Affiliate marketing glossary

Plain-English definitions for the terms you will see in program dashboards, link reports and payout statements. A program’s own terms always control its tracking and payment rules.

Affiliate

A publisher or creator who promotes another company’s offer and may earn a commission when the program’s conditions are met.

Advertiser / merchant

The company offering a product, service or affiliate program.

Affiliate network

A platform that connects advertisers and publishers, usually providing program access, tracked links and payment reporting.

Attribution

The method used to connect a click or conversion back to the marketing source that influenced it.

Commission

The amount a program credits for an approved action, such as a sale, lead or subscription.

Cookie window

The time period in which a program may credit a qualifying conversion after a tracked click.

Conversion rate

The percentage of visitors who complete the action being measured.

EPC

Earnings per click: a network or program metric that estimates average earnings for clicks. Read the calculation method before comparing programs.

First-party data

Data collected directly by a business through its own site, product or customer relationship.

Lead

A submitted contact or qualified action that may be commissionable under a program’s terms.

Link tracking

Using a unique URL and tracking context to connect a placement with later clicks and reported results.

Pending commission

A reported commission that has not completed the program’s validation process or payout cycle.

Postback

A server-to-server notification that sends a conversion result to a tracking system after an action occurs.

Payout

A payment sent by a network or advertiser for confirmed eligible commissions.

Recurring commission

A commission that may repeat while a referred customer remains eligible, according to the program terms.

Reversal

A commission removed or adjusted, often because of a return, cancellation or program rule.

ROAS

Return on ad spend: revenue attributed to an ad campaign divided by that campaign’s advertising spend.

SubID

An optional tracking label attached to a link so reports can identify the specific content, channel or campaign that produced a click or conversion.

Tracking parameter

A name-value part of a URL that carries tracking context, such as a SubID or campaign label.

UTM parameter

A common set of URL labels used to classify traffic in analytics tools. UTM data and affiliate SubIDs often serve different reporting needs.

Validated commission

A commission that the program has accepted under its reporting rules; it may still be awaiting payout.

Value per click

An estimated amount of commission value generated per click. Use it alongside conversion quality and approval rate.

Warm audience

People who have previously interacted with a brand, site or campaign and may be more likely to recognize the offer.

Zero-party data

Information a person intentionally provides, such as a preference or stated interest.