Invite existing partners who have a credible use for the product, a relevant audience, and an expressed interest in the affiliate offer. Assess those three conditions separately. A successful paid post earns someone a conversation; it does not establish that they want commission-based work or will generate sales.
Use your roster to record what you already know, then ask about what you cannot observe. Keep past views in a separate column from product fit and willingness to participate.
Start with evidence from the relationship
For each partner, review the product they received or bought, their feedback, relevant content, and the last conversation about future work. Record the date and source of each note. An old campaign brief can explain why you selected someone then, but their interests and availability may have changed.
Modash's affiliate recruitment guide recommends assessing audience-product fit and whether the creator has a genuine use for the product. For an existing roster, turn that advice into questions you can answer from your own records:
- Did the creator try this product and give feedback that supports recommending it?
- Can they explain a use case their audience would recognize?
- Can the store serve the audience they expect to reach?
- Have they said they want an ongoing affiliate relationship under the proposed terms?
The last answer must come from the creator. A friendly reply after a gift, a completed sponsorship, or continued use of your product does not tell you whether they accept an affiliate offer.
There is also a factual limit on the endorsement you can request. The US FTC's influencer guidance says creators cannot describe an experience with a product they have not tried. It also says paid endorsers cannot praise a product contrary to their actual opinion. If experience is missing, offer product evaluation before asking for a recommendation, without requiring praise.
Use separate decisions, rather than a combined score
This is a recommended recruitment rubric, not a platform rule or a model of future sales. A high view count cannot compensate for an unresolved condition.
| Condition | Evidence to record | Decision if unresolved |
|---|---|---|
| Product fit | Specific use case and creator feedback | Ask about experience; hold the offer if the product is unsuitable |
| Audience relevance | Relevant content and evidence that likely buyers can use and receive the product | Clarify the intended audience and shipping limits |
| Interest | Creator's reply about this affiliate offer | Ask once through the established contact channel |
| Terms fit | Acceptance of compensation, obligations and payment terms | Discuss changes or retain the existing paid arrangement |
| Readiness | Product access, disclosure understanding and a working tracking setup | Fix the missing step before activation |
Use four statuses: invite, clarify, hold, and declined. Invite means the partner is suitable to receive an offer. Accepted should be a later status, recorded only after they agree to the terms.
If someone declines, record that decision and stop the recruitment sequence. If interest is unknown, mark it unknown. Silence does not change the row to accepted. This is an opt-in operating policy for your program.
Keep a separate historical-performance note with the platform, content format, reporting period and metric label. Use it to understand the previous assignment. Do not multiply views by an assumed purchase rate and present the result as expected affiliate sales.
A hypothetical roster review
These invented examples illustrate decisions, not results from real partners.
| Partner | Product evidence | Interest and terms | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Uses the product and has explained its role in a relevant tutorial | Asked about commissions and wants the full offer | Invite; confirm terms |
| B | Produced a high-view sponsored post, but has not tried the current product | Interest unknown | Clarify product experience first |
| C | Relevant audience and positive feedback | Wants a guaranteed production fee | Discuss a fee-plus-commission offer |
| D | Tried the product and found it unsuitable | Declined further promotion | Close recruitment |
Partner C remains a possible partner. If your budget only supports commission, say so and accept that the offer may not fit. Use the fee, commission or both decision guide before changing an existing paid relationship.
Prepare the offer before sending it
Write down the eligible products, commission rate and calculation base, customer discount, attribution rules, returns treatment and payment timing. Separate any required content from optional recommendations. State whether samples, production fees or usage rights form part of the offer.
Your commerce system determines which mechanics you can support. Shopify Collabs, for example, supports direct invitations and affiliate sales tracking. Its invite-program documentation describes settings for a link destination, URL parameters, customer discount and commission percentage.
Check existing membership before moving a partner. Shopify says a creator can belong to only one of your programs at a time. A move keeps their link and code but applies the new program's commission rate and discount. Do not treat that administrative move as evidence that the creator accepted revised terms.
Explain earnings with order arithmetic, without forecasting order volume. The following is hypothetical, in USD. Assume all three orders meet the agreed attribution rules. Eligible revenue means merchandise value after discounts and refunds, excluding tax and shipping. The illustrative commission rate is 10%; calculate each order's commission and round to the nearest cent.
| Order | After-discount merchandise | Refunded merchandise | Eligible revenue | Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H01 | $80.00 | $0.00 | $80.00 | $8.00 |
| H02 | $60.00 | $20.00 | $40.00 | $4.00 |
| H03 | $50.00 | $50.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $190.00 | $70.00 | $120.00 | $12.00 |
Eligible revenue = after-discount merchandise value minus refunded merchandise value. Commission = eligible revenue multiplied by 10%. These are example program terms, not Shopify defaults, a recommended rate, or an earnings promise. Define your own commission terms before inviting partners.
Send an invitation that leaves room to decline
Here is a completed hypothetical invitation for a storage-container brand. The prior conversation and offer are invented to show the level of detail to include.
Subject: An optional affiliate offer for our storage containers
Thanks for sharing how the containers fit into your meal-prep routine. Would you like to review an ongoing affiliate offer?
We propose 10% commission on eligible merchandise revenue after discounts and refunds, excluding tax and shipping. The offer includes a personal tracking link and the full attribution and payment terms for review before you decide. We cannot promise order volume or earnings.
This proposal has no required posts or production fee. Your existing paid work stays under its current agreement. If you would need a fee for new content, please say so.
Any recommendation must reflect your experience and disclose the commission relationship. You can decline, ask questions, or request a later conversation. We will wait for your agreement before activating you.
For endorsements affecting US consumers, the FTC guidance calls for a clear disclosure beside the endorsement where people will notice it. A profile-only statement is insufficient. Video endorsements need disclosure in the video. Discuss disclosure before activation; do not assume a platform tool alone covers it. Other countries' rules may also apply.
Turn acceptance into a checked handoff
Keep a copy of the accepted terms, confirmation date and responsible team member. Then check the creator's product access, link destination, discount and tracking before they publish. Shopify's recruitment documentation says its affiliate links require a connected creator assigned to a tier; an invalid destination can produce a 404 error.
Use the affiliate onboarding checklist after acceptance. For the roster review itself, assign each candidate one decision and one next action. Send invitations only when you can explain the product fit and the offer, without attaching a sales forecast.
