Reduced average decline rate to
Improving programme efficiency by nearly
The brand faced ongoing challenges with its validation process. Sales were frequently being declined due to incorrect or conflicting discount codes, creating a lack of clarity among partners and inefficiencies across the programme.
On average, around 65% of transactions were being declined, significantly reducing partner confidence and restricting growth potential.
A key driver of the issue was the brand’s code structure. Non affiliate discount codes, particularly those used in PPC campaigns, were stronger than affiliate offers. This led to high rates of declined sales when customers used these codes through affiliate journeys. In some cases, the on site code that was automatically applied for compliance reasons was even stronger than the publisher’s, meaning that valid sales were unfairly cancelled.
This not only affected publisher morale but also risked damaging the brand’s relationships with key partners such as TopCashback, whose commissions were being declined regularly.
The validation process was largely manual and lacked clear internal rules for handling cross channel overlaps. Each sale required manual approval or rejection, creating inconsistency and leaving room for human error.
Without a formal structure for code validation and communication, the brand’s affiliate channel was beginning to plateau.
The challenge was clear. Reduce decline rates, introduce transparency and build a process that rewarded genuine sales while maintaining compliance and profitability.
Silverbean worked with the brand to completely overhaul its discount code process. This began with a restructure of contract terms, ensuring that all partners clearly understood how codes would be validated and under what conditions commissions would be paid.
We introduced defined rules within the tracking and validation setup to ensure that if a publisher used an invalid or non approved code, their commission would automatically be set to zero, eliminating ambiguity.
To address the conflict between internal and affiliate offers, Silverbean helped the brand align its code strategy across all channels.
Affiliate partners were given codes of equal value to PPC campaigns, ensuring parity and removing the incentive for customers to switch channels mid journey. This change also eliminated most instances of accidental code misuse, protecting both the publisher’s earnings and the client’s ROI.
Silverbean implemented a monitoring framework to track code usage across partners and identify any new discrepancies early.
Regular check-ins between the client and key publishers created an open feedback loop, allowing both sides to flag and resolve issues quickly.
For the brand’s internal team, this meant less time spent on manual validation and more clarity for partners, creating a smoother and more collaborative environment.
To make the improvements sustainable, Silverbean worked closely with both the brand’s internal marketing and compliance teams to explain the logic behind each change.
By aligning all stakeholders, from PPC managers to affiliate account handlers, the team ensured that the new process was understood, implemented and maintained across the business.
The outcome was a significant improvement in programme quality and partner satisfaction.
The result was not only a smoother operational process but a more profitable and scalable affiliate programme built on trust, fairness and clear commercial rules.
Operational clarity drives confidence
By removing ambiguity in how codes were validated, Silverbean restored partner trust and created a more transparent commercial environment, leading to stronger long term relationships.
Alignment across channels reduces friction
Equalising PPC and affiliate offers eliminated internal competition and ensured consistency across the customer journey, improving both validation accuracy and conversion rate.
Automation and rules based validation improve efficiency
Embedding automated rules into the affiliate platform reduced manual oversight, allowing the brand’s team to focus on strategy rather than troubleshooting.
Small process changes, big impact
Though not a flashy overhaul, the combination of process improvements, communication and fairness delivered measurable efficiency gains and a stronger foundation for future growth.
