC (Earnings Per Click) measures average affiliate earnings per 100 clicks sent, and it's the single best predictor of what a program will actually pay out, because it already bakes in the conversion rate and average order value that a bare commission percentage hides. A program offering 8% commission on a product that converts poorly can have a lower EPC than one offering 4% on a product that converts well. Most established networks display an EPC figure or equivalent for each program — always check it before comparing programs by commission rate alone, since rate alone is close to meaningless without knowing conversion behavior. Where EPC isn't published, asking the program manager directly for average conversion rate and order value is a reasonable substitute, and their willingness to answer specifically is itself a useful signal about how transparent the program is likely to be once you're actually driving traffic to it.
| Program type | Example | Typical commission | Notable trait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace-run | Amazon Associates | 1–10%, category-dependent | Huge product catalog, but a notably short 24-hour cookie |
| Affiliate network | ShareASale, Awin, CJ Affiliate | Varies by merchant, often 5–20% | One dashboard across hundreds of merchants; easier bulk applications |
| Direct SaaS program | Run by the software company itself | 15–30%, often recurring monthly | Highest long-term value if the customer stays subscribed for years |
| High-ticket course/coaching | Often run through Impact or a dedicated affiliate app | 30–50%+ | Fewer sales needed, but typically longer, more considered sales cycles |
Recurring SaaS commissions deserve special attention: a 20% recurring commission on a $50/month tool that retains customers for two years pays out roughly $240 total per referral — often more than a one-time 40% commission on a $150 product, despite the lower headline percentage.
If you're building out review or comparison content to apply this checklist against, having a clean page template ready removes one more excuse for not just starting.
Say you're deciding between two programs to feature in a review of project management software. Program A: 20% recurring commission, $19/month product, 60-day cookie, net-30 payment, $50 minimum payout. Program B: a one-time $80 flat fee, 30-day cookie, net-60 payment, $100 minimum payout. If your typical referred customer stays subscribed for even 12 months, Program A pays out roughly $45.60 total (20% of $19 × 12) — already more than Program B's flat fee, and it keeps paying every month the customer remains subscribed after that, with no additional work from you. Program B's advantage is speed: the full payout lands after one sale rather than accumulating over a year. Neither is universally better — it depends on whether your content strategy benefits more from immediate cash flow or from a passive, compounding income stream, which is exactly the kind of tradeoff a bare commission percentage on a landing page never communicates.
Legitimate affiliate marketing pays for driving actual sales to real customers. A structure that pays you primarily for recruiting other affiliates, rather than for product sales, is functionally a pyramid scheme wearing affiliate-marketing language — a distinction the FTC has pursued enforcement action over multiple times. A quick test: if the primary way to earn is by getting other people to join "under" you rather than by selling the actual product to end customers, that's the specific structure to walk away from, regardless of how it's branded.
Beyond the major networks (ShareASale, Awin, CJ Affiliate, Impact), most software and subscription businesses run their own direct affiliate program, usually linked in their website footer under "Affiliates" or "Partners." Direct programs often pay better than routing the same product through a network, since the merchant isn't splitting the commission with a network's own cut — worth checking both if a product you already use and trust doesn't obviously advertise one path over the other. Niche-specific affiliate directories and forums for your particular category are also worth a search; smaller, specialized programs run by companies too small to appear on the major networks sometimes offer better terms specifically because they're competing harder for affiliate attention.
It's a reasonable starting point because approval is easy and the product catalog is enormous, but the combination of low commission rates and a 24-hour cookie window means it's rarely worth building a whole strategy around long-term. Many affiliates use it as a supplement while working toward higher-paying direct or network relationships once they have traffic to negotiate with.
Networks with easy auto-approval (many ShareASale and Awin merchants) are the practical starting point when you have no track record. For programs with manual review, a simple pitch explaining your planned content and audience, even pre-launch, sometimes works better than applying silently — reviewers are generally looking for a plausible plan, not necessarily existing volume. Building a handful of pieces of content first, even before formal approval, also gives you something concrete to reference in the application itself.
Common thresholds run $25–$100 for smaller/network programs and can run higher for some direct SaaS programs. Always check this before joining several small programs simultaneously — accumulating just below the threshold across many programs at once is a common way new affiliates end up with earned-but-unpaid balances they never actually collect. Some networks also expire unpaid balances after a set inactivity period, so it's worth reading the fine print on that specifically rather than assuming earned commission sits indefinitely. Concentrating effort on fewer, better-vetted programs rather than spreading thin across a dozen low-paying ones tends to clear payout thresholds faster and simplifies tracking considerably, especially once tax season arrives and you need a clean record of exactly which programs actually paid out.