Affiliate Marketing for AI Products: Why Retained Revenue Beats Referral Volume
Every serious interaction with an AI product costs real compute. A free user who generates thousands of responses and never pays drains money, so clicks and free sign-ups are the wrong way to judge an affiliate partner. This video shows how to track referrals past registration and pay partners on revenue that stays.
The worked example uses a hypothetical $45-a-month AI subscription. Affiliate A sends 400 trials, converts 2% to paid and keeps 3 paying customers at day 90. Affiliate B sends 110 trials, converts 12.7% and keeps 11. B brings in about $495 in monthly recurring revenue, A about $135.
What the video covers
- Why free users can cost an AI product money
- Tracking referrals through activation, paid conversion and day-90 retention
- Comparing partners on net contribution after serving costs, commissions and refunds
- Bounty, recurring percentage or revenue share: which commission model fits which stage
- A one-month pilot plan for launching the program
The full breakdown, with the launch plan week by week, is in the article Affiliate Marketing for AI Products.