DistroFit

The 19 channels

Affiliate programs

Paying other people a commission to send you customers.

What it is

One of the 19 traction channels. S3

When it works

When there is enough margin per customer to share. The three-lanes payback benchmark applies: a commission is acquisition cost, and it has to pay back on the first purchase or within 6 to 12 months for a subscription. S6

What it needs from the product

Tracking, not a product change. And a CAC ceiling with room for commission in it.

How it decays

Chen lists referral and affiliate among the degraded mature channels. S25 Affiliate networks are platforms, with the fee and policy risk that implies. S22

What the report checks

The arithmetic gate compares your CAC ceiling against an assumed floor for commission. The structure gate passes, because tracking is not a product change.

Sources

  1. S3 Growth Method, "19 traction channels for growth marketers" secondary source
  2. S6 Hockenmaier and Rachitsky, "Drive Growth by Picking the Right Lane"
  3. S25 Andrew Chen, "Every marketing channel sucks right now"
  4. S22 Stripe, "Platform risk: how to identify it, assess it, and build a more resilient business"