Decoding Success: Mastering Affiliate Data & Analytics with Intelsio

In many organizations, the affiliate channel operates in isolation, measured by its own metrics and frequently viewed with skepticism by the broader marketing team. The lingering questions from the C-suite are often the same: Is this traffic incremental? Are we just paying for sales we would have captured anyway?

In a recent Everflow Masterclass, Anna Jefferis-Lewis, CEO of Intelsio, deconstructed these fears. Her thesis for change: Data is the bridge.

By moving beyond simple last-click attribution and embracing a "multi-touch" reality, affiliate managers can finally prove their worth to stakeholders and build partnerships that scale. Here is the framework for turning affiliate data into your most powerful growth lever.

The "Silo" Problem in Performance Marketing

The greatest threat to an affiliate program’s budget isn't necessarily poor performance—it is a lack of visibility. When affiliate data lives in a silo, separated from the rest of the marketing mix, it becomes easy for stakeholders to question its validity.

Jefferis-Lewis notes that while channels like Meta or Google are often integrated into holistic attribution models, affiliate data is frequently left to the side because of its inherent complexity. A single affiliate link might wrap traffic coming from social media, search, email, or a review site, making it difficult to parse.

The solution isn't to hide the complexity, but to integrate it. Successful program managers must aggressively push to merge affiliate data with the brand’s wider marketing truth. By layering affiliate metrics into the broader ecosystem, you transform the channel from a "black box" into a transparent revenue engine.

Beyond the Last Click: Proving Value with MTA

Once you break down the silo, the next challenge is attribution. The standard "Last Touch" model—which serves as the source of truth for payouts—rarely tells the full story of a customer's journey.

To truly understand partner value, Jefferis-Lewis advocates for a dual-lens approach on platforms like Everflow:

1. The Partner Lens (Last Touch): What the affiliate sees in Everflow and gets paid on.
2. The Brand Lens (Multi-Touch Attribution/MTA): The full customer journey, often tracked via third-party BI tools.

This dual view creates a powerful feedback loop. You might discover a partner who generates only 20 "Last Touch" sales, but appears in 40 customer journeys according to your MTA data. This discrepancy is the proof of incrementality—that partner is driving top-of-funnel awareness that eventually converts through other channels.

"The MTA model is actually giving this affiliate more credit, and likely that's because they're driving more top-of-funnel views." — Anna Jefferis-Lewis

The Playbook: Use this data to align incentives. If a partner is driving massive awareness, but low direct conversions, you have the data to justify a higher CPA. You aren't just paying for the sale; you are paying for the customer acquisition fuel that powers your entire ecosystem. Conversely, if a partner is capturing credit without adding value, the data gives you the leverage to adjust terms.

The "Slow Way is the Fast Way" Framework

In an industry obsessed with speed (launching campaigns yesterday and scaling overnight), Anna proposes a radical shift in mindset: Methodical transparency.

Speed without communication creates friction. If a brand changes a landing page or tweaks an offer without informing their partners, they introduce volatility. An affiliate might see their conversion rate plummet and, lacking context, simply pause traffic.

Instead, the goal should be "over-communication." If you are running an A/B test on a landing page, tell your partners. If you see a metric shift, explain why. This builds the trust required for long-term scaling.

By investing time upfront to build trust and share data, you eliminate the second-guessing that slows down optimization later. When partners trust your data, they invest their own capital into your program with confidence.

Signals Over Noise: Diagnosing Funnel Health

When you are staring at a dashboard of thousands of clicks, how do you know where to focus? Data analysis can easily lead to paralysis. To cut through the noise, Jefferis-Lewis simplifies optimization down to identifying outliers in Conversion Rate (CR).

She looks for two specific signals to trigger immediate action:

1. The "Too Low" Signal (e.g., 0.002%)

This is rarely a partner issue; it is usually a funnel or tech issue. It means the audience expectation doesn't match the landing page reality, or the tracking is broken. Audit the creative mismatch or technical errors immediately.

2. The "Too High" Signal (e.g., 30%+)

While this looks good on paper, it should trigger skepticism. It often indicates a partner is sitting at the very bottom of the funnel (like a coupon site poaching a cart), rather than driving new intent.

"If I see a conversion rate that's too high, my "spidey senses" will probably go up... Is this something that is really low funnel?" — Anna Jefferis-Lewis

By managing the outliers first, you ensure the health of the program's core.

The Courage to Be Curious

Ultimately, the difference between a stagnant affiliate program and a scaling one is the willingness to look "under the hood."

Many managers fear digging deep into the data because they are afraid of what they might find. What if my top partner isn't actually incremental? What if our program isn't adding the value we claimed?

However, hiding from the data ensures mediocrity. The best marketers use data not just to validate their wins, but to hunt for the truth—even when it's uncomfortable. If the data shows a plateau, that is simply an invitation to restructure the strategy.

Transparency is the currency of the future affiliate economy. By integrating data, communicating methodical changes, and courageously analyzing the results, you build a program that doesn't just survive scrutiny—it thrives on it.

Ready to take the next step?

Run the "Flowchart" Test.

Before the end of the week, use Everflow’s touchpoint reporting (or your internal BI tool) to identify one partner who appears frequently in the click path, but rarely gets Last Click credit. Reach out to them, share the data, and discuss a test budget to incentivize that top-of-funnel traffic.