10 months ago, I sat with a supplement brand founder struggling to crack $8K/month in affiliate revenue.
Strong product. Great reviews.
But they struggled with customer acquisition.
I told the CEO, "You don't need random creators or affiliates. You need to find people who'll risk their own money to run ads for you."
That's when we built an affiliate program specifically for performance media buyers.
First rule: Performance media buyers won't touch your offer without the right economics.
They're risking their own ad spend, their Facebook accounts, their time. The deal needs to work for them first.
If you don't have your unit economics sorted, stop looking for high-performing media buyers.
We structured the deal like this:
$85 CPA on all sales
$2,000 upfront bonus after first $25K in revenue
Weekly payment terms (they needed faster cash flow to scale)
Access to our high-converting landing page (3.6% cold traffic conversion rate)
The average first-order value was $90.
Product cost was $18.
Shipping was $6.
That left us $66 in gross margin on the first order. ($90 - $18 - $6)
But with media buyers, you don’t judge the deal on the first order. You judge it on LTV. The average customer placed about 2.4 orders in the first 60 days, so revenue per new customer was about $212.50.
Across 2.4 orders, total fulfillment and shipping averaged ~$58 per customer, leaving enough room for an $85 CPA while maintaining a positive contribution margin.
Month 1: Finding the Right Buyers
I recruited 3 media buyers from my network. All ran campaigns for other supplement brands.
They spent Month 1 testing creatives, landing pages, and audiences. Smart buyers engineer profitability first.
Revenue: $14,200 (mostly organic)
Month 2-3: The Testing Phase
JM, our first media buyer, spent $4,300 on Facebook ads, testing 12 video concepts.
CPM: $18,
CTR: 1.2%,
Landing page conversion: 3.6%.
He drove 50 new customers. Brand revenue attributed in the first 60 days: $8,600. His payout: $4,250 (50 x $85). His profit: -$50.
But he found two winning creatives:
Before/after skin testimonials & "Doctor explains collagen" educational content.
Both converted at 2.8%+.
Month 3, he scaled to $11,200 spend with the same winners and broader audiences.
He drove 140 new customers.
Brand revenue attributed in the first 60 days: $26,880.
His payout: $11,900 (140 x $85).
His profit: $700.
That push also crossed the $25K revenue mark, so we paid the $2,000 one-time bonus.
Month 4: The Inflection Point
He tightened the offer and funnel. He added a bundle/upsell and got more customers to reorder, which pushed revenue per new customer to roughly $212+ inside 60 days, while keeping his paid acquisition cost under the $85 CPA payout.
Month 4 spend: $18,400
New customers driven: 374
Brand revenue attributed in the first 60 days: $79,456
His payout: $31,790 (374 x $85) | His profit: $13,390
Now we had proof. I showed his numbers to 8 more media buyers. 3 signed on immediately.
Total brand revenue that month: $94,000
Month 5: $100K Breakthrough
By Month 5, we had 5 active media buyers. Combined ad spend: $38,600.
The breakdown:
Total new customers: 713
Total revenue attributed in the first 60 days: $151,520 (about $212.50 per customer)
Total payouts: $60,605 (713 x $85)
Our fulfillment costs (COGS + shipping) averaged about $85 per customer, so total fulfillment was about $60,605.
That put our net at about $30,304: $151,520 - $60,605 payouts - $60,611
fulfillment.
We hit $151K that month, but the sustainable baseline stabilized at $107K monthly.
The brand went from burning money on ads to having 5 people risking their own capital to scale it.
Our only cost was commission, based on pure performance.
By Month 7, our top buyer was spending $40K/month, driving $164K in revenue himself.
Performance media buyers need three things.
A. Aggressive commission structures
B. Proven funnels with real conversion data
C. Fast payment terms.
Give them that, and they'll scale your brand without you spending a dollar on ads.
Want to structure a performance affiliate program that attracts real media buyers? Book a free strategy call here and let’s talk.