When to Ask for a Better Affiliate Deal
Volume, quality, exclusive: three reasons a brand might actually move. How to time the ask, what to put in writing, and the asks that get you ignored.
Affiliates ask for better deals the way tourists ask for better tables: constantly, and usually at the wrong moment. A brand will move for volume it can see, for quality it does not have to hold, or for an exclusive that is actually exclusive. It will not move because you had a good week and a feeling.
The ladder on AFFILIFY already publishes the platform-wide rates. Trial to Diamond is not a secret. Brand deals still sit on top of that, per GEO, and those are what this post is about. The level system is the floor. This is the conversation above it.
Three reasons a brand says yes
Volume it can see in their own admin, not only in yours. A screenshot of your dashboard is not evidence. A month of FTDs on their brand, in a GEO they care about, with a source they allow, is evidence. If you cannot point at that without a speech, you are not asking, you are hoping.
Quality they do not have to pay twice for. Holds, reversals, bonus abusers, traffic from a source they banned last quarter: that is the opposite of a reason they listen. Clean traffic is a reason they listen. You do not get to claim it. They can see it.
An exclusive you can actually honour. Exclusive means you stop sending that GEO to their competitor, in writing, for a period, with a number attached. Exclusive that still runs three other brands in the same language is a costume.
If you have none of the three, wait. Player quality versus volume is the model conversation. This is the timing conversation.
When to open the conversation
After a month they can open, not after a weekend. After KYC is done, so you do not look like someone who wants a raise before they can be paid. After you have read the current deal, so you do not ask for a clause that is already there.
Not during a hold. Not the week you got caught sending a source that was not on the list. Not as the first message after signup. Why applications get rejected belongs in your head before you ask for more of a deal you have not earned.
On AFFILIFY the rate is per brand and GEO, in USD. There is no single number to "beat the platform". You are asking that brand to change that GEO. Be specific.
What to put in the message
Four lines.
- The GEO and the brand, spelled the way they spell them.
- The last 30 or 90 days: clicks, FTDs, NGR if you are on RevShare, in their numbers if you have them.
- The change you want: CPA up by X, RevShare up by Y, a hybrid, a baseline waived, a hold shortened. One change.
- What they get: more volume in that GEO, or an exclusive, or both, with a period.
Attach nothing that looks like a pitch deck. Attach a table if you must. If you cannot fit it in four lines, you do not know what you want.
Asks that get ignored
A better deal on every brand at once. That is not a negotiation, that is a reset.
A CPA on Trial traffic. The gate to Bronze exists because CPA is easy to arbitrage. Ten qualifying deposits plus review is the published path. Asking to skip it is asking them to forget why it is there.
A number you copied from a competitor's landing page. They know their own matrix. The GEO payout matrix is why DE is not BR.
Threats to leave. If you can leave, leave. If you are bluffing, they can smell it, because your volume is in their admin.
What a yes looks like, and what a no does
A yes is a changed deal you can read before you send the next click. If it only lives in chat, it does not exist. Get it on the brand.
A no is information. Sometimes the GEO is already at the ceiling. Sometimes your quality is the reason. Sometimes they want 90 more days. None of those is solved by asking again on Friday.
On AFFILIFY you can still climb the published ladder without a conversation. That is the point of publishing it. Save the conversation for the brand-specific number that the ladder does not cover.
Frequently asked questions
How much volume is enough to ask?
Enough that they can open a month and see you without a microscope. That number differs by GEO and by brand. A handful of FTDs in a small GEO can be a conversation. The same handful in a GEO they already buy paid traffic into is noise. If you have to ask whether it is enough, wait one more month.
Should I ask for CPA if I am on RevShare?
Only if your traffic is front-loaded and you understand you are capping the players who stay. The model conversation is [CPA versus RevShare versus hybrid](/blog/cpa-vs-revshare-vs-hybrid). Do not ask for CPA as a status symbol. Ask for it if the cashflow of your sources needs it, and be ready for them to say the quality is not there yet.
Does climbing a level replace this conversation?
For the platform-wide ladder, yes. Trial to Diamond is published and deposits across brands count. For a brand that pays off-ladder in a GEO, no. Those two are different objects. Climb first, then ask about the exception.
What if the manager never answers?
Send it once, in writing, with the four lines. Wait. If the brand is on a self-serve platform and the deal is the deal, there may be nobody to answer. That is not rudeness. That is the product.
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