Affiliate Marketing
Design a CPS affiliate program—commission models, partner types, and recruitment—for an AI or SaaS product without guessing economics.
Overview
Affiliate-marketing is an agent skill most often used in Grow (also Launch distribution, Validate pricing) that plans CPS affiliate strategy, commissions, and partner recruitment for SaaS and AI products.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/kostja94/marketing-skills --skill affiliate-marketingWhat is this skill?
- CPS-first framing: pay on sale with cited 5:1–10:1 ROI and ~40%–50% lower CAC vs paid ads
- Commission model matrix: pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, pay-per-click with typical rate bands
- Initial assessment: product type, commission model, and affiliate persona segmentation
- Reads .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md when present for positioning
- Points to affiliate-page-generator for affiliate landing pages—not this skill
- Documented ROI range 5:1 to 10:1 for affiliate CPS
- CAC cited 40%–50% lower than paid ads
- Typical pay-per-sale commission band 10%–20% in model table
Adoption & trust: 883 installs on skills.sh; 586 GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You want affiliate channels but lack a commission structure, partner targeting, or CPS economics aligned to a subscription or AI tool.
Who is it for?
Indie SaaS founders ready to add partner-led distribution with measurable sale-based payouts.
Skip if: One-off influencer posts with no tracking, or teams that only need an affiliate landing page built without program strategy.
When should I use this skill?
User mentions affiliate marketing, affiliate program strategy, CPS model, recruitment, commission structure, partners, tracking, or partner marketing.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a structured affiliate strategy—models, rates, partner types, and assessment-driven next steps—with landing pages deferred to affiliate-page-generator.
- Commission and partner-type recommendation
- Structured affiliate program plan
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Affiliate programs compound recurring revenue after launch, so Grow is the canonical shelf for partner-driven acquisition. Lifecycle covers partner onboarding, commission tiers, and ongoing affiliate relationship management—not one-off SEO copy.
Where it fits
Define 15% pay-per-sale tiers and onboarding flow for creator affiliates promoting your AI API.
Compare affiliate CPS versus paid social before committing launch budget.
Model whether pay-per-lead bounties fit a freemium signup funnel before scale.
Brief content publishers on commission bands anddisallowed coupon-site positioning.
How it compares
Strategy and commission planning skill—not the affiliate-page-generator implementation skill or generic paid-ads playbooks.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is affiliate-marketing for?
Solo builders and small SaaS teams setting up or optimizing affiliate and partner marketing with CPS economics.
When should I use affiliate-marketing?
In Grow when launching or scaling an affiliate program; in Launch when planning distribution mix; in Validate when testing pricing and pay-per-lead commissions before full build-out.
Is affiliate-marketing safe to install?
Review Prism Security Audits on this page; the skill is advisory and may read local project-context files you should keep free of secrets.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Affiliate Marketing
# Channels: Affiliate Guides affiliate marketing strategy for AI/SaaS products. Affiliate marketing uses a CPS (Cost Per Sale) model—pay only when sales occur. ROI typically 5:1 to 10:1; CAC 40%–50% lower than paid ads. **When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output. ## Initial Assessment **Check for project context first:** If `.claude/project-context.md` or `.cursor/project-context.md` exists, read it for product, audience, and positioning. Identify: 1. **Product type**: SaaS, AI tool, subscription 2. **Commission model**: Pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, pay-per-click 3. **Target affiliates**: Content creators, publishers, coupon sites ## Commission Models | Model | Use | Typical Rate | |-------|-----|--------------| | **Pay-per-sale** | Most common; pay on conversion | 10%–20% | | **Pay-per-lead** | Lead gen (signup, form fill) | $5–50/lead | | **Pay-per-click** | Rare; risk of abuse | $0.01–10.50/click | For SaaS: Prefer pay-per-sale or pay-per-lead. Recurring commissions for subscriptions. ## Key Terms | Term | Definition | |------|------------| | **Cookie duration** | Attribution window (typically 30–90 days) | | **Recurring commission** | Ongoing % from subscription renewals | | **Sub-affiliate** | Affiliates who recruit other affiliates | | **Performance bonus** | Extra reward when affiliate hits sales targets | | **Attribution** | Linking sale to correct affiliate | ## Promotion Channels - **Content creators**: Bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, social influencers - **Publishers**: Media, niche sites, email newsletters - **Coupon/cashback**: Price-sensitive users; see **discount-marketing-strategy** for code strategy - **Professional affiliates**: Agencies managing multiple programs - **Communities**: Facebook Groups, Discord, Reddit, forums - **Existing customers**: Word-of-mouth via referral rewards ## Setup Options *Product and website examples are illustrative only. No affiliation, partnership, or endorsement implied.* | Approach | Use | |----------|-----| | **Self-build** | Forms (e.g. Google Forms); quick, low budget | | **Third-party** | Affiliate tracking platforms (e.g. Rewardful, Tapfiliate) for AI/SaaS | Submit program to affiliate program directories after launch for discoverability. ## Recruitment Strategies 1. **Dedicated landing page**: Clear commission, payout terms, cookie duration, signup flow; link in nav/footer. 2. **Partner personas**: Define 5+ personas (bloggers, YouTubers, newsletter owners, community admins); list audience fit and motivations. 3. **Target high-influence types**: SEO content owners ranking for your keywords; reviewers/listicle sites; media buyers. 4. **Reverse research**: Find affiliates promoting competitors; they may promote you too. 5. **Unconventional outreach**: Competitor backlink analysis; creative outreach beyond cold email and networks. Expect a small fraction of partners to drive most sales—quality over vanity metrics. ## Implementation Flow 1. **Assess product fit**: Target audience size, product complexity, commission margin, tracking feasibility. SaaS subscriptions suit recurring commissions. 2. **Design commission structure**: 20%–40% typical; cookie 60–90 days; payment cycle (e.g., 15th of month); minimum payout (e.g., $50). 3. **Create marketing materials**: Banners, social posts, email templates; landing p