Whether you’re running an affiliate program or are looking to form a new affiliate relationship, an affiliate agreement lays out the terms so both parties are aware of their commitments. Learn more about what an affiliate agreement is and download a template in PDF or Word format.
What is an Affiliate Agreement?
An affiliate agreement forms a legally-binding relationship between two parties (typically, two businesses), where one party (the “affiliate”) receives compensation for promoting the other (the “company”) to visitors of the affiliate’s website or app.
A typical agreement is structured to provide compensation to the affiliate in one – or both – of the following ways:
- When a visitor purchases goods on the company’s website
- When a visitor clicks on the link to the company’s website (called “pay per click” or “PPC”)
The payment structure you choose will depend on the amounts to be paid by the company to the affiliate. Consider the following factors when deciding how to outline compensation in your affiliate agreement:
- Conversion rate of the company’s site
- Average number of sales
- Average profit margin
- Traffic to the affiliate’s site
- Percentage of users that are likely to click on the link to the company’s website
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to drafting an affiliate agreement. Therefore, it’s important to run the numbers and make a deal that is beneficial and sustainable for both parties.
An affiliate agreement is also known as:
- Affiliate Program Agreement
- Affiliate Partner Agreement
- Online Affiliate Agreement
- Website Affiliate Agreement
- Marketing Affiliate Agreement
When to Use an Affiliate Agreement?
Use an affiliate agreement when you want to form a relationship whereby the affiliate receives compensation for specific actions that promote a company’s services, products, website or app. Whether you’re the affiliate or the company, an affiliate agreement should be used whenever forming an affiliate relationship. If you’re a company and have an affiliate program, you can use the same agreement for all affiliates.
What Should be Included in an Affiliate Agreement?
An affiliate agreement should include essential details about the affiliate program and should generally include details about:
- Company details
- Affiliate details
- Compensation for referred traffic or product sales
- Fulfillment and customer information
- Term and termination
- Confidentiality
- Assignment; succession
- Dispute resolution
Our affiliate agreement template below includes all the vital information you should include, so you don’t have to worry about missing anything out.
Affiliate Agreement Sample
Here’s what a typical Affiliate Agreement looks like:
Affiliate Agreement
