<b>Q: Coupon affiliates inflate my numbers — do I cut them?</b>

<b>Q: Coupon affiliates inflate my numbers — do I cut them?</b>

Don't cut, re-price. Coupon and loyalty partners often intercept buyers who were already converting. That's not worthless, but it's not the same as net-new demand, so it shouldn't earn the same rate.

How to handle it:

— Run a holdout: disable a few coupon partners for two weeks and watch whether revenue actually drops. Often it barely moves.
— Pay coupon traffic a lower rate, or only on first-time customers via a new-vs-returning flag.
— Reserve top commission for partners who touch the customer before the product page, content and media buyers.

Caveat: some coupon sites genuinely rank for high-intent terms you don't own and bring real new buyers. Don't blanket-demote the category. Tag each partner by incrementality, not by what bucket their site looks like. The question is never 'coupon or not', it's 'did this sale exist without them'.

Got a question? Send it in.