Affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to grow a finance or insurance business. You only pay when someone delivers a result — a lead, a sale, an account opening. There are no wasted impressions, no upfront media costs, and no guessing whether your spend is working.
But starting an affiliate programme for a UK financial services brand is not the same as starting one for a fashion retailer or a software company. The regulatory environment, the commission structures that attract quality publishers, and the networks worth being on are all different.
This guide covers everything you need to know to start an affiliate programme that actually generates revenue — not one that sits live on a network for 18 months with zero conversions.
What is an affiliate programme — and why does it work particularly well in finance?
An affiliate programme is a performance marketing arrangement where third parties (publishers, websites, bloggers, comparison sites, or apps) promote your product and earn a commission when a specific action is completed.
In financial services, that action is typically a completed lead form, a policy sold, an account opened, or a loan application submitted. You define what you pay on and how much you pay. The publisher does the promotion. You pay only when they deliver.
Finance works particularly well for affiliate because the search intent is so specific. Someone typing ‘best personal loan for bad credit’ or ‘compare landlord insurance’ is not browsing — they are actively looking to buy. Publishers who rank for those terms or who have built audiences around financial decisions deliver traffic that converts at a meaningful rate.
Step 1: Define what you’re paying for and how much
Before you choose a network or recruit a single publisher, you need to know two things: what action you’re paying on and how much you’re willing to pay.
The conversion action is the event that triggers a commission. In finance, this is almost always one of the following:
- Completed lead form (name, contact details, and some qualifying information submitted)
- Full application submitted
- Account opened or policy issued
- Revenue share on the value of the sale
For most finance and insurance brands starting out, a CPA (cost per action) model on a completed lead or application is the right starting point. It is clean, trackable, and easy for publishers to understand.
The commission rate needs to be competitive. This is where most new programmes make their first mistake. They set a rate based on what they can afford to pay without checking what competitors are paying.
Publishers manage multiple programmes simultaneously. They promote the ones that pay best. If your CPA is £20 and the brand next to you on Awin is offering £28, you will be consistently deprioritised — not because of your product, but because of your rate. Before you set your rate, look up five direct competitors on the networks you are considering. Set your base rate at or above the median.
Step 2: Choose the right affiliate network
For UK finance and insurance brands, the major general-purpose networks each have different publisher mixes, different tools, and different costs. Awin is the largest affiliate network in the UK and has the deepest penetration in financial services — if you want access to the major price comparison sites, the biggest cashback publishers, and the most established finance content sites, Awin is the default starting point.
CJ (Commission Junction) has a strong presence in finance and is particularly good for programmes with an international dimension. Everflow and Impact are platforms rather than traditional networks — they give you more control but require more technical setup and do not come with a ready-made publisher database. For B2B products, Kiflo and PartnerStack are worth considering over a consumer network.
Step 3: Set up your tracking correctly from day one
Affiliate tracking is the foundation of the whole programme. If it is not set up correctly, you will either pay for conversions that did not happen or fail to credit publishers who genuinely drove a result.
The standard setup involves placing a tracking pixel or server-to-server postback on your confirmation page — the page a user sees after completing the target action. Before you go live, test it. Submit a test lead yourself and verify that the conversion fires in the network dashboard. Check that it deduplicates correctly against any paid search or direct traffic you are running. Confirm that the cookie window is set to a sensible duration — 30 days is standard for most finance products.
Step 4: Build your publisher-facing assets
Publishers need three things before they will promote your brand seriously: a competitive commission, clear promotional materials, and a landing page worth sending traffic to.
The landing page is the most commonly overlooked element. Most new programmes send affiliate traffic to their homepage. The homepage is designed for everyone — it has navigation, multiple CTAs, and no single clear action for a visitor to take. Affiliate traffic converts best on a dedicated page with no navigation, a single headline, one form, and one call to action.
The creative pack should include banner ads in the standard IAB sizes (728×90, 300×250, 160×600), a text link, and a short description of the product. The programme T&Cs should specify what publishers can and cannot say about your product, and — since Consumer Duty came into force in July 2023 — must explicitly address how publishers represent your product to consumers.
Step 5: Recruit the right publishers
Going live on a network does not mean publishers will automatically find you and start promoting you. You need to actively recruit the publishers you want. Think about where your ideal customer already spends time online. Which comparison sites do they use? Which personal finance blogs do they read? Search for those sites, find out if they are registered with your chosen network, and send them a personal invitation.
Prioritise quality over quantity. Ten well-matched publishers who actively promote your brand will consistently outperform a hundred passive sign-ups who do nothing.
Step 6: Manage the programme actively
The most common reason affiliate programmes underperform is simple neglect. Active management means communicating with your publishers regularly (at minimum a monthly newsletter via the network), updating your creative assets quarterly, reviewing performance data monthly, and running occasional incentives to reward top performers and re-engage inactive ones.
