Awin Commission and Tenancy Best Practices

Quick Answer Awin's Commission Groups let you pay different rates by product, partner or customer type, and tenancy is paid placement on a partner's site. The best practice is to pay your highest commission where you get genuinely new customers, protect thin-margin products with lower rates, and only buy tenancy when you can measure what it returned.

What it is

In Awin, a Commission Group is a named rate you can assign — so 'Electronics', 'New Customer', or 'Sale Items' can each pay a different percentage. Tenancy is something separate: a flat fee you pay a partner for a placement, like a homepage feature or a newsletter slot, on top of (or instead of) commission. One rewards outcomes, the other buys exposure.

The mental model: Commission Groups are performance pay — you pay when something happens. Tenancy is rent — you pay for the space whether or not it performs. Both have a place; the skill is knowing which lever to pull.

Why it matters

A single flat commission rate treats a first-time customer and a repeat buyer as equally valuable, which they usually aren't. Commission Groups let you put your money where the growth is. Tenancy matters because the best partners get asked for placements constantly — if you never pay for exposure you may never get featured — but tenancy is also where programmes waste the most, paying for a newsletter slot nobody can prove drove sales. Getting both right is the difference between a programme that buys growth and one that buys vanity.

How it works

Set a default Commission Group that you're happy to pay any compliant partner, and treat anything above it as something to justify.
Create a New Customer Commission Group that pays more for first-time buyers and less for returning ones.
Add product or category Commission Groups so high-margin lines can pay generously and thin-margin lines stay protected.
Assign higher Commission Groups to specific strategic partners only when their traffic earns it.
Treat tenancy as a test: agree a fee, tag the placement, and set a target return before you commit.
Measure each tenancy placement against incremental sales, not just clicks, and renew only the ones that paid back.
Review all groups and tenancy deals quarterly and retire anything that's drifted out of line with margin.

! Common mistakes to avoid

Running one flat rate for everyone, overpaying closers and underpaying the partners who introduce new customers.
Buying tenancy on gut feel from a big partner's pitch without agreeing how you'll measure the result.
Forgetting old partner-specific Commission Groups so special rates outlive the deal that justified them.
Judging tenancy on clicks or impressions instead of the sales it actually drove.

💡 Reporting tips

Report new-customer percentage by partner alongside commission, so you can see who's bringing fresh demand versus skimming repeat buyers. For tenancy, always compare the placement period against a baseline — did sales from that partner genuinely lift, or did you just pay a fee for traffic that was coming anyway? A tenancy deal with no measurable incremental lift is a renewal you should walk away from, however good the partner looks.

In practice: a worked example

A big editorial partner pitches you a homepage tenancy slot for a flat fee, promising 'huge exposure'. Instead of paying on the spot, you treat it as a test: agree the fee, tag the placement, and set a target — it needs to drive at least its fee back in incremental sales. You run it for two weeks against the partner's normal baseline. Sales lift 3x during the placement and hold a little after. That one paid back, so you renew. The next quarter a different partner offers the same deal; you run the same test and sales barely move — the traffic was coming anyway. You decline the renewal. Same process, opposite decision, both correct, because you measured instead of guessed.

When to lean in — and when to hold back

Pay more / buy tenancy when	Hold back when
A partner reliably introduces new customers	The partner mostly appears on repeat-customer checkouts
The product line has margin to fund a higher rate	Margins are thin and a higher rate erases profit
You can tag and measure a tenancy placement	You can't isolate what the placement actually returned
A strategic partner has earned a premium	You're tempted by a pitch with no measurement plan

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

It's a named commission rate you can assign to products, partners or customer types, so different sales can earn different rates within the same programme.

It can be, if you measure it. Tenancy buys exposure on a partner's site or newsletter; it's worth it when you can show the placement drove incremental sales, and a waste when you can't.

Create a New Customer Commission Group with a higher rate and a lower rate for returning customers, then make sure your tracking correctly flags which is which.