Better affiliate attribution starts here

How Affiliate Marketing Works and Its Common Pitfalls

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based strategy where brands reward partners—like publishers, influencers, or coupon sites—for driving traffic or sales. In theory, it’s a win-win: brands only pay for results. But in practice, flawed attribution, misaligned incentives, and lack of transparency can muddy the waters. Brands often face discrepancies between their internal analytics and affiliate network reports, leading to overpayment, underperformance, and missed growth opportunities.

That’s where PartnerCentric’s proprietary technology steps in—to expose the gaps, fix the flaws, and ensure brands invest in partners that actually move the needle.

When internal analytics data from sources like Google Analytics or Adobe doesn’t match the reporting from affiliate platforms and networks, attribution discrepancies can distort insights, waste dollars, and slow growth.

FUSE™ Precision helps our clients understand these discrepancies and capitalize on opportunities for better affiliate marketing investment. With FUSE™ Precision affiliate marketing attribution technology, we clarify which partners will  create truly incremental growth so our teams can reallocate dollars for the strongest result.

FUSE ™ PRECISION ANSWERS THESE QUESTIONS:

“If I invest incremental dollars, which partners will create the best overall return?”

“In a multichannel marketing plan, how can I use data to determine which channels work best to drive growth?”

HOW THE PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE WORKS—IN DETAIL

FUSE™ Precision integrates directly with your brand’s internal analytics platforms (Google Analytics, Adobe, your data warehouse) so you’re no longer relying solely on affiliate network reporting. By layering PartnerCentric’s proprietary logic onto your first-party data, the technology reattributes affiliate conversions based on the actual value driven, not inflated last-click credit.

This allows your team to pinpoint which partners deliver true incrementality, automatically adjust commissions, and reallocate spend toward the affiliates and channels that genuinely contribute to growth. Implementation is lightweight, requiring only minimal dev resources, and our team provides full onboarding and support to ensure the model aligns with your KPIs from day one.

RESULTS—WITH FUSE™ PRECISION YOU CAN:

• Utilize your analytics to determine spend – you know the value of your traffic
• Save 36%, on average, and only pay partners for sales that are correctly attributed to the affiliate channel
• Gain full visibility into all your channels and trust that the money you’re paying publishers aligns with the value you want driven

Biased affiliate marketing reporting stands in the way of accurate attribution, fair commissions, and partners that deliver true value.

On average, there is a 30% margin of error between the different attribution systems delivered to brands by affiliate platforms and networks. This means brands spend time and resources aligning measurement sources, second-guessing attribution data and making incorrect investment decisions.

PartnerCentric clients benefit from deeper strategic insights and automated commission payments such as:

• Increased investment with partners who are truly providing incremental revenue to your business
• Identification of the buyer touchpoints that drive conversions
• Campaign optimization levers that create net-new customers

 Unlocking Success: The Power of Incrementality in Digital Marketing

Staying ahead of the competition requires a strategic approach. By harnessing the power of incrementality, marketers can optimize campaigns, maximize return on investment (ROI), and drive meaningful growth. As brands explore more sophisticated nuances in performance marketing, basic reporting won’t be enough to win.  

FUSE Incrementality^TM and the FUSE Incrementality^TM Power Rankings Report create this definitive source of truth. The FUSE Incrementality^TM is poised to revolutionize and deliver irrefutable credibility to partnership marketing, while driving actionable insights for brands.