“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston Churchill
We’ve been talking about Zombie Affiliate Programs—those undead channels left to rot by churn-and-burn agencies or overstretched internal teams.
But what if you’re staring at one right now?
This week, I’ll walk you through how to bring your affiliate program back to life—with a mix of hard truth, strategic clarity, and tactical steps.
Because dead programs can be revived. And when they are, they’re often your most efficient channel.
What You’ll Get in Chaos to Grow
- Real-world growth frameworks
- Affiliate, marketplace, and eCom strategies
- Playbooks for getting to $100M+
- Strategic insights from actual recovery projects
- Occasionally, a painful—but necessary—wake-up call
From the Trenches: The 5-Step Affiliate Resurrection Plan
Here’s exactly how we’ve brought brands back from the affiliate graveyard:
1. Diagnose the Decay
Ask: What killed it?
Common causes:
- No new partner recruitment in 90+ days
- Tracking is broken or hasn’t been tested
- Top partners haven’t been contacted in months
- Last-click attribution is driving away high-quality partners
→ Pull your top 25 partners. If you haven’t spoken to them personally in the last 60 days, your program is in trouble.
2. Build a “Living” Partner Strategy
Zombie programs die when all partners are treated equally.
Revived programs use:
- Tiered commission structures
- Custom landing pages for top partners
- Segmentation by vertical, funnel stage, and value
- A consistent outbound recruitment pipeline
→ This is not set-it-and-forget-it. It’s build-and-scale.
3. Reset the Offer
Many affiliate programs fail because the offer is weak.
If a publisher isn’t converting traffic, it’s rarely because they aren’t trying—it’s because your offer isn’t worth promoting.
→ Test new hooks. Better promos. New bundles. More margin.
4. Shift the Attribution Model
If your program is still stuck in last-click only, it’s pushing away creators, influencers, and content partners.
→ Use tools like Impact’s time-decay and position-based models to reward partners for contribution, not just conversion.
5. Create a 90-Day Activation Plan
This is how you know it’s not just motion—it’s momentum.
- Week 1: Reactivate top dormant partners
- Week 2: Launch 3 recruitment campaigns
- Week 3–4: Publish new creative and test offers
- Weeks 5–12: Track weekly KPIs, commission tests, and performance tiers
→ You don’t need miracles. You need a real plan.
Your Weekly Chaos Challenge
Open your affiliate platform. Pull the last 90 days of revenue.
Ask yourself:
Who drove it?
When did we last talk to them?
What’s our plan to grow that number next quarter?
If the answer is vague, there’s your growth ceiling.
Think Your Affiliate Program Could Be Performing Better?
We built a Free Affiliate Audit to give you a clear, no-fluff look at what’s working, what’s broken, and what’s costing you growth.
You’ll get:
- A performance breakdown across your top partners
- A strategy review across funnel stages
- Tracking, offer, and attribution feedback
- Actionable steps to drive more revenue—without spending more
No cost. No Commitment. Just clarity.
👉 Get Your Free Affiliate Audit
Until next week—
Affiliate isn’t dead. It’s just been mismanaged. Bring it back and scale with purpose.
—Matt Frary
Chief of Chaos
