What to do when an affiliate program pauses or ends
Programs end more often than most site owners expect. Brands switch networks, cut budgets, get acquired, or run out of prepaid funds. The network usually sends an email, the email is easy to miss, and the links keep looking like they work.
Paused, out of funds, or ended: what happens to your links
It depends on the network and on why the program stopped. A few documented examples:
- Out of funds (Awin): when an advertiser's balance falls below zero, its links go offline. Clicks go to the fallback address you set, or to a page saying the link is inactive. The links come back by themselves when the balance is topped up, and Awin notes that link status changes don't trigger automatic alerts.
- Contract expired (Impact): sales can still track after a contract expires, but they're marked outside of terms and earn no commission.
- Program closed: on some networks the tracking links simply stop working. Commission Factory, for example, tells affiliates that a closed program's links are automatically broken and should be replaced.
Commissions on sales made before the change are usually still paid on the normal schedule, but check the program's terms: some networks hold or reverse pending sales when a brand leaves.
The plan, step by step
- Find every link to that program. Search your posts for the brand's domain and for the network's link format (its tracking domain and the program's ID). Don't forget buttons, comparison tables, widgets, sidebars, email sequences and downloadable PDFs.
- Rank the pages by what that program earned on each over the last 90 days. Your network report, broken down by sub-ID, tells you; without sub-IDs, use pageviews as a stand-in.
- Choose the replacement: the same product at another store you're approved with, or a competing brand. Apply early: approvals can take days, and some programs decline new sites.
- Swap links on the top pages first. For the long tail, a redirect you control (yoursite.com/go/brand) means one edit moves every link at once, now and the next time this happens.
- Where the network lets you, set a fallback address for dead clicks (Awin calls it a fallback URL), pointing to your best alternative.
- Update anything that names the old store: "buy at X" buttons, price claims, and your disclosure if it lists partners.
- Watch the next few weeks of reports for reversals on the old program's pending sales.
So it costs less next time
- Link through your own redirects (/go/…), not straight to the network, so a switch is one change.
- Keep at least two programs per category you rely on, so there's always somewhere to move traffic.
- Check program status daily rather than waiting for emails: paused programs, ended contracts and commission cuts are all visible through the networks' APIs.
Hear about it the morning it happens
RevWarn checks every program you're in at Impact, CJ, Awin and Partnerize each day, and alerts you when one pauses, ends or cuts its commission, critical if it earned for you in the last 90 days. Free for 30 days.
Start a 30-day free trial See plansSources: Awin: Link Status, troubleshooting inactive links · impact.com: Expire contracts with brands · Commission Factory: What should I do when an advertiser I'm promoting closes?.