The affiliate trust & technical check: Fortifying your tracking, compliance, and customer journey

Welcome to the second part of the series. In Part one, we ensured your programme’s foundations were secure. We now proceed to the elements that build and maintain trust, both with your partners and your customers.

Drawing from professional experience, I can affirm that technical malfunctions and compliance violations are silent inhibitors of performance. They erode partner confidence and can inflict significant brand damage. Therefore, let us ensure your programme is adequately fortified.

1. The technical teardown

A comprehensive technical audit does not necessitate advanced development skills; rather, it is about verifying that the core mechanics of the programme are functioning as intended.

• Audit point: Is your tracking pixel firing correctly across all user journeys? Are you using a server-to-server solution for the highest accuracy? Are your product data feeds accurate and current?
  
  
• My experience: I once collaborated with a client who could not ascertain why their premier content partners were underperforming. A simple test purchase revealed that their tracking pixel failed to fire on the order confirmation page when a specific, popular payment method was used. Consequently, they were losing valuable sales data, and partners were losing commissions. Partners are exceptionally quick to notice such discrepancies.

• Action: Conduct a test transaction through a live affiliate link. Utilise your affiliate network’s reporting tools to confirm that both the click and the subsequent conversion have been tracked successfully. For product feeds, verify that the pricing and stock levels displayed on a partner's site are congruent with your own. An outdated feed invariably leads to a poor user experience.
  
  

2. The compliance & brand safety check

This aspect of the audit is non-negotiable. You must diligently protect your brand from affiliates who operate outside of your established terms.

• Audit point: Are partners adhering to your programme's terms and conditions, particularly concerning PPC bidding policies and trademark usage?
  
  
• My experience: A classic problem involves affiliates bidding on your brand keywords in paid search, often in direct violation of programme T&Cs. This activity can inflate your own cost-per-click and results in paying a commission on a conversion that would likely have been acquired organically. It is a direct drain on marketing efficiency.
  
  
• Action: Periodically conduct searches for your brand name, as well as brand-plus-voucher-code permutations, on major search engines. Observe the results to identify any non-compliant activity. If available, leverage brand monitoring software. Crucially, ensure your programme's T&Cs are unequivocally clear regarding permissible and prohibited activities. A robust policy is your primary line of defence.
  
  

3. Mapping the customer journey

Finally, it is essential to view the process from the customer's perspective. A seamless journey from a partner site to your checkout is fundamental to conversion rate optimisation.

• Audit Point: What is the tangible user experience when a customer clicks an affiliate link? Are there identifiable points of friction?
  
  
• My Experience: I have observed numerous instances of poor user experience, from voucher code sites promoting expired codes to content sites linking to out-of-stock products. Each of these friction points erodes consumer trust and results in a lost sale.
  
  
• Action: Select three distinct partner types (e.g., a content publisher, a voucher site, and an influencer) and follow their referral links to your website. Evaluate the relevance of the landing page, the validity of any associated offer codes, and the overall ease of the path to purchase. Document every element that could be perceived as clunky or frustrating.

By ensuring your programme is technically sound, fully compliant, and offers a frictionless customer journey, you build the trust necessary for long-term, sustainable partnerships.

In the third and final part of this series, we will synthesise these findings to construct a strategic, data-driven roadmap for growth.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your affiliate programme?