12 KPIs Every Affiliate Program Manager Should Track

February 15, 2025

Running an affiliate program without metrics is like driving without a dashboard. Here are the 12 KPIs that tell you whether your program is healthy.

Total revenue generated through affiliate referrals. This is your north star metric.

Benchmark: Affiliate should drive 10-30% of total revenue within 12 months.

Total affiliate revenue divided by active affiliates. Shows the average productivity of your affiliate base.

Benchmark: Varies widely. Focus on improving this over time.

Compare the LTV of affiliate-referred customers to other channels. Healthy programs see similar or higher LTV from affiliate traffic.

The percentage of affiliate clicks that result in a purchase. This measures landing page effectiveness.

Benchmark: 1-5% for SaaS free trials, 0.5-2% for direct purchases.

The average first purchase amount from affiliate referrals.

Commission earned per affiliate click. This is the metric affiliates care about most — it tells them how much money each click is worth.

Benchmark: $0.50-2.00 for SaaS products.

The percentage of approved affiliates who generated at least one click in the past 30 days.

Benchmark: 20-30% is good. Below 10% indicates an activation problem.

The percentage of affiliates who stop promoting each month.

What percentage of revenue comes from your top 10% of affiliates? Over 80% indicates dangerous concentration risk.

Actual commissions paid divided by affiliate revenue. Should match your stated rate closely.

Percentage of affiliate-driven sales that are refunded. Higher than your direct refund rate indicates quality issues.

Benchmark: Should be within 2% of your direct sales refund rate.

Percentage of commissions flagged or denied for fraud. Track this to gauge program integrity.

Benchmark: Under 5% is healthy.