Affiliate marketing glossary

Every term in affiliate software, defined in one sentence

Attribution windows, EPC, payout terms and the rest. Written for the person running the program, not the one joining it.

Browse the terms Try Referly free

Ten terms, one sentence each
Checked against the product, not opinion
Every page links to the real screen

Definitions of the terms that appear in affiliate and referral software: attribution windows, earnings per click, recurring commissions, payout terms and the differences between affiliate, referral, influencer and MLM programs. Each term is defined in one sentence, then explained, with links to how it works in practice.

The ten terms

Getting credit for a sale

Who gets paid, and for how long after the click.

Last-click attributionThe rule that pays the commission to the last tracked link a buyer used.Cookie windowHow long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate who sent it.EPC (earnings per click)Earnings per click: what one click on a partner's link is worth, on average.

What you pay, and when

The reward, the cap, and the day the money moves.

Recurring commissionCommission paid on every renewal a referred customer makes, not just the first.Net 30 payoutCommission is paid 30 days after it is approved, so refunds can surface first.

Kinds of program

Affiliate, referral, influencer, MLM and networks, told apart.

Referral programA program that rewards your existing customers for bringing you new ones.Affiliate vs referral programAn affiliate promotes you for income; a referrer recommends what they already bought.Affiliate vs influencer marketingAffiliates are paid for the sales they cause; influencers are usually paid for the post.MLM vs affiliate marketingMLM pays for recruiting people; affiliate marketing pays for referring sales.Affiliate network vs affiliate programA network is a marketplace that hosts many programs; an in-house program is only yours.

The words in practice

What these terms look like at scale

Attribution windows, recurring commissions and payout terms, running in three programs that publish their numbers.

SaaSSite builder

“We have been running affiliate programs for over a decade, and ours is one of the biggest parts of how OptimizePress grows. Referly is the first platform where an operation with thousands of partners actually feels manageable, from recruiting new affiliates to tracking every sale they send.”

James Dyson

Founder & CEO, OptimizePress

7 figures
in affiliate-driven sales: 4,554
active affiliates: 10,536
referrals

Mobile appAI writing

“This platform is quite simple and easy to use, and you can start attracting people to your affiliate program very quickly. A big plus is that the founder, Ayo, is super responsive.”

Ilfat Khayrullin

CMO & Co-founder, Letterly

300K+
app users: 689
active affiliates: 24,114
clicks tracked

EcommerceFitness

“Affiliates drive a serious share of our revenue across three countries. Since we moved to Referly everything runs from one place, tracking has been spot on, and our partners get paid without me chasing spreadsheets.”

Alexander Koppers

Affiliate Manager, Moov

$6.9M

in total affiliate-driven revenue

1,154
active affiliates: 19,017
affiliate sales: 1,240,030
clicks tracked

Done reading? Start building

Three next steps, no email gate on any of them

Set up your first program

Tracking, commissions and payouts, in the order they matter.

Know which numbers matter

The metrics worth reporting, and the ones that mislead.

How tracking actually works

Links, coupons and attribution windows, end to end.