• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Tipalti
  • Solutions
    • Accounts Payable AutomationEnd-to-end, invoice-based payments designed for growing companies
      • Supplier Management IconSupplier Management
      • Invoice IconInvoice Management
      • PO Matching IconPurchase Order Matching
      • Global Payouts IconPayment Remittance
      • Payment Reconciliation IconPayment Reconciliation
    • Purchase Order ManagementControl and visibility over corporate spend
    • Global Partner PaymentsScalable payment solutions for creator, ad tech, sharing and marketplaces economy
      • Supplier Management IconPartner Management
      • Global Payouts IconGlobal Payments
      • Fraud Detection IconFraud Detection
      • Self Billing IconSelf-Billing Module
      • Tax Compliant IconTax and VAT Compliance
  • Technology
    • Overview
      • The Tipalti PlatformGlobal, scalable, and fully automated
    • Features
      • Multi Entity IconMulti-Entity Architecture
      • Financial Controls IconFinancial Controls
      • Payment API IconPayment API
      • Secure Cloud IconSecure Cloud
      • MSB IconMoney Services Business
      • AI IconPi Payables Intelligence
    • Integrations
      • ERP & Accounting
      • NetSuite
      • Sage Intacct
      • QuickBooks
      • Microsoft Dynamics
      • Sage Accounting
      • Xero Accounting
      • Performance Marketing
      • Custom Integrations
  • Why Tipalti
    • Overview
      • Why TipaltiA modern, holistic, powerful payables solution that scales with your changing business needs
      • Customer StoriesSee how we transform finance operations
    • Benefits
      • Accolades
      • Invoice-Based Workflow
      • Performance-Based Workflow
      • Benefits by Role
    • Additional Services
      • Currency Management
      • Accelerated Payments
      • FX Hedging
      • Implementation Services
      • Supplier Enablement Program
    • Industries
      • Business Services
      • Software and Technology
      • Ecommerce and Retail
      • Marketplaces and Gig Economy
      • Video and Digital Media
      • Video Gaming
      • Financial Services
      • Online Services
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Advertising Technology
      • Affiliate and Influencer Networks
      • Manufacturing and Wholesale
  • Resources
    • Blog
      • The Financial Advisor BlogStrategy and trends in payments
    • Tools
      • Cost Per Invoice Calculator
      • Payment Error Calculator
    • Guides
      • What is AP Automation?
      • Compare Payment Methods
      • Future of Finance
      • Destination IPO
      • Payments Across Borders
      • The Total Guide to ERP Integration
  • Company
    • About Us
      • About Tipalti
      • Careers
      • Partnerships
      • Contact Us
    • Help
      • Support
      • FAQs
    • News & Events
      • Events
      • Newsroom
  • Login
  • Book a Demo
Get Started

How Affiliate Software Creates Opportunities for Growth


We've paired this article with a comprehensive guide to dealing with payment challenges and scaling payables. Get your free copy of How Digital, High-Performing Businesses Scale Payables!
Get the FREE guide
Home / Affiliate Hub / Affiliate Software

In the context of an affiliate marketing program, the more proactive you are, the more successful the strategy will be. Especially when it comes to communication and collaboration. Performance marketing must be measured in real-time to establish the efficacy of your affiliate network.

To stay competitive, it requires hardware and software tools that accommodate the way you do business. The ability to automate operations is essential for getting off the ground. The more intricate affiliate management becomes, the more there is a need to incorporate a tracking platform. 

What is Affiliate Marketing?

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is a form of digital marketing in which a brand rewards affiliate partners after they have accomplished a pre-determined set of goals This is typically done via pay-per-lead (PPL) or pay-per-sale (PPS). It’s a referral program that can include a variety of CTAs (calls to action) like:

  • Clicking through the campaign
  • Visiting a website or landing page
  • Subscribing or signing up  
  • Making a purchase

When it comes to the network of affiliates, the structure includes:

  • The publisher (affiliate, brand advocate, blogger, or influencer)
  • The customer (person receiving the message)
  • The merchant (advertiser, retailer, company, brand, business)
  • The network (offers for affiliate to promote and payment center)

In addition to individuals, a business can use affiliate program management agencies and specialized third-party vendors for creative marketing campaigns. If you choose to go with a program, it generally requires an affiliate manager to oversee new affiliates, maintain the management software, and optimize peak performances.

Affiliate marketing can be used in conjunction with a lot of  marketing tools like:

  • Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
  • Online Reputation Management (ORM)
  • Social Media Marketing (SMM)
  • Email Marketing
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Running your own affiliate program can be daunting. Wires will cross and channels may be confused. Especially if you have an ambitious program with several ecommerce strategies. That’s why its wise to look for a SaaS program to help automate processes. That’s where an affiliate marketing platform comes in.

What is Affiliate Software?

Affiliate marketing tracking software is the most popular form of affiliate technology. There needs to be a means to measure the efforts of all parties involved to determine if strategies are cost-effective. This process becomes very difficult when working remotely. 

Affiliate software is used to track the referral, recommendation, or endorsement made by a an individual or company to buy products and/or services from another party. It watches the actions of the middleman to determine success. The tracking itself refers to:

  • User-client IP detection
  • Marketer’s affiliate referral
  • Browser detection
  • Advertiser’s completed transaction

Tracking Metrics

The user-friendly software helps to credit referrers based on a variety of metrics like clicks, page views, and impressions. It also confirms purchases and transactions. The purpose of affiliate software is to track the various aspects of a given action online. These are categorized into types like:

  • CPM (cost per impression)
  • CPC (cost per click)
  • CPV (cost per visitor)
  • CPL (cost per lead)
  • CPS (cost per sale)
  • CPO (cost per order)
  • CPA (cost per acquisition)
  • CPI (cost per install)

The most important feature of an affiliate marketing program is the ability to consolidate data. Any online business can appreciate all payment gateways in one spot. This type of system can lead to unlimited affiliates—as long as it’s managed properly. 

Key Features

Affiliate software is installed on your server or hosted remotely. You can set up a panel of affiliates, add more, and give them access to create their own platforms. Look for additional features like:

  • Writing program rules and policies
  • Adding products and creatives
  • Tracking leads and sales
  • Communication with affiliates
  • Updating the program
  • Managing affiliate payments
  • WordPress plug-in integration
  • And more…

The costs of affiliate software can range from a monthly fee of $30-$300. Don’t rush into anything. Many of these sites offer a basic program for beginners with simple payout methods.

Transform the way
your finance team works.

Bring scale and efficiency to your business with fully-automated, end-to-end payables.

Read more

The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing Software

Affiliate software programs expand your marketing channels and streamline sales efforts. Affiliate networks are closely related to sales teams because they are commission- based.

Key benefits of using affiliate tracker software involve:

Tracking Time

Every impression, click, lead, and sale makes an impression that needs to be tracked. This data can be gathered from cookies that are returned from the advertiser’s server site to the tracking software server for consolidation.

Generating Tracking Codes

When a business needs to track clicks and leads from something posted by an affiliate, it requires a special URL. The lin will contain the affiliate ID and campaign number. The information is parsed to the advertiser’ site and associated with a cookie to identify things like:

  • Landing page
  • Visit date
  • User ID
  • Related sales closing information
  • Expire date

These links are also referred to as tracking codes, short links, or token URLs.

Tracking Source

This is not about the location of the user, but the web page they are clicking from. It’s useful data if a business has a high rate of abandoned shopping carts or failed checkouts. You can determine where the poor prospects are coming from and shift strategy. This will also tell you the type of content the user was engaged with. It can be anything. Consider avenues like:

  • Keyword search on Google
  • Banner ad
  • Chatbot
  • Webinar
  • Third-party sites like Shopify, PayPal, Facebook
  • Etc…

This data gives marketers and advertisers the context they need to vastly improve campaigns. Studying the trends will help maximize click-through ratios and drive sales conversion.

Tracking Affiliate

Affiliate software identifies top-performing affiliates. It looks at traffic, engagement, and the overall effectiveness of their efforts. A business can easily run reports to see where their money is hitting the mark (and where it can be shifted). 

Fraud Detection

Affiliate marketing is vulnerable to fraud just like any other online business process. Smart affiliate software has built-in fraud detection to ensure a company is safe doing business this way. It can look for tricks like IP changing software, simulated chatbot clicks, and even inflated affiliate metrics.

The best affiliate tracking software will align with your business needs. The tool should have robust customer support and minimal transaction fees. If you can track how effective an affiliate is in real-time, you can reward them appropriately. This helps to retain top talent, keep all parties satisfied, and create opportunities for growth.

About the Author

Brianna Blaney

Brianna Blaney began her career in Boston as a fintech writer for a major corporation. She later progressed to digital media marketing with various finance platforms in San Francisco.
She prides herself on reverse-engineering the logistics of successful content management strategies and implementing techniques that are centered around people (not campaigns).
In her spare time, she’s a self-proclaimed chef, lives in the middle of the woods, and has a frequent flyer card for birdseed and dog bones.


RELATED ARTICLES

A Complete Guide to App Monetization for 2022 Types of Affiliate Payments: How Affiliate Programs Payout Relationship Marketing: Definition, Types & Benefits Understanding Affiliate Software: What It is & Benefits Referral Marketing: What is it & How Does it Work? A Quick Guide to Affiliate Program Management Affiliate Marketing Management: Building Your Brand Army Best Ways to Make Commission Payments to Affiliates and InfluencersApp Monetization Strategies and Models | Developer PaymentsHappy Affiliates Are Paid AffiliatesCommon Fraud Techniques Used in Affiliate and Advertisement NetworksAffiliate Payments: Increase Your Profit

Footer

Solutions

  • Accounts Payable Automation
  • Global Partner Payments
  • PO Management

Capabilities

  • Overview
  • Supplier Management
  • Invoice Management
  • PO Matching
  • Self-Billing Module
  • Payment Reconciliation
  • Global Payments
  • Fraud Detection
  • Tax and VAT Compliance

Why Tipalti

  • Why Tipalti
  • Customer Stories
  • Invoice-Based Workflow
  • Performance-Based Workflow
  • Benefits by Role
  • Benefits by Industry
  • Bill.com Alternative

Technology

  • The Tipalti Platform
  • Multi-Entity Architecture
  • Financial Controls
  • Payment API
  • Secure Cloud
  • Money Services Business
  • Pi Payables Intelligence

Resources

  • The Financial Advisor Blog
  • What is AP Automation?
  • Compare Payment Methods
  • Future of Finance
  • Destination IPO
  • Payments Across Borders
  • The Total Guide to ERP Integration
  • Cost Per Invoice Calculator
  • Payment Error Calculator

Company

  • About Tipalti
  • Careers
  • Partnerships
  • Events
  • Press
  • In The News
  • Media Kit
  • Support
  • FAQs

REGION

  • North America
    • United Kingdom
Contact Us
LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube
We Handled It.
Privacy Policy
|
Payer / Sender Rights
|
Customer Assistance Policy
© 2010–2022 Tipalti Inc.