Q: I pay every affiliate the same flat rate — what's wrong with that?

Q: I pay every affiliate the same flat rate — what's wrong with that?

Flat-rate-for-all quietly caps your growth. Your top 5% of partners could deliver 2-3x more volume if the economics rewarded it, but a flat rate gives them no reason to push you over a competitor paying the same.

Better approach:

— Add volume tiers: e.g. 15% base, 20% past 50 sales/month, 25% past 150. Now scaling you pays them more per unit.

— Run private rates for your top earners. The publicly listed rate is the floor, not the ceiling.

— Use temporary boosts (a +5% "sprint" for 2 weeks) to spike volume around a launch instead of permanently raising your base.

Caveat: don't tier so aggressively that your margin disappears at the top. Model your contribution margin at each tier first — a 25% rate that loses money on every sale isn't a growth lever, it's a leak.

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