An additional commission or flat fee paid to affiliate publishers for each purchase made by a buyer with no prior purchase history with the brand — a new customer. Paid above the standard commission rate: if standard commission is 10% of sale, a new customer acquisition bonus adds $3-8 per first-time buyer on top of the 10%; total publisher earnings for a new customer order = standard commission + bonus. Purpose: incentivizes publishers to drive brand discovery and first-purchase acquisition rather than only re-engaging existing customers; new customer acquisition through affiliate is more incremental than repeat customer purchases (existing customers often find their way back through direct navigation without affiliate influence). Implementation: requires affiliate network or brand-side ability to identify new vs. returning customers at the point of conversion; networks that integrate with the brand's customer database can pass new-customer status flags to the commission calculation; without this integration, brands can run quarterly new-customer audits and pay bonuses retroactively. Particularly valuable for: brands focused on customer base growth over purchase frequency; subscription brands where first-time subscriber acquisition is the key value event; brands with high customer lifetime value (high LTV makes incremental acquisition cost investment worthwhile).
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