Resource Guide
The Affiliate Program QBR: Running Quarterly Reviews That Drive Action
A well-run quarterly business review aligns stakeholders, surfaces opportunities, and prevents strategic drift. Most affiliate QBRs are too backward-looking — here's how to make them forward-driving.
QBR Agenda Structure
90-minute QBR agenda: (1) Performance recap (20 min) — GMV vs. target, publisher count, active rate, EPC trend vs. prior quarter; (2) Publisher landscape (20 min) — top publisher changes, new activations, churned publishers and reasons; (3) Competitive positioning (15 min) — commission rate vs. benchmarks, publisher overlap with competitors, gaps in publisher coverage; (4) Channel contribution (15 min) — affiliate as % of total revenue, new customer rate, incrementality estimate; (5) Q+1 plan (20 min) — recruitment targets, campaign calendar, commission structure changes, technology investments.
Stakeholder Preparation
Send the QBR deck 48 hours in advance. Include: executive summary (1 page), performance dashboard (2 pages), publisher health report (2 pages), competitive analysis (1 page), and Q+1 roadmap (2 pages). Finance needs GMV and cost data; Marketing needs channel contribution and new customer data; Leadership needs the headline numbers and strategic recommendation. Tailor the intro slide to their priorities, not yours.
Forward-Looking Metrics
The worst QBRs are 100% backward-looking. Include these leading indicators for Q+1: Publisher pipeline (applications in review, outreach in progress), Content velocity (articles published by publishers in the trailing 30 days — leading indicator of organic traffic 60-90 days out), Keyword coverage gaps (target keywords with no active publisher content ranking on page 1), Publisher satisfaction signals (response rate to AM emails, newsletter open rate).
Action Item Management
End every QBR with ≤5 specific, owned action items: who, what, by when. Track from prior QBR — open items unresolved for 2+ consecutive quarters are either wrong priorities or resource gaps. QBR action items should reflect the most impactful levers: a commission rate increase, a publisher recruitment sprint, a technical integration fix, or a content calendar build. Not "continue current operations."
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