A one-time payment offered to newly approved affiliate publishers who generate their first sale (or first $X in sales) within a defined period after program approval. How it works: publisher is approved for the affiliate program; affiliate manager emails offering an activation bonus (e.g., earn $50 when you generate your first sale within 30 days); publisher generates a qualifying first sale and receives both the standard commission and the activation bonus. Purpose: converts approved-but-inactive publishers to active publishers; approved publishers who haven't generated any sales within 30-60 days of approval are the biggest source of wasted recruitment effort; activation bonuses create urgency to take the program live on the publisher's site or channel. Typical structures: $25-50 for standard consumer affiliate programs; $100-200 for programs targeting high-quality content publishers; $50-100 for specialty category programs with high-value audiences. Timing: activation bonuses work best when offered within 2 weeks of program approval, before the publisher's initial enthusiasm fades; a publisher approved 90 days ago who hasn't promoted the brand yet is unlikely to be activated by a bonus offer.
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