legal compliance
Incentivised Traffic
Traffic rewarded for clicking or converting — prohibited by most programs and always lower quality.
What is Incentivised Traffic?
Incentivised traffic refers to clicks or conversions generated by offering users a reward — cashback, points, or discounts — for clicking an affiliate link or completing a qualifying action, rather than converting based on genuine purchase intent.
Incentivised Traffic In Practice
Most affiliate programs prohibit incentivised traffic because it produces conversions from users motivated by the reward rather than the product, resulting in reversal rates that can reach 40–60% when cashback users request refunds after receiving their reward, versus 5–15% reversal rates typical of organic affiliate traffic. Cashback sites and rewards platforms are the primary sources — they are legitimate within permitted terms, but programs that prohibit incentivised traffic treat cashback referrals as violations. The affiliate agreement's traffic source section specifies whether incentivised traffic is permitted. Affiliates who drive it to prohibiting programs face commission reversal and termination when the merchant identifies the traffic source through referrer analysis or affiliate audit.
Example of Incentivised Traffic
An affiliate runs a cashback platform paying users 5% on purchases. A merchant prohibits incentivised traffic. A user purchases a $100 SaaS plan through the cashback platform — the affiliate earns a $30 commission, the user receives $5 cashback. The merchant's compliance team identifies the cashback source, reverses the $30 commission as a prohibited traffic violation. The affiliate loses the commission; the cashback is already paid.