25 Questions To Ask Your Affiliate Marketing Agency

There’s an affiliate marketing agency for just about every program goal.  Some brands just want to burn budget and don’t care if the program adds value to the bottom line.  Their goal is to show sales and not ask where they came from to keep their bosses happy.  For this, any agency will do.

Some agencies will refuse to talk to a brand unless they are already doing $1M+ or higher and have active traffic coming to their website.  This means the agency will likely flood the program with low-value touchpoints from coupon sites, browser extensions, and trademark bidders vs. putting in the effort in and adding value to the bottom line.  That isn’t everyone, but its a good bet this is what to expect if the agency has this as a qualifier.

It is hard to pick the right agency because everyone can tell a good story, and this is where asking the right questions comes in.  I originally wrote this post in 2013, then randomly came across it the other day and decided to refresh it.

The questions are mostly the same, but the answers are different as more than a decade has passed.  Here are 25 questions you can use when interviewing both affiliate managers and affiliate marketing agencies for your affiliate program.

1. How many programs per person do you have?
2. Do you allow and work with adware in any programs?
3. Can you name 5 types of adware and what are 10 applications you test for on a regular basis?
4. Are your employees paid on a percentage of sales they drive in or a flat salary and with or without a bonus?
5. How many new partners will you reach out to each week as a goal?
6. Are you available on weekends and weeknights?
7. What are 5 tools that I should be working with or providing to my Affiliates?
8. What are 3 ways to reactivate an old Affiliate?
9. Do you work with coupon and loyalty or other sites that rank for url + coupons?  What are the risks with this and what can you do to prevent it from happening?
10. Can you name three things missing from my current program that you can fix?
11. What are 3 ways you can help to increase my conversion rates for Affiliates or would you change on my site?
12. What are 3 ways to have a coupon that adds value and grows my company instead of eating away at my margin?
13. What are a few things good and bad about each major network?
14. How do you feel about trademark bidding and can you name three examples of it?
15. With social media Affiliates, what would you consider adding value and what wouldn’t?
16. Can you tell me about FTC disclosures?
17. Should I encourage reviews?
18. What are a few ways you will recruit Affiliates for me?
19. What do your reports look like and what is important to have in them?
20. Have you ever taken over an outsourced affiliate program or one that was in house and how did you locate and remove zero or low-value?
21. How long will it take to get my program profitable and see sales every day?
22. What will you do for the affiliate section of my website?
23. What are a few ways you use to detect fraud?
24. What will you need from me if we work with you?
25. Why should I work with you instead of a different company?

How many programs per person do you have?

This is just my opinion, but one person cannot effectively manage more than 3 or 4 affiliate programs at a time.  Some agencies are massive, but the top tier managers are saved for marquee clients, are not involved in the day-to-day, or are for show only.  You will not be one of the big clients even if you’re a global brand, and even when you are, you likely won’t have the high-level people on your day-to-day work.

From what I’ve seen most companies are assigned to one person overseeing 7 or 10 accounts.  Customized recruitment takes a substantial amount of time, so does helping new affiliates get started.  Unless you are paying for minimal recruitment (which means you don’t really need a management company unless its to only manage current partners), there shouldn’t be more than 3 or 4 programs per person.

If you want your brand to be cared for, make sure the company does not take on every client lead and that they do not overload the team members.  You’re paying for time and quality, not a set it and forget or AI matching system.  And never work with an agency that does auto approve on applications or that uses AI for approvals.  Make sure they email and evaluate every single affiliate by hand.

Do you allow and work with adware in any of your programs?

Adware is any type of software that shows an ad, and the most common type in affiliate is a browser extension.  Many types of adware in the affiliate space are designed to intercept your own traffic that is already shopping on your own website, or to intercept your own SEO and PPC efforts.

1. A customer goes to Google and types in “Blue t-shirts”.
2. The person clicks your PPC ad that you pay for and comes to your website.
3. Now the browser extension (adware) offers a coupon code and sets an affiliate cookie.
4. The person checks out and now you have to pay for the PPC ad, a commission, a network fee, and any management fees on top.

In multiple cases this sale will happen whether or not you have an affiliate program at all.  You are less profitable with an affiliate program on these sales.  In some cases the browser extension will show a deal is available even if they’re not in your program.

What we’ve found when we remove them in multiple situations is that no visible amount of sales go missing from the company, only from the affiliate program.  The company now saves money because they no longer have to pay a commission on sales that happen when there is no affiliate program at all.  That does not mean this will be the case with you, just what we’ve seen with the programs we’ve managed.

Ask the affiliate marketing company if they allow it in their programs, and if they will recruit them into your program.  Make it sound like it is a good thing and ask about the benefits of allowing browser extensions like these.  What you’re looking for is for them to be upfront and honest that it may be more risky and financially damaging vs. only stating potential benefits.  Honesty is key.

You can still give the adware partners a try if you’re curious.  An experienced agency will tell you that it is a risk to allow them in the program and that multiple known ones will activate on your own traffic and take credit for your traffic which costs you money.  Then they’ll let you decide on the best course of action for your bottom line.

Can you name 5 types of adware and what are 5 applications you test for on a regular basis?

If the manager or even sales rep cannot do this, my opinion is that they don’t actually know about it and you may want to move on.  Browser extensions are notorious and every single experienced affiliate manager can name 5 or 10 off the top of their head without pause.  Same with different types of adware applications.

Browser extensions are only one form.  Finding the affiliate managers that can answer the types vs. only naming known browser extensions is where you find someone with knowledge and experience, and that shows you have someone who is actually part of the industry.

Are your employees paid on a percentage of the sales they drive or a flat salary?  Are they compensated with or without a bonus?

This is a tricky one and many won’t talk about how their employees are paid.  It isn’t your business, so don’t get mad if they won’t tell you.   If they do tell you, then great.

When affiliate managers are paid based on a percentage of sales driven in, they may be more lenient or encouraged to allow low-value or no-value partners into your program.  By doing this and not educating you on theft or low value sales, they make more money.  You will see sales coming in, but those could be sales you have without an affiliate program which costs you money.

If it is a flat fee the affiliate manager has no reason to incentivize low-value and no-value, unless their bosses are asking them to increase volume.  When there is no incentive, there is also no reason to go the extra mile and put effort in making it a double-edged sword.  The person or agency only needs to meet contractual obligations.  You’ll need to make the decision here and do checks from time-to-time making sure the program terms are being followed.

Pro-tip: Ask for a few of their current clients or visit the clients page on their website.  Now go to Google and type their clients “brand name + coupons” into the search box and see if there are affiliates bidding on their trademarks and/or coupon affiliate sites with active affiliate links showing up in the search results.  If yes you should absolutely question why they are allowing this and if they will be doing it to you too.  That client is likely losing money from these types of behaviors, by calling this out during the interview, you are setting expectations and yourself up for success.

How many new partners will you reach out to each week as a goal?

This question is asking them what you are paying them for.  If they say they are reaching out to 30 new partners each week, ask for samples once a month.  If it is 100, make sure you are getting sample lists as there is a finite amount of relevant partners, and quality matters over quantity which is one of the biggest issues we’re seeing as some agencies are using AI for recruitment.

Not all agencies will share a full list, we absolutely do not and will not, but all legit agencies (in my opinion) will provide a sample.  When you pay for management, you pay for their time, and the biggest time consuming task is recruitment.  A customized email will take 10 to 15 minutes to write.  In addition it is tedious work so the person will need breaks.  50 customized emails is easily two full days of work.  This is in addition to list building.  At times we’ll even share samples of the recruitment emails so clients can see the effort put into the customizations.

If the agency says 50 or more per month, you’re looking at paying more than $10K per month as a base or you’ll be getting generic spam recruitment.  You will also need to check their work as many will use AI now or a canned template with no customization, and this causes brand damage.

Are you available on weekends and weeknights?

Many affiliates work on weekends and at night as they have full time jobs or families.  Non-normal work hours are the only times they have to update or create content and your affiliate manager must be available.  The sooner they can respond to them while they are working the better.   If your management team doesn’t answer questions or want to work with the affiliates in your program on weekends and on the evenings, you may want to think about looking for a company that will.

What are 5 tools that I should be working with or providing to my Affiliates?

This is a great question to ask an affiliate marketing agency as it shows they pay attention to modern programs and technology.  Tools can include tracking, attribution, recruitment and list building, influencer platforms, disclosure and program compliance monitoring, etc…  Depending on your goals for your program, see if they have technology solutions that will help you reach them.

What are 3 ways to reactivate an old Affiliate?

If you have a program that has gone un-managed for a while, it is important to bring back old partners and get them active again.  Sometimes their traffic got wiped out and they won’t be able to send sales anymore, or the account is dead.  Nobody can do anything about that.

Other times they began promoting other companies and will need the new manager to win them back.  Give the person a couple example sites and ask how they would proceed.  Don’t settle for a generic response here, make sure they give you specifics on how they will do it.

Do you work with coupon and loyalty or other sites that rank for URL + coupons?  What are the risks with this and what can you do to prevent it from happening?

If you work with coupon and loyalty sites there are always risks.  If the affiliate manager cannot provide you with the risks of working with them, a few ways that they can hurt your company’s revenue, and a few ways they can add value, you may want to move on.

Also ask the affiliate manager why working with coupon sites chases away top-funnel partners.  This is one of the easiest ones to answer if they are experienced and have your best interest in mind.  If they say things like coupon sites posting other coupon sites coupons, that isn’t a serious or real risk to you and shows a lack of knowledge.  They need to talk to you about attribution and zero-value or low-value touchpoints and the concerns.  They should talk about coupons being posted to reddit and disclosures.  Saying things like setting commissions to 0% or lowering commissions is also not a solution, don’t fall for it and move onto the next affiliate marketing agency.

Can you name three things missing from my current program that you can fix?

If you already have a program, there are almost always things missing or that are overlooked.  Have them give you a few examples of what they can fix for you that can help your company grow, or at least have more tools available for your Affiliates.  No program is perfect and all of us forget to check and update things.  If they cannot find three things on your program within a couple minutes, they lack the hands-on knowledge to manage a program.

What are 3 ways you can help to increase my conversion rates for Affiliates and my site?

This is one of the best questions to ask outsourced Affiliate Management Companies.  Our job is to help convert sales on your site and prevent theft.  Affiliate managers are supposed to have a mid-level to expert-level knowledge in conversion rate optimization because we make money when sales happen.  If you hear “offer a coupon” or “give a vanity code”, move on.  The affiliate manager does not know how to do their job.

You’re looking for split testing ideas, page formats, focusing on selling points, looking at the sales funnel and content.  If the affiliate marketing agency cannot look through and find three ways within a few minutes of looking at your site, then the company you are talking to probably doesn’t know this aspect of the industry.  Conversion optimization is a standard part of affiliate management, and offering a coupon code or a deal is not an answer.

What are 3 ways to have a coupon that adds value and grows my company instead of eating away at my margins?

Coupon sites can add value.  If all they do is show up in search engines for your brand name + coupons or are bidding on trademark + coupons, chances are you don’t want them in your program.  Experienced affiliate managers will say this to you, not try to talk you into allowing it, and then share ways they can add value.

Coupon sites will have email lists, they may show up for Halloween coupons or Christmas coupons, and there are plenty of other ways they can drive spikes of traffic and some sales without needing to intercept your own traffic.  If the person on the call cannot answer this, they don’t know enough about the channel.

What are a few things good and bad about each major network?

Most affiliate marketing agencies have worked on or currently work on multiple networks.  We know the good and the bad about them.  Have three prepared that you’re considering and ask what the good and the bad are specific to your company and then have the agency recommend which one is the best possible fit for your company or why your program is on the right network for your company.

If they say multiple networks are a good option, then you should be cautious as this can lead to a ton of issues.  If the reason is to reach all Affiliates, there’s no need to continue the interview as they have no experience in the industry.  It is their job to recruit partners and bring them to your program on your network.  It is very rare that you’ll find a partner who won’t join another network if they like your product and want to promote it.

How do you feel about trademark bidding and can you name three examples of it?

There are a ton of types of trademark bidding out there besides bidding on your trademarks and URLs on the main search engines and content network.  Have them explain it and why it is good or bad for you.  This can cross over into the adware question and subnetworks too.  Lot’s of ways to answer outside of traditional trademark bidding in search engines.

With social media Affiliates, what would you consider adding value and what wouldn’t add value?

This question will help you know if they really know what they are doing with social media partners and how they can add value or cause issues.  Some social media platforms have ongoing traffic for a year or two and can stabilize revenue while others give short bursts of sales and build awareness.  Some affiliates will post to your company accounts and cause damage, others will have communities with a captive audience you cannot reach without them.

Experienced affiliate marketing agencies will give you specific examples on the call and walk you through how to approach each.  TikTok, reddit, Facebook, Pinterest, etc… all take a different approach.  You want an agency that knows how to work with each one and set up goals.

Can you tell me about FTC disclosures?

Many of us are not Lawyers (I’m not and people in my company are not either, so everything from us is a non-legal opinion and not legal advice) so you cannot get legal advice from any of us.  You’ll need to talk to a licensed attorney.  The same will apply to the agencies you talk too, but that doesn’t mean avoid the topic.  You should ask about this and ask for examples of it as part of our job is to know and enforce best practices.

Go to YouTube and type in one of their client’s names + reviews and pull up three videos.  Ask them what types of disclosures are required and why.  They should talk to you about both verbal and written disclosures, and when they are and are not required.  i.e. free product, commission only, media fee + commission, and if the video was live before they became an affiliate.

Here’s some more reading on disclosures, but again I’m not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice.

• https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking#affiliateornetwork
• https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/26/2023-14795/guides-concerning-the-use-of-endorsements-and-testimonials-in-advertising

Should I encourage reviews?

An affiliate manager or agency that has experience will give you situations here for both yes you should and no you should not.

• Yes if you need to try to get rid of bad reviews showing up for “brand + reviews” in Google, YouTube, and Bing.
• No if you have customer, influencer, and ambassadors that do not get commissions showing up for “brand + reviews” in Google, YouTube, and Bing.

Affiliates will do reviews because it is easy money for them.  They show up for customers already in your own sales funnel that you worked hard to get in your own sales funnel, and now the affiliate sets a cookie to get a commission.

Affiliates that do reviews get a commission every time one of your own customers or leads looks for a review.  By having a non-commissioned touchpoint instead of an affiliate review, your company is more profitable because you get the sale without having to pay a commission.  Same touch point, more profit for your company.  It is a value-adding affiliate touchpoint, but one where you lose money compared to non-affiliates doing the reviews.

What are a few ways you will recruit Affiliates for me?

If they cannot name at least 4 or 5 ways they will recruit Affiliates, then move on.  This is the most important thing to grow a program and there are tons of them.  Recruitment can be more than just emails.  It can include sponsorships, tradeshows, working with you using your current assets, etc…  This answer shows experience and knowledge, so don’t settle for generic answers, ask for details and examples.

What do your reports look like and what is important to have in them?

When I originally wrote this post not all networks had APIs or let you export data.  Now almost all of them have this and with LLMs you can easily create customized reports in real time.  The answer is more about the metrics and seeing if the managers know the datapoints.

If they focus on things like total affiliates joined, EPC, etc… you should be cautious and find out why these are important to them.  High EPCs normally mean low-value partners, and this is a red flag if they cannot explain why.  Active affiliates is a better metric than affiliates joined, but affiliates get wiped out by algorithms or leave programs for new business models so active affiliates could be a hit or miss metric.  This is where the affiliate marketing agency can shine by showing you their experience and how the KPIs evolve.

Have you ever taken over an outsourced affiliate program or one that was in house and remove zero or low-value partners?

There is a model for every company out there.  I was surprised to learn some brands just want to burn budget so they don’t care if their affiliate program adds value.  This is more common in large brands and global enterprises, but I’m seeing it in mid-size companies now too.  The marketing manager or marketing director just needs to show the channel has sales, they don’t care if it hurts the bottom line.

Zero and l0w-value for this example means:

• Affiliates that intercept your own customers via “brand + coupons” SEO rankings in Google and Bing.
• Sub networks that monetize email campaigns so as you send an email blast to your own customer list, the sub network turns your own email list into affiliate links.
• Browser extensions that only intercept your own traffic already on your own website.
• Review only affiliates that only show up for your “brand + review” in search results.

Ask the affiliate manager how they detect this, patrol it, enforce compliance, and the actions they take.  Setting commissions to 0% or lowering them is not a solution in most situations.  If they say this, do not work with them.

How long will it take to get my program going and see sales every day?

Value adding programs can easily take 1 year to get to profitable if you don’t have a media budget to buy your way into listcicles and pay for creators to feature you in non-branded guides.  If your website or brand already has it’s own traffic and you will allow interceptions from coupon sites, trademark bidders, and adware companies, it will be appear to be profitable much faster (possibly within a week or two).

Many companies will say different things so it is important for you to figure out who will build you a program that adds value and who does not.  Sometimes you’ll find a top performing partner in the first month and you can be profitable almost instantly, but that is very rare.  Most programs can take up to a year to break even (sales vs. cost) and easily take 6 months to see reliable sales if you don’t have a pay to play budget.

What will you do for the affiliate section of my website?

One of the more important but not extremely important questions to ask an affiliate manager or marketing company is about what they will do for the affiliate section of your website.  Look for them to share examples of opportunities to educate current partners, share ways to encourage perspective partners to want to click to join, and for ways to improve the user experience.  You aren’t there to talk to the partner that is on this page, and this is why the affiliate section needs to properly show you’re dedicated to the channel and give relevant information.

What are a few ways you use to detect fraud?

This is extremely important.  If the company you are thinking about hiring doesn’t have fraud protection in place, you may want to move on.  Ask them about what fraud is and a few of the ways they help prevent it.   Fraud can be zero-value touchpoints, stolen credit cards, fake leads, cancelled orders past commission voiding periods, etc…

What will you need from me if we work with you?

The reason you are hiring an outsourced marketing company is to make it so you can reduce your own workload.  With that said there will be certain things that any good management company will need or that will not be included in the base fee.  Find out what these are and get a few examples of why they will need you to do them.

Once you know what is not included, follow up by asking is what they will be doing that is included as far as newsletters, customer support, phone calls, manual approvals, outreach, extra exposure, etc…

Pro-tip: Ask for examples of affiliate newsletters.  If all they do is send generic sales information and emails, move on.  Affiliates need strategies, information about products and how to promote them, ways to build an audience that is relevant to them and your brand.  A sale or deal does not do this.

Why should I work with you instead of a different company?

This lets them tell you why they are better than others.  It will also help you find other agencies you may want to talk to that may not currently be on your radar.  Although they don’t have to say who not to work with, many of the good ones will recommend other companies and tell you about some of the benefits and negatives of working with them.

There’s no shortage of questions that make sense when interviewing affiliate managers or affiliate marketing agencies.  Advanced ones can include how they will avoid hurting your SEO or help to grow exposure in AIO and GEO.  But that is not the goal of this post.  This post is designed to give you the tools you need to feel confident in your decision and to make sure you ask some of the right questions and know what to expect in a good or bad answer.

If you want more detailed answers, or you are looking to hire an outsourced affiliate marketing company like us, please reach out via our contact form and we’ll be happy to help.  Also feel free to leave your own comment below if you have any other examples of questions to ask an outsourced Affiliate Program Management Company and you think should be on this list.