How to start an affiliate program in 2026: a step-by-step guide

An affiliate program pays people a commission for sales they send you. To start one you need four things: a commission rule, a way to track which partner sent each sale, a way to recruit partners, and a way to pay them. Everything else is refinement.

This guide walks through each step in the order you should do them.

Step 1: Decide what you are paying for

Before picking a percentage, decide which event earns commission.

Model	You pay when	Best for
Pay per sale	A customer completes a purchase	Ecommerce, DTC brands, one-time products
Recurring commission	Every subscription payment, for a set period	SaaS and subscription apps
Pay per lead	Someone signs up or books a demo	High-ticket B2B, services
Pay per install	Someone installs your app	Mobile apps with in-app revenue

Pay per sale is the safest place to start because you only pay when money arrives. Pay per lead grows faster but invites low-quality signups unless you define a qualified lead tightly.

Step 2: Set a commission you can afford

Work backwards from margin, not from what competitors advertise.

1. Start with the average order value or the first-year value of a customer.
2. Subtract product cost, payment processing, and expected refunds.
3. Decide what share of the remaining margin you will give to the partner who brought the customer.

If a partner-driven sale is not profitable at your chosen rate, the program will lose more money the more it succeeds. See affiliate commission rates by industry for typical ranges.

Step 3: Set the rules that prevent disputes

Three settings decide most affiliate disagreements. Set them before the first partner joins.

• Cookie window. How long after a click a sale still counts. Thirty days is a common default; shorter for impulse purchases, longer for considered B2B purchases.
• Hold period. How long commission waits before it becomes payable. Match it to your refund window so you are not paying commission on refunded orders.
• Attribution rule. Usually last click: the most recent partner link clicked before the sale gets the credit.

Write these into your partner terms. Partners accept almost any reasonable rule; what they do not accept is a rule that changes after the fact.

Step 4: Connect sales tracking before inviting anyone

This is the step most new programs get wrong. If sales are not tracked automatically, every commission becomes a manual claim and every claim becomes an argument.

Connect the system where your sales already happen:

• Stripe for SaaS and online checkouts. See how to track affiliate sales in Stripe.
• Shopify for ecommerce, using its own order webhooks.
• A server-side API call for custom checkouts.

Then test it end to end: click a partner link, buy something, and confirm the sale and commission appear against that partner.

Bridgly enforces this order. You cannot assign a partner a link until a sales source is connected, because a link that cannot be credited is a promise you cannot keep.

Step 5: Give every partner a unique tracked link

Each partner needs their own link so every click and sale can be traced back to them. A good partner link:

• Lives on your own domain, so it survives a change of tools
• Works on mobile and desktop, and routes app users to the right store
• Can be turned into a QR code for print, packaging, and events
• Can be re-pointed later without breaking links already shared

Step 6: Recruit your first 10 partners

Do not open a public signup page on day one. Start with people who already talk to your customers:

1. Existing customers who already recommend you
2. Creators and newsletter writers in your niche
3. Agencies and consultants who set up tools like yours for clients
4. Complementary products that sell to the same buyer
5. Review and comparison sites that already rank for your category

Ten engaged partners beat five hundred inactive ones. In most programs a small share of partners drives most of the revenue.

Step 7: Pay on a schedule partners can trust

Late or unpredictable payouts are the fastest way to lose good partners. Pick a schedule, such as monthly after the hold period, and keep to it.

Collect tax details before the first payout, not in January. In the US, partners you pay as independent contractors may need a 1099-NEC once their annual total crosses the reporting threshold. See do affiliates and influencers get a 1099 on Stoak's guides for the detail.

Step 8: Track, review, and prune

Each month, look at clicks, sales, revenue, and commission per partner. Then:

• Raise commission for your top partners before a competitor does
• Give mid-tier partners better assets: links, QR codes, product photos, talking points
• Remove partners who send suspicious traffic. See affiliate fraud

The short version

• Decide what earns commission, then set a rate your margin can afford.
• Set the cookie window, hold period, and attribution rule before anyone joins.
• Connect Stripe, your app, or the API so sales are tracked automatically.
• Give each partner a unique link and QR code on your own domain.
• Recruit 10 partners who already reach your customers.
• Pay on a fixed schedule and collect tax details up front.

Start a partner program on Bridgly →