Decide who to let in: approval mode, vetting on traffic, and the stage you are in
After this lesson you can
Set review versus auto-accept for your stage, vet applicants on where their traffic is rather than where they live, read the fraud flags correctly, and know when "let everyone in and learn" is the right call.
Decide who to let in: approval mode, vetting on traffic, and the stage you are in
Every application is a small decision, and the way you make it depends on the stage you are in. Get the rule straight now, because in six weeks you will want to know why the affiliates who moved moved, and you will not be able to tell if you accepted on mood.
Review or auto-accept
Auto-accept fills the program fast, and while you are still learning who converts for you it is usually right: let people in, watch what they do, focus on quality once you can see what quality looks like. A program in test-and-learn mode that also allows paid ads should lean this way and treat the first months as an experiment.
Review is right once you know your archetype. It costs you response time, and response time matters more than most operators think: an applicant who waits a week for approval has moved on to the next program. Whichever mode you choose, decide it in writing, in three lines: who gets in, who does not, and what you check.
Vet on traffic, not on location
The affiliate's own location does not matter. The location of their traffic does. A profile registered in a country you do not sell to whose analytics show an audience in your market is a good affiliate; a profile registered in your market whose traffic sits somewhere else is not. The connected analytics, YouTube or LinkedIn on a profile is what makes this checkable. Vet on that first-party data, not on what the application text says.
The easy reject is all three together: the traffic region does not match where you sell, no website or property is connected, and the answers to your application questions are odd. One of the three on its own is a question, not a rejection.
Read the flags for what they are
Three things get flagged automatically once affiliates are active: the same IP on affiliate and referral, the same email, and referrals from paid search. They are flags, not verdicts. An agency signing up a client from its own office trips two of them and is doing exactly what you recruited it to do. A high conversion ratio on one affiliate usually means they know their audience, not that they are gaming you. Look, then decide.
Leave a note on every yes
One line per accepted affiliate: what they are, where their traffic is, why you said yes. It takes ten seconds. In Track 3 you will pull the list of who published and who sent a click, and the notes are the other half of that answer: what the movers had in common, so you can find more of them.
Key takeaways
- Auto-accept while you are learning who converts; review once you know. Decide the rule in writing.
- Approval speed matters. An applicant who waits a week has moved on.
- Vet on where the traffic is, not where the affiliate lives, using the connected first-party data.
- The easy reject needs all three: wrong traffic region, no connected property, odd answers.
- Flags are not verdicts. Agencies trip them legitimately. Leave a note on every affiliate you accept.
The detail lives in the help centre
This lesson tells you the order and the judgement. The clicks are in the articles below. Open one, do the step, and you will find a way back to this lesson at the top of the article.
Step-by-step: do this now
The exact clicks live in the help centre. Open the article, do the step, come back.
- Affiliate requests (accept / decline / auto-accept)Accept, decline or auto-accept requests.Help centre · Using Reditus as a SaaS
- Auto-approve affiliatesTurn auto-approve on or off.Help centre · Using Reditus as a SaaS
- How to add affiliate notesKeep notes on why you accepted or declined.Help centre · Using Reditus as a SaaS
Reference: read if you need the detail
Background you can skip on a first pass.
Do this before the next lesson
Each step says how much counts as done. Doing a third of it and moving on is how programs stall.
Logged in? These open the right screen in your Reditus account. Not a customer yet? They take you to signup first.
Questions we hear at this point
Do we have to approve every affiliate manually?
No. Auto-accept is a setting, and it is the right one while you are still learning who converts for you. Switch to review once you know your archetype and want to protect the program's quality.
An affiliate in a country we do not sell to applied. Reject?
Not on location. Check where their traffic is, through the analytics or YouTube they connected. An affiliate abroad whose audience is in your market is exactly who you want. Reject only when the traffic region, a missing property and odd answers all line up.
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