SaaS Affiliate Program Example: Rates, Cookie, Payouts, ROI

Most advice about affiliate programs stays abstract: choose a rate, define a cookie window, pay affiliates on time. Useful, but not enough when you need to approve real numbers.

This article gives one complete SaaS affiliate program example. If you still need the strategic setup, start with how to set up a SaaS affiliate program. If your question is mainly operational, the guide on how to pay affiliates in SaaS covers payout methods, thresholds and tax workflow.

The SaaS company

Use this fictional but realistic case:

Input	Value
Product	B2B analytics SaaS
Main plan	$99/month
Gross margin	85%
Paid acquisition CAC	$240
Refund window	30 days
Target customers	Founder-led B2B SaaS teams
Sales cycle	Trial, then subscription within 14-45 days

The goal is not to build the most generous program. The goal is to create a program that is attractive enough for good partners while staying inside the CAC envelope.

The affiliate offer

This is the public-facing offer an affiliate would see.

Term	Example setting	Why it works
Commission	25% recurring for the first 12 paid months	Easy to understand and aligned with subscription revenue
Cookie window	90 days	Covers trial, demo and delayed purchase paths
Attribution	First-click, server-side, customer-level	Rewards the partner who introduced the product
Approval	Application required	Filters out coupon-only and low-fit partners
Payout validation	Commission becomes payable after the 30-day refund window	Prevents paying on refunded revenue
Payout schedule	Monthly, net-30	Gives the merchant time to reconcile refunds and failed invoices
Minimum payout	$50	Avoids tiny transfers while remaining reachable for new affiliates
Payment methods	Bank transfer for domestic partners, PayPal for international partners	Covers most early-stage affiliate rosters

The headline version is simple: 25% recurring commission, 90-day cookie, monthly net-30 payouts after a 30-day validation period.

The commission math

For one referred customer on the $99/month plan:

Month	Customer pays	Affiliate earns	Merchant keeps before platform costs
1	$99.00	$24.75	$74.25
3	$297.00	$74.25	$222.75
6	$594.00	$148.50	$445.50
12	$1,188.00	$297.00	$891.00

The 12-month affiliate CAC is $297. That is slightly above the company's $240 paid CAC, but it is performance-based and spread over revenue as it arrives. If the affiliate sends lower-churn customers than paid ads, the economics can still work.

Gross-profit view:

Metric	Calculation	Result
12-month revenue	$99 x 12	$1,188.00
12-month gross profit	$1,188 x 85%	$1,009.80
12-month commission	$1,188 x 25%	$297.00
Commission as gross-profit share	$297 / $1,009.80	29.4%

That is the number to watch. If the commission share of gross profit climbs above your CAC target, reduce the duration, add tiers only for high-quality partners, or pay a lower rate after month 12.

The first payout example

Assume an affiliate sends eight paid customers in March.

Event	Count	Commission impact
Paid conversions in March	8	8 x $24.75 = $198.00 pending
Refunds during April validation	1	-$24.75 removed
Payable conversions after validation	7	$173.25 payable
Payout timing	End of May	Monthly net-30 after validation

The affiliate sees $198.00 as pending, then $173.25 as payable after the refund window. Because the payable balance is above the $50 threshold, the payout is sent in the next monthly cycle.

This avoids the worst version of affiliate payouts: paying instantly, then manually chasing a clawback after a refund or chargeback.

The rules affiliates need in writing

The program terms should be short enough to understand and specific enough to enforce.

Use clauses like these:

• Commission is calculated only on paid subscription revenue, excluding tax, credits, refunds and chargebacks.
• Trial signups do not create commission until the subscription is paid.
• Refunded invoices remove unpaid commission from the affiliate balance.
• Chargebacks or confirmed fraud can reverse unpaid commission and trigger account review.
• Brand search ads, coupon-site submissions and fake reviews require written approval.
• Affiliates must disclose the commercial relationship in content that includes affiliate links.

Those rules prevent a friendly growth channel from becoming an accounting dispute.

When to add tiers

Start with one rate. Add tiers only after you can measure partner quality.

Example tier model:

Tier	Requirement	Commission
Standard	1-5 active referred customers/month	25% recurring for 12 months
Growth	6-15 active referred customers/month and refund rate below 8%	30% recurring for 12 months
Partner	16+ active referred customers/month and shared launch plan	Custom rate or fixed bonus

Do not raise commission just because an affiliate sends volume. Raise it when the volume is incremental, qualified and low-refund.

Copy this structure

For an early SaaS program, use this as your starting configuration:

• 25% recurring commission for the first 12 paid months
• 90-day attribution window
• First-click attribution with server-side customer matching
• 30-day validation period before commission becomes payable
• Monthly net-30 payouts
• $50 minimum payout threshold
• Application review before approval
• Written rules for refunds, chargebacks, branded search and disclosure

Then model the numbers against your own price, margin and CAC. A $39/month product may need a lower rate or a shorter commission duration. A $499/month product may work better with a fixed bounty plus a smaller recurring percentage.

Build the example in RefCampaign

RefCampaign supports this structure with recurring commissions, validation states, payout thresholds, affiliate portals and Stripe-aware attribution.

Start a free trial and create the example program with your own price, refund window and payout threshold.