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Affiliate is getting a lot more attention in DTC right now, and for good reason. In this episode, Yash Chavan, Founder and CEO of SATHI & SARAL, breaks down why the channel looks so attractive on paper, where it falls apart in practice, and what brands can do to make it perform like a real growth engine.
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We get into:
- Why affiliate is attractive to operators and finance teams
- How last-click attribution distorts performance data
- What affiliate fraud actually looks like inside a real program
- How to think about multi-touch attribution by product category
- Why gamification matters if you want creators to stay active
- How affiliate fits alongside Meta, TikTok, and retargeting
What to steal:
- Run a fraud scan on your current affiliate program and check for leaked codes
- Build commission tiers and milestone bonuses to keep strong creators engaged
- Choose an attribution model based on how your product actually gets bought
If you’re a DTC marketer, founder, or growth lead trying to lower CAC, improve measurement, and build a more durable acquisition program, this episode is essential listening.
Timestamps
00:00 Affiliate marketing explained
02:00 Why affiliate is hard to scale
04:00 The problem with last-click attribution
06:00 Affiliate fraud examples and risks
09:00 Influencers shifting to affiliate models
11:00 Why reels + links change everything
13:00 How modern affiliate tracking works
16:00 Multi-touch attribution strategies
19:00 Retargeting affiliate traffic
21:00 Gamifying affiliate programs
24:00 How to start and scale affiliates
27:00 Program hygiene and key metrics
30:00 Where affiliate fits in your funnel
33:00 The future of affiliate marketing
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