An affiliate is a person or business that promotes a product or service. They earn a commission for any sales or leads they bring in. Affiliates use unique links and tools to track their promotions. They are sometimes called "publishers", "promoters" or "affiliate marketers".
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The source is where the products or services are listed for affiliates to promote. Sources can be funnels, websites, ecommerce stores, calendars, surveys or forms. The source helps track sales accurately and credits them to the right affiliate.
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An affiliate link is a unique URL that tracks clicks and conversions from an affiliate's promotion. When someone clicks the link and makes a purchase or submits a lead, the affiliate is credited with the sale.
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Each affiliate is given an Affiliate ID. This is a unique code the system uses to track their performance, such as how many sales or leads they bring in.

A campaign is a specific marketing effort to promote products or services to a targeted audience. Affiliates join campaigns to promote those products or services to their own audience.
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Every campaign has default commissions. This is a percentage of the sale price, or a flat fee, paid to the affiliate for each sale or lead they bring in. Default commissions apply to all products in the campaign unless a product-specific commission overrides them.
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You can also set product-based commissions for specific items in a campaign. For example, say the default commission is 20%, but you want to offer 30% on one product. The affiliate earns 30% on that product and 20% on everything else.
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If you charge a setup fee for your product or service, you can choose whether to include it when working out your affiliates' commission.

Attribution is the process of crediting an affiliate for a sale or lead. It makes sure the affiliate who promoted the product gets rewarded for their efforts.

A commission is the amount paid to an affiliate for each sale or lead they bring in. It can be a flat fee or a percentage of the sale. Commissions are sometimes called "rewards".

Some products or services offer recurring commissions. This means affiliates keep earning commission on ongoing subscriptions or repeat sales from a single referral.

A payout is the total amount of money an affiliate has earned. It's paid based on the sales or leads that came through their affiliate link.

In a two-tier affiliate program, affiliates earn commission on their own sales and also on sales made by affiliates they recruit.

A multi-tier affiliate program goes a step further. Commissions can be earned across several levels of affiliates. For example, ZipLeads supports up to 7 tiers, so affiliates can earn a percentage of sales made by sub-affiliates at different levels.

A sub-affiliate works under a primary affiliate and promotes the product or service through their own network. The primary affiliate earns commission on the sales their sub-affiliates make.

A cookie is a small file stored on a person's device to track their actions, such as visiting a website through an affiliate link. This keeps tracking accurate for attribution and commissions.

Cookie length is how long the cookie stays active. For example, if the cookie length is 30 days, the affiliate earns commission if the customer buys within 30 days of clicking the affiliate's link.

You can track how many clicks an affiliate link gets. This shows how well a campaign is building interest.

The Affiliate Portal is a personalised dashboard where affiliates can track their performance, including sales, commissions and leads. Each affiliate has their own login to see their data.

A Magic Link is a quick way for affiliates to log in to their portal without a password. You can share this link with affiliates when they first join a campaign.

A lead is someone who shows interest in a product or service, such as by filling out a form or booking a calendar appointment. Leads can come from many different actions, or you can add them manually.

Once a lead makes a purchase, they become a customer. Affiliates usually earn commission when a lead turns into a paying customer.