How to detect affiliate fraud is essential for avoiding losses and damage to your brand’s reputation.
It’s important to be able to detect suspicious affiliate activity in real-time, so you can stop them in their tracks and limit your losses before they become too big. The following are a few effective ways to detect affiliate fraud:
1. Use a risk-rule-based system that automatically weeds out affiliates who aren’t legitimate and can’t be trusted.
2. Keep an eye out for sudden spikes in conversion rates and other KPIs from a particular affiliate.
3. Monitor incoming traffic from specific IP addresses that aren’t typically associated with any of your other affiliates.
4. Control referring URLs to avoid fake leads and clicks.
5. Prohibit disposable email addresses and send unique verification links for new accounts.
6. Use analytics to analyze data for each affiliate and run comparison reports.
7. Check for overpromising conditions and unrealistic commission rates.
8. Make sure that the terms and conditions of your affiliate program are clearly defined.
9. Be wary of affiliates who “go dark” for any reason.
10. Conclusion: Fraudulent affiliates can steal a significant chunk of your budget and damage your reputation. If you’re not sure how to catch an affiliate’s fraudulent activities, it’s a good idea to start with the basics: clear policies and agreements. These will give you something to fall back on if your affiliates break the law. They will also help you enlist a strong compliance team to proactively look for suspicious behaviors.