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The different affiliate types

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An affiliate type describes how a partner promotes your brand: through content, through a social community, through a discount code, through an email database. Each publisher declares their own when creating their profile, and you see it as is in your back office.

This article gives you the complete list of the types used by Affilae, what each partner does, and what you can expect from them for your program.

Note: do not mix up the two columns in your affiliates table. The Type column shows the activity type (Deals, Instagram, Emailing and so on). The Publisher type column shows the declared legal status: Private, Self-employed or Company.

Where to see the type of your affiliates

In the sidebar, open Manage programs, then click your program name.
Click My affiliates.
Read the Type column, or use the Types filter above the table to display only one or several types.

MANAGE MY PROGRAMS

My program

Configuration

My affiliates

Medias

Clicks

Conversions

Payments

The “My affiliates” entry in the program menu, on the advertiser side.

la colonne Type remplie avec des typologies réelles, et les deux filtres distincts Types et Publisher type

The type is declared by the publisher, not by you. When creating their profile, they fill in the Affiliate type field, and can add a Secondary type (optional) if their activity covers a second business.

The 20 affiliate types available in Affilae

Here is the complete list of the values of the Type field, grouped into families to make it easier to read. These groupings are a reading aid only: in the application, all 20 values sit at the same level.

Content, media and comparison

TYPE	WHAT THIS PARTNER DOES	WHAT YOU GET OUT OF IT
Blogs / Specialised sites	Niche content creators leveraging their expertise and their SEO to recommend specific products.	A highly targeted audience, often on a single vertical, and a presence upstream of your conversion funnel.
Media	Major press outlets or news sites integrating affiliation within their advice articles and buying guides.	Brand awareness and editorial content that puts your brand forward.
Price comparison / buying guide	Platforms that let users compare the features and prices of similar products.	Traffic and visibility on your products, provided you give them a product feed.

Social media and creators

TYPE	WHAT THIS PARTNER DOES	WHAT YOU GET OUT OF IT
Instagram	Visual content creators using the link in bio or Stories to promote products to their community.	An engaged community and a visual format suited to product discovery.
TikTok	Influencers producing short videos, often centred on product testing or unboxing.	Fast exposure, in a short format, to a broad audience.
YouTube	Video creators offering in-depth reviews, tutorials or vlogs, with tracked links in the description bar.	A detailed demonstration of your products that stays available over time.
Facebook	Themed pages or engaged community groups sharing recommendations and product reviews.	Segmentation by interest and a recommendation effect between members.
Pinterest	Visual discovery engine where users pin products linked directly to your store.	Visibility on inspiration searches, upstream of the buying decision.
LinkedIn	Professionals and companies sharing B2B content and product recommendations on the professional network.	Access to a professional audience, useful for a B2B offer.
Twitch	Streamers and live content creators promoting products during their streaming sessions.	Long exposure time and a direct relationship between the creator and their audience.
X	Sharing deals, pre-orders or real-time product news.	Immediate clicks, useful around an announcement or a short operation.

Conversion activators

TYPE	WHAT THIS PARTNER DOES	WHAT YOU GET OUT OF IT
Deals	Sites specialising in aggregating promo codes and discount offers.	A conversion activator, with users who look for a deal before validating their cart.
Cashback	Platforms that return part of your commission to the final buyer.	Active communities and a limited impact on your margin, since you only pay the commission.
Wishlists	Services that let users build a product selection their friends and family can buy through affiliation.	Purchases triggered by a life event, on a selection that is already built.

Distribution, technology and aggregation

TYPE	WHAT THIS PARTNER DOES	WHAT YOU GET OUT OF IT
Emailing	Partners with qualified databases who send newsletters dedicated to an offer or a brand.	Accurate segmentation: you pick the databases that match your target.
Native ads	Distribution of advertising content integrated into the editorial design of publisher sites.	A less intrusive advertising presence, inside content the reader is already browsing.
Web and mobile push	Players sending clickable alerts directly to the user’s browser or smartphone.	An immediate reminder to users who already subscribed to the partner’s alerts.
App / Service	Application platforms offering integrated services or tools with affiliation capabilities.	A technical integration, often inside a user journey that already exists.
Subnetworks	Aggregator platforms redistributing your campaigns to a multitude of small publishers and influencers.	Broad distribution volume through a single partnership to manage.
Other	Any other type of affiliate profile not matching the listed categories.	To qualify case by case: open the affiliate profile before accepting the partnership.

Tip: use the Types filter to build your publisher groups. One group per family (content, deals, cashback and so on) then lets you apply a different commission rule to each.

The main families in detail

Content affiliates: blogs and media

These are media, blogs, themed communities and any other content site. They are the most qualitative affiliates, both in terms of editorial content and of the visibility given to your brand. They work upstream of your conversion funnels and act as prescribers, since they make your products discoverable.

Benefits: even when the traffic volume of these sites is lower, they bring you a highly targeted audience, often on one vertical, who may become customers.
Types of compensation: all types of commissioning are possible (CPS, CPL, CPC, CPM, CPV, fixed fees, product offers). Hybrid formulas, such as fixed fees + CPS or CPC + CPS, share the risk on both sides.
Note: not all publishers in this group are online advertising professionals. Support during the setup and regular follow-up are needed to build lasting partnerships.

Having a set of content websites in your program is the best way to reach your core target and to work three axes for your brand: awareness, SEO and sales.

Social media

These are pages and accounts with a large community, along with advanced targeting accuracy (demographic and geographic data from user accounts). In Affilae, each platform is a separate type: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitch and X.

Benefits: active communities, accurate segmentation, brand awareness strategy, discovery.
Ways to compensate: all types of commissioning are possible (CPS, CPL, CPC, CPM, CPV, fixed fees, product offers).
Note: these campaigns can generate qualified traffic and conversions, but select your partners carefully beforehand. You can rely on their audience, how viral they are, or the number of comments.

Price comparison and shopping guides

Comparison tools and shopping guides help users find the best product quickly, at the best price. Some are generalist, others focus on one sector or product category. Customers browse the publisher catalogue and are redirected to the merchant website.

Benefits: increase traffic and visibility for your products.
Types of compensation: essentially CPC, marginally CPS.
Note: this type works with product feeds (CSV, XML). You will therefore need to provide a feed, and possibly use a feed manager to select the products you want to highlight.

Deals and coupon codes

These sites let users save on their purchases by distributing the promo codes provided by advertisers. They allow you to influence your conversion rate by setting up a promo code policy: a percentage off the first order, free shipping, a time-limited offer.

Benefits: a conversion activator, reaching users who are looking for a good deal.
Type of compensation: CPS.
Note: this type is debated in last-click attribution logics. Many advertisers now analyse the contribution of each actor in the funnel, through attribution and commission sharing. In response, some coupon sites are reinventing themselves towards more qualitative content: content writing, product focus, newsletter promotion.

Setting up a promo code policy must be part of a real strategy, otherwise your sales will be cannibalised and your margin will fall (coupon code + commission). Ask yourself how long a code lasts, what its validity conditions are, and what the site offers you in terms of visibility beyond displaying the code.

Tip: create a dedicated commission rule so that you only pay for new customer acquisition on coupon code operations.

Cashback

These sites let their users recover part of the amount of their purchases. Cashback communities are very active, and some users no longer order without going through their cashback site. Example: on a 100 euro order for which you pay a 10% commission, the site returns part of that commission to its user and keeps the rest.

Benefits: a conversion activator, active communities.
Ways to compensate: CPS.
Note: like deals sites, they come in at the end of the journey and often complete the funnel in a last-click logic. This type has less impact on your margin, however, since you only pay the commission: the affiliate then shares it with their user.

Important: cashback sites often also highlight your promo codes. Check the origin of conversions in the referrers, to verify that the purchase really comes from a valid promo code or from cashback.

Email marketing

This is about launching campaigns to acquire new customers, members or subscribers, using segmented email databases.

Benefits: accurate segmentation. You choose the databases based on your targeting criteria, which brings each contact closer to your typical customer.
Compensation methods: CPL, CPC and more marginally CPS with a minimum guarantee.
Note: not all email databases are equal, and lead quality varies. Stay vigilant, especially if your tracking methods do not natively protect you against fraud.

A piece of advice: unless you have in-house expertise on email campaigns, get support on the whole process: landing page and email creation, tracking setup, database recruitment, testing on a sample, launch and performance analysis.

Three types that are not values of the Type field

These three businesses do exist in affiliate marketing and you will come across them in your conversations. However, they do not match any value of the Type field in Affilae: you will not be able to isolate them with the Types filter.

Retargeting. Targeting again the users who visited your site without buying, based on their behaviour (pages visited, products clicked, cart abandoned). Compensation in CPS or CPC. Some players ask you to work with a post-view cookie: in that case, control its tracking period and the type of ad display, so you do not cannibalise your post-click sales.
On-site re-engagement solutions. Engaging users who are about to leave your site: abandoned cart reminders, email collection, up and cross-selling. Compensation in CPS or fixed fees. Plan the trigger conditions of these overlays in advance, so they appear at the right moment rather than at random.
Keywording. Affiliates specialising in buying keywords on search engines, who sell you on performance the sales they generate. Compensation in CPS. Validate their keyword strategy so they do not compete with your own campaigns, in particular on your brand name.

What you should remember

These types are all growth drivers, but not all of them will be relevant to your business. Test, measure, adjust, and focus on the levers that bring real added value.
Content and social media affiliates are the hardest to win over and the most time-consuming to manage, but they are the ones who bring you the most targeted and therefore the most loyal customers.
Regular follow-up of your partnerships lets you optimise your campaigns and compare the performance of your advertising materials.
These types can coexist within the same program, provided you use an attribution logic other than last click, such as commission sharing. You can then analyse each partner’s contribution within your conversion funnels.

Frequently asked
questions

Voir plus de questions reponses

The publisher does, when creating their profile, through the Affiliate type field. They can also fill in a Secondary type (optional) if their activity covers a second business. You cannot change this value on their behalf. If it looks wrong, contact the affiliate through the messaging.

Type describes the partner activity: Deals, Instagram, Emailing, Price comparison / buying guide and so on. Publisher type describes their declared legal status: Private, Self-employed or Company. These are two different pieces of information, each with its own filter.

Twenty: Blogs / Specialised sites, App / Service, Price comparison / buying guide, Deals, Cashback, Emailing, Native ads, Web and mobile push, Facebook, Instagram, Media, TikTok, X, YouTube, Pinterest, Subnetworks, LinkedIn, Twitch, Wishlists and Other.

That is expected: these are common affiliate marketing businesses, but they are not values of the Type field. The partners concerned therefore declare themselves under another type from the list. Spot them case by case by opening their profile.

Two routes. The Marketplace, where you list your program so publishers can find it. And Match AI, which suggests partners based on your brand profile. You can also directly add an affiliate you already know.

Yes. Create one publisher group per family, filter your affiliates with the Types filter, then assign them to the matching group. Each group then gets its own commission rules.

Other simply means their activity does not match any category in the list. Open their profile to understand what they do before accepting the partnership, and reach out through the messaging if their site is not clear enough.