How To Measure Affiliate Marketing: Metrics That Matter

Partner marketing is a growth engine for B2B SaaS.

But throwing a ton of affiliate links into the digital wilderness and hoping for the best is wishful thinking, not a strategy.

To turn that wishful thinking into a well-running revenue machine, you need a solid affiliate marketing measurement plan.

So get your affiliate marketing measurement plan in place.

This guide is your playbook, giving you a step-by-step roadmap for turning promising into strategic advertising.

From affiliate marketing metrics that matter to financial performance metrics that directly impact your results, we'll show you how to measure and improve every aspect of your affiliate program.

Ready to move from a fun affiliate program to a tactical one? Let's get started.

Quick take: Your affiliate program performance measurement untangled with this guide

Navigate the complex world of affiliate marketing performance measurement; this guide gives you a 14-step roadmap for measuring everything that matters, from clicks and conversion rates to financial metrics and affiliate performance. Finally, streamline your efforts and turn metrics into actionable strategies with Reditus, which gives you a single dashboard of tools designed specifically for B2B SaaS affiliate programs.

The building blocks: Fundamental metrics for affiliate success

Metrics are silent partners for growth. Knowing who to track is like having a GPS for your affiliate marketing journey. Without such navigation, you're essentially blind and won't know what's driving your true success or where you're missing potential revenue.

So, are you ready to shed some light on your affiliate marketing efforts? Let's take a look at both the basic affiliate channeling and financial metrics you should be tracking.

Key affiliate funnel metrics to track

A "funnel" refers to all the steps from recruiting affiliates to converting referrals into paying customers. Accurate tracking at each step is not just an option, it's a roadmap to maximize your ROI and discover your growth paths. So what metric should be your North Star? Let's take a look.

Metric #1 - Number of affiliate partners

Why care about the number of affiliates? Because it's your growth army. The more quality affiliates you have, the higher your reach and revenue potential. Quality over quantity, that's the mantra here.

Want to scale your affiliate team fast? Check out the Reditus Marketplace. 6. 000+ SaaS-focused affiliates are a goldmine for scaling your program. And if you're confused about managing recruitment, Reditus can proactively seek out top affiliates for you to boost your MRR.

Metric #2 - Number of affiliate link clicks

Clicks are the first touchpoint in the customer journey and are a key indicator of both partner engagement and potential conversion. The more clicks on your affiliate link, the more chances you have to convert that click into an actual signup or sale.

Metric #3 - Number of affiliate link-driven signups (referrals)

After every click, this is what closes the deal. This metric directly correlates to how compelling your offering is and how effectively your affiliates are communicating that message. A high number of signups means you’re not just attracting attention, you’re inspiring action. Keep an eye on this number.

Metric #4 - Click-to-signup conversion rate

This metric shifts the focus from quantity to quality. You can see how many of your clicks resulted in registrations, giving you an idea of ​​how effective your channeling is. A high click-to-registration conversion rate shows that your message is well aligned with your affiliate audience. Keep an eye on this number to improve your partnerships and campaigns.

Metric #5 - Number of paid referrals

This is the ultimate measurement of whether these records actually translate into revenue. Paid referrals are registrations that upgrade from just testing your product to a paid program. A high number means you’re converting interest into engagement, which is the goal. This is the metric where you can start to see your return on investment (ROI) begin to materialize.

Metric #6 - Signup-to-subscription conversion rate

As a follow-up to paid referrals, this metric goes a step further. It reveals the percentage of sign-ups that become paying customers. Getting someone to sign up is one thing, converting them to paying customers is another. A high sign-up rate means your product has market fit and you or your affiliates are getting the right customers.

Metric #7 - Churn rate

Chunch rate measures the percentage of referred customers who decide to abandon your product. It is calculated by dividing the number of referrals that churn by the total number of referrals. A high churn rate is a red flag that something is wrong – either with the product itself or the match between the product and the customer the affiliate is targeting. This metric is a reality check that allows you to course correct before it’s too late. Track this metric to ensure long-term program success and customer satisfaction.

Key affiliate program-related financial metrics to track

When you call the number of funels, let's talk about money. Fanel Metrics optimizes customer journey and helps to understand the engagement, but fun d-related KPI is essential to quantify the success of the program by amount. This KPI shows the affiliate manager the "what" behind the registration, directly linking affiliate efforts to profit and profitability.

Metric #8 - Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)

MRR represents monthly ordinary income, an important indicator for the SaaS business. In the context of affiliate marketing, this indicators helps track stable revenue created by customers who have signed up to the subscription plan. The importance of MRR is not too much emphasized. MRR is not only provided not only with a snapshot of financial health, but also for predicting future revenue.

Metric #9 - Total affiliate-driven revenue

The MRR is useful for grasping ordinary revenue, but the total revenue of affiliat e-based expands its perspective to fully understand the financial impact of affiliate programs. This indicators summarize all revenues caused by the introduction of affiliates, regardless of whether they are regularly purchased or once. This is a certain answer that indicates how effective the affiliate marketing strategy is in promoting actual sales, as well as clicks and registration.

Metric #10 - Affiliate revenue to total revenue ratio

After knowing the size of the total income of the affiliate, you need to know how it is in the overall interests. That's where this ratio comes in.

Simply divide the affiliate income by the total income to find the ratio.

If this ratio increases, it is a strong signal that affiliate channels are more influential than other marketing channels. On the other hand, if the ratio is declining, it may indicate that the affiliate marketing strategy is reviewed or that there is a time to pay more attention to other means of generating revenue.

To understand in more detail, you can compare the growth rate of affiliate channels with other marketing channels. By doing so, you can clearly understand how the SaaS affiliate marketing is for your business growth.

Metric #11 - Average lifetime value (LTV) per affiliate-driven customer

Next, let's evaluate the lon g-term value of the customer brought by affiliates. This indicators measure whether these customers are valuable assets or detached houses. To calculate, divide the total income from affiliat e-based customers by the total number of affiliates.

The higher the LTV, the higher the affiliate is that the higher the LTV, the more revenue it is to earn more customers. This is a positive sign to increase affiliate investment.

Metric #12 - Earnings per click (EPC)

The profit (EPC) per click indicates the financial value of each clicking the affiliate link. To calculate the EPC, simply divide the total income created by the affiliate by the number of clicks on the affiliate link.

Metric #13 - Average cost per acquisition via the affiliate channel

This measurement is all of the cos t-effectiveness. It indicates how much cost will be on average to acquire new customers through the affiliate program.

To calculate, the total costs related to affiliate programs (platform costs, employees' salaries, affiliate commissions, etc.) are included. Then, this total cost is divided by the total income created from affiliate marketing during the same period.

Low average acquisition price means not only cos t-effective, but also competitive. It is comparable to other marketing methods or exceeding it, gaining valuable customers.

Your 14-step roadmap to measure affiliate marketing success

Are you ready to decipher the code to track affiliate marketing? I'm in the right place. From a clear goal setting to the analysis tracking, the optimization of the program, and the increase in success, it will be explained in step by step.

Step 1: Define clear objectives

Set your goals First, what do you want to achieve in the affiliate marketing program? Is it increasing sales, acquiring new customers, improving brand awareness? The goal is to be a pole star for the entire program, leading your actions and helps make good information based on information.

Select KPI: You need to decide how to measure it after setting a goal. That's where the important performance evaluation index (KPI) comes in. For example, if the goal is to increase the trial sig n-up, you may be focused on indicators such as new sig n-ups per affiliate, clicking to sig n-up conversion rate. If the income increases is the ultimate goal, the acquisition unit price (CPA) and customer lifelong value (CLV) will be the guidelines.

Step 2: Set up affiliate link tracking

The first task of the affiliate link assignment tracking is to assign affiliate links to each affiliate. This allows you to directly belong to each affiliate of each affiliate, eliminating the room for guessing and errors. These unique identifiers can easily track the effects of each affiliate and are very valuable in optimizing program performance.

Use advanced analytics: To see this traffic, you need a good tool. Google Analytics is a good start, but it doesn’t tell you everything you need. If all this tracking sounds complicated, don’t worry. With Reditus’ advanced SaaS affiliate marketing platform, it’s easy. Just add a little code to your website and start collecting useful data. Then, if a visitor takes an action on your site, like signing up or buying, you’ll know exactly which affiliate sent them to your site.

Step 3: Assess affiliate traffic quality

Check the quality of your traffic Once you’ve got that tracking done, it’s time to track what kind of traffic your affiliates are bringing you. See how many pages they visit before leaving your site (page views per visit), how long they stay there (average session duration), and how quickly they leave (dropout rate). If you see high dropout rates or short session times, you might be attracting the wrong kind of visitors.

Traffic section: Segment your inbound traffic by key factors like location, device type, and other relevant attributes. This detailed view allows you to refine your strategy for reaching the audiences that matter most to your SaaS business.

Step 4: Monitor conversion metrics

Track Conversions: Track the specific results you’re looking for, such as leads, signups, and subscriptions from each affiliate. This data is essential to understanding which partnerships truly bring value.

Calculate Conversion Rates: Don’t just stop at the raw numbers. Go a step further and calculate the conversion rate for each affiliate. This is basically the percentage of clicks from your affiliate link that converted into your desired action. This is a simple way to measure the effectiveness of each affiliate in reaching your specific goals.

Step 5: Pull up financial metrics

Calculate Cost Per Acquisition: Once you’ve got your conversions, it’s time to find out how much each one is costing you. Calculating your cost per acquisition (CPA) gives you a clear picture of how profitable your affiliate channel really is. Put simply, it’s how much it’s costing you to acquire a new customer from your affiliate.

Analyze Return on Investment (ROI): Knowing your spend is one thing, but what’s the return? ROI measures the profits you make. ROI helps you ensure that the money you put into your affiliate program is well spent and generating a steady financial return.

Step 6: Evaluate customer quality

Monitor Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): By monitoring the CLV of the customers you acquire through your affiliates, you can measure their long-term value. A high CLV means you are acquiring valuable customers who will contribute to your revenue in the long term.

Track Customer Loyalty Measure the loyalty of your new customers using metrics such as product usage, sales lift, and churn rates. These metrics will tell you if your customers are actively using your products and if they are likely to stick around or churn.

Step 7: Track every affiliate partner’s performance

Affiliate Ranking: To keep your program effective, rank your affiliates based on key performance metrics. Look at affiliate traffic, conversion rates, and total affiliate sales. This will help you know who is driving real value and who needs a little boost.

Identify Top Performers: After ranking, it is important to recognize and reward your best-performing affiliates. A simple shoutout or bonus can go a long way to motivate your affiliates.

Step 8: Conduct a competitor analysis

Benchmark with Competitive Programs Your first order of business is to gather data on your competitors. Look at their commission rates, cookie periods, and promotional materials. Do they offer webinars or special training for their affiliates? Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs can give you useful insights into their SEO efforts and backlinking strategies. Once you have this data, compare it to your own program's metrics and see how far you fall.

Identify and fill the gaps: After benchmarking, dig deeper to find the gaps. If they have a high conversion rate, it may be time to check your landing pages. If you have a large number of partners, consider increasing partner support and communication. This could mean more frequent check-ins or adding more resources to help your affiliates succeed.

Step 9: Leverage feedback from your affiliate partners

Gather feedback from your partners Affiliates are your eyes and ears. They interact with your product and audience in ways you may not know. Survey them regularly and gather valuable insights. Are they happy with your commission structure? Are your marketing materials helpful? Are there features you'd like to add? This is raw information that will help you sort out the pain points in your program or product.

Apply a good input: Whether you adjust the commission system, renew your resources, or make the affiliate dashboard easier to use, take action based on the collected feedback. This indicates that you are investing in the success of affiliates, and eventually the affiliate will be more committed by your success.

Step 10: Build long-term partner relations

Fostering partnership: From a simple "thank you" email for what you've done well, to the quick response to inquiries, show your affiliates that you value their partnership. The point here is to nurture a true relationship beyond transactions. Doing so will create better cooperation, increase trust, and improve both nature and both sides.

Providing resources: Providing appropriate tools and training for affiliates is also the cornerstone of lon g-term relationships. Whether it's a marketing sign, a product training, a data analysis dashboard, give what you need for success. If they succeed, you will succeed.

Step 11: Regular reporting and analysis

An example of a performance dashboard for an affiliate program by Reditus.

Creating a report: Make a daily routine to create reports that emphasize major performance evaluation indicators, financial indicators, and traffic data. This is where a tool like Reditus really shines. With a use r-friendly dashboard, you can look at many main indicators described in this guide in on e-stop, making it easier to understand the soundness of the program.

Analyze the trend: Use these indicators wisely. Track MRR fluctuations, affiliat e-based revenue, or rate fluctuations. Are you aware that the conversion will increase rapidly? Does a specific affiliate excuse to promote more paid referrals? Or you may notice that the rate is surprisingly high despite the high enrollment rate. By analyzing such a tendency, you can get insights to form an optimization strategy.

Step 12: Maintain regulatory compliance

Thorough compliance: Imagine that after the affiliate program is successful, the regulatory authorities will be fined. It's not a beautiful picture, right? Compliance is not the most important part of operating affiliate programs, but is important. Regardless of the data protection law such as GDPR, advertising regulations, always keep the legal requirements and industry standards up to date.

If you are busy with compliance checks daily work, no matter how good people you are, you may overlook the details. That's why regular audits are essential. Make sure that everything is compliant with the current regulations, including program terms, affiliate practices, and promotional materials used. Audit may sound troublesome, but consider it as a safety net that prevents potential legal solicitation.

Step 13: Double down on successful strategies

Sink the commitment with the affiliate as the number of stars: Look closely at the affiliate indicators. Such affiliates are al l-stars and should be more noticeable. Provide higher commissions, bonuses, or additional resources to support their further success.

Continue to expand the team: It's important to double the performance, but avoid being sel f-satisfied. Affiliate ecosystem is dynamic and offers new partnership opportunities. Scout new talents that can develop new audiences and revenue sources. These partnerships are launched in the pilot campaign and evaluated the effects.

Step 14: Optimize all the time

Dat a-based repetition: Continue analyzing indicators and improving the whole strategy. Use the A/B test to optimize landing pages and offers and increase the conversion rate.

Performance audits: regularly conducts comprehensive audits and evaluates the efficiency and effects of the entire affiliate program, including the cos t-effectiveness of the committee structure.

Closing thoughts: Power your affiliate program with metrics and Reditus

We have planned for measurable and sustainable growth, from clear goals, tracking links to continuous optimization.

Remember that in the dat a-led affiliate marketing world, measured items will be managed. Your job is to change these indicators into a practical strategy that consistently moves the needle.

Are you worried about tracking and measuring tasks? Please use Reditus.

Consider not only the metrics, but also a control room that can be understood. Reditus customized for B2B SaaS can turn affiliate program data into action without sweating.

Introducing the author

At the time of 2020, I was an affiliate of more than 80 SaaS tools, and I made an average of 30k visits on my own site. Due to the problem of today's affiliate management software tools, it did not lead to the passive income I expected. Many inconvenient affiliate management tools probably have lost more than $ 20, 000 affiliate income. So I decided to develop a unique software focusing on affiliates.

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Table of contents

• The performance measurement of the Quick Download Affiliate Program is deployed in this guide.
• Basic indicators for successful affiliate
• 14 steps roadmaps to measure the success of affiliate marketing
• Enhance affiliate programs with the last consideration metric and reset