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The Must-Know Affiliate Glossary
Like it’s peers, Affiliate marketing has it’s own range of terminology that is used on a daily basis by those in the industry. The Summit Affiliate Team have collated a list of all the key terms and acronyms often used below.
It is important to know what is being talked about when involved in conversations, this glossary should help give an idea of the terms being used on a day to day basis within the channel.
| Full Name | Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising Standards Authority | ASA | Governing body for advertising practices |
| Affiliate Manager | AM | Refers to the manager of an affiliate program |
| Affiliate Network | Refers to a platform that connects advertisers and affiliates (e.g., AWIN, CJ, TD, Webgains, Impact etc). | |
| Application Programming Interface | API | Used by networks to provide tracking and reporting functionalities. |
| Average Order Value | AOV | The average spend per conversion (£). Calculated by: Revenue/Orders |
| AWIN | Formerly Affiliate Window, a major UK-based affiliate network. | |
| Blue Light Card | BLC | Leading CUG partner for key workers |
| Card-linking Offers | CLO | Affiliate partners that target customers based on their credit/debit card usage |
| Closed-user Group | CUG | A type of affiliate partner which requires a membership to access |
| Commission Junction | CJ | An affiliate network |
| Competition and Markets Authority | CMA | Independent department responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing harmful monopolies. It protects consumers by investigating mergers, enforcing competition law, and tackling unfair trading practices to ensure fair, competitive markets. |
| Cost per Acquistion | CPA | The commission rate assigned to a partner (%). Calculated by: Commission/Revenue |
| Cost Per Acquistion Increase | CPAI | Increasing the base CPA, usually in return for coverage from the partner |
| Easy Fundraising | EF | Charity cashback partner |
| Financial Conduct Authority (important for financial services affiliates) | FCA | Governing body for financial conduct such as loans or over-time payment practices |
| First Touch Attribution | FTA | A model where the first affiliate interaction gets full credit for a conversion. |
| Google Analytics | GA4 | Google’s data platform |
| Google Tag Manager | GTM | Google’s tag management system, can be used to add tracking parameters for affiliate networks |
| Impact | An affiliate network | |
| Last Touch Attribution | LTA | A model where the last affiliate interaction gets full credit for a conversion. |
| Money Saving Expert | MSE | A blog partner focusing on informing customers around how to reduce bills, associated with Martin Lewis, owned by MONY Group |
| Money Supermarket | MSM | Comparison site focused on utilities and bills, owned by MONY Group |
| Pay-Per-Click Affiliates | PPC Affiliates | Affiliates who focus on paid search traffic, often on behalf of advertisers. |
| Performance Marketing Agency | PMA | An organisations such as Summit who provide performance marketing services |
| Price Comparison Website | PCW | Websites which compare the prices of products/services e.g. Uswitch or MoneySupermarket |
| Publisher ID | PID | ID assigned to affiliate partners in the network |
| Rakuten Advertising | RA | Rakuten Advertising, another global network with a strong UK presence. |
| Revenue Share | Rev Share | A long-term tenancy payment model based on % of revenue rather than upfront costs |
| Server-to-Server Tracking | S2S | A tracking method where servers directly communicate to track conversions more accurately. |
| Student Beans | SB | Major student discount partner |
| Terms & Conditions | T&Cs | The rules and guidelines set by an advertiser for their affiliate program. |
| Topcashback | TCB | Leading cashback partner in the UK |
| Tradedoubler | TD | An affiliate network |
| Transaction ID | TID | ID assigned to sales in the affiliate network |
| Transactional Enquiries | TEs | Queries raised by partners when they believe a sale has been declined incorrectly during validations |
| Transactional Queries | TQs | Queries raised by partners when they believe a sale has been declined incorrectly during validations |
| Uniform Resource Locator | URL | The link to a website, containing all the relevant tracking tags |
| Urchin Tracking Module (used for tracking campaign parameters in URLs) | UTM | Added into URLs as part of the network’s tracking |
| User Generated Content | UGC | Influencer content created by them to promotes the brand |
| Validations | The process of checking sales against other channels and returns data to prevent the payment of any invalid commissions | |
| Value-Added Tax | VAT | Relevant for affiliates earning in the UK or EU. |
| Vouchercodes.co.uk | VCUK | Leading voucher partner in the UK |
| Webgains | WG | An affiliate network |
To see these concepts in action and stay updated on the latest shifts in the digital landscape, explore our blog.
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