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Home > DTC Podcast > Bonus: How DTC Brands Scale Affiliate Marketing Without Fraud or Bad Attribution
Podcast: DTC Podcast
Episode:

Bonus: How DTC Brands Scale Affiliate Marketing Without Fraud or Bad Attribution
Category: Business
Duration: 00:38:33
Publish Date: 2026-04-22 11:00:00
Description:

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Affiliate is getting a lot more attention in DTC right now, and for good reason. In this episode, Yash Chavan, Founder and CEO of SATHI & SARAL, breaks down why the channel looks so attractive on paper, where it falls apart in practice, and what brands can do to make it perform like a real growth engine.


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We get into:

  • Why affiliate is attractive to operators and finance teams
  • How last-click attribution distorts performance data
  • What affiliate fraud actually looks like inside a real program
  • How to think about multi-touch attribution by product category
  • Why gamification matters if you want creators to stay active
  • How affiliate fits alongside Meta, TikTok, and retargeting


What to steal:

  • Run a fraud scan on your current affiliate program and check for leaked codes
  • Build commission tiers and milestone bonuses to keep strong creators engaged
  • Choose an attribution model based on how your product actually gets bought


If you’re a DTC marketer, founder, or growth lead trying to lower CAC, improve measurement, and build a more durable acquisition program, this episode is essential listening.


Timestamps

00:00 Affiliate marketing explained

02:00 Why affiliate is hard to scale

04:00 The problem with last-click attribution

06:00 Affiliate fraud examples and risks

09:00 Influencers shifting to affiliate models

11:00 Why reels + links change everything

13:00 How modern affiliate tracking works

16:00 Multi-touch attribution strategies

19:00 Retargeting affiliate traffic

21:00 Gamifying affiliate programs

24:00 How to start and scale affiliates

27:00 Program hygiene and key metrics

30:00 Where affiliate fits in your funnel

33:00 The future of affiliate marketing


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