Best practices: a commission structure that scales
Your commission structure decides how hard partners work to promote you and how much margin you keep on every sale they drive. The short answer: anchor the rate to your profit margin, not a round number; pick the commission model that matches your average order and product range; and start low so you can reward proven performers rather than cut everyone later. This article works through those choices, then links the Bloop campaign settings that implement them.
In Bloop every affiliate belongs to exactly one campaign, and the campaign holds the structure. Get it right once and the program scales cleanly; get it wrong and you either repel good affiliates or quietly lose money on every order.
Anchor the rate to margin
Section titled “Anchor the rate to margin”Before choosing a number, decide what share of the profit on an affiliate-driven order you are willing to give away, then back into the rate from there. A 20% commission on a 60%-margin candle is healthy; the same 20% on a 12%-margin electronics order erases your profit. When unsure, start lower — it is far easier to raise a rate for a top performer than to cut one across the board.
Pick the model that fits your store
Section titled “Pick the model that fits your store”The right model follows your margins, your average order value, and your product range.
| Store profile | Margin | Order pattern | Suggested model | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion & apparel | Healthy (50–60%) | Mid-value, varied baskets | Percentage | Scales fairly with order size without per-item math |
| Beauty & cosmetics | High, repeat | Small, frequent | Percentage with a cap | Keeps rates attractive while limiting what one customer’s repeat orders can earn an affiliate |
| Electronics & high-ticket | Thin (10–20%) | Infrequent, large | Flat per order | A fixed amount keeps payout predictable on thin margins |
| Single hero product / DTC | Known per-unit profit | One product, varied quantity | Flat per item | Pays exactly per unit, so cost per sale is predictable |
| Subscription | Recurring value | First order, then renewals | Flat per order, with a maximum per customer | A fixed amount keeps each payout predictable, and the maximum limits what one subscriber can earn an affiliate over time |
| Mixed catalog | Ranges widely | Anything | Percentage base + product-specific overrides | Safe base rate everywhere, richer rates only where margin allows |
| High-value creator partners | Any | High volume | Tiered (advance) | Bigger orders earn a higher rate, motivating larger baskets |
Bloop pays commission on every order attributed to an affiliate, so it cannot pay on a subscriber’s first order only. For subscriptions, choose a flat amount per order and turn on Maximum affiliate commission per customer to cap the total.
The pattern: percentage suits healthy, variable margins; flat per order protects thin or high-ticket margins; flat per item fits predictable per-unit profit; and tiered or product-specific rates let you reward selectively once a base program works.
Build in guardrails before you scale
Section titled “Build in guardrails before you scale”A structure that scales needs limits, not just rates.
- Commission cap. Bloop’s cap is the maximum commission an affiliate can earn from any one customer, across all of that customer’s orders. It keeps payouts predictable when a referred customer keeps reordering or places very large baskets, and pairs especially well with a percentage model, which would otherwise scale without limit.
- Exclude what is not profit. Commission on the order’s product revenue, and consider excluding shipping and tax — you rarely want to pay on money that never lands as margin.
- Attribution window. A longer cookie suits considered, slower purchases; a shorter one suits impulse buys. Match it to how long your customers take to decide.
Use campaigns to segment, not to complicate
Section titled “Use campaigns to segment, not to complicate”You can run multiple campaigns and assign each affiliate to one. The cleanest way to scale is a standard campaign for everyone and a higher-rate campaign for proven top performers, rather than negotiating one-off deals. A short-term, richer campaign for a product launch is another common, contained pattern.
Set it up in Bloop
Section titled “Set it up in Bloop”
- Configure the model, cap, exclusions, and cookie in Affiliate campaigns and commissions.
- Pay against approved balances in Affiliate payouts.
- For the full reasoning on setting a number, see how to set affiliate commission rates.