Affiliate application form: 7 questions to screen out coupon sites

By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · 26 October 2026 · 6 min read

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Here is the form we suggest. It has seven questions, and they are our own, not a standard. The answers help you tell a real promoter from a coupon site.

An affiliate is someone who sends buyers to your shop and earns a commission, a cut of each sale. Our guide to keeping coupon sites out of your program explains why they are a problem. It also says which switches to turn off. This post is the form itself.

What is the form for?

The form is a gate, not a quiz. You are not testing anyone. You want enough in each answer to decide yes, no or maybe in about two minutes.

Keep it short, because you will read every answer. For scale, here is what our scan found. In our scan of 30 public Shopify brands on 22 October 2026, RecruitAffiliates.ai showed a median of 92 people per brand (our scan data). A median of 30 of them had an email found (range across brands: 5 to 53). These counts are people shown, not applicants, and the addresses are ones we found, not checked. Let's say 10 of the people you invite apply. At two minutes each, that is 20 minutes of reading.

What are the 7 questions?

Add these as required fields in your app. UpPromote, GoAffPro and Refersion all let you add your own fields to the sign-up form. GoAffPro offers short text, long text, dropdown and checkbox fields (GoAffPro docs, checked 26 October 2026). Refersion adds fields on the registration page with an "Add Custom Field" button (Refersion help, checked 26 October 2026). UpPromote lets you add and require fields such as a website or social handle (UpPromote docs, checked 26 October 2026). Plans change, so check yours.

#	Question	Why you ask it	A good answer	A bad answer
1	Link to where you will promote us	Gives you a page to open	A blog, channel or newsletter with real posts	A blank, or a link to a coupon directory
2	How will you promote us?	Shows if they have a plan	"A section in my skincare roundup in November"	"Online"
3	Who reads or watches your content?	Tests the fit	"Mostly women 25 to 40 who ask me about sensitive skin"	"Everyone"
4	Link to one piece you wrote about a brand like ours	Proof they have done this before	A real review or roundup	Nothing, or an unrelated link
5	Which other brands do you promote?	Shows their habits	A short list of brands they have written about	A list of 200 stores, or "all of them"
6	How did you find us?	Tells you which outreach worked	"Your email" or "I saw you on a roundup"	No answer
7	Do you agree to our terms?	Puts your rules on record	A ticked box	A note asking to change your terms

A coupon site is a site that lists discount codes for many stores and earns commission on the sales it sends. Question 5 is our best filter. It comes from our own judgement, not a test. A coupon site often lists every store.

Copy-paste form

Paste these seven lines into your app and mark all of them required.

Link to the website, channel or profile where you will promote us.
How will you promote us? Name a post, video or newsletter if you can.
Who reads or watches your content?
Link to one piece you have written about a brand like ours.
Which other brands do you promote?
How did you find us?
I agree to the program terms, including the disclosure rule and the coupon rule. (Checkbox.)

The disclosure rule says affiliates must tell readers they earn a commission. The US Federal Trade Commission gives a sample line, "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post" (FTC, checked 26 October 2026). The coupon rule says affiliates may use only the code you give them and must not post it on coupon sites. Keep your terms short and make the two rules easy to find. Our guide to why nobody joins your program shows what puts people off.

How do you read the answers in two minutes?

Work down this list for each application.

Open the link. This step is a gate. If it does not load or is a coupon directory, deny, whatever the other steps say.
Check it is recent. Look for a post from the last few months.
Read answers 2 and 3 together. Do they sound like the same real person?
Look at answer 5. A short list is good. "Everything" is a warning.
Search the page for your category. Do they already write about products like yours?

If four or five are clear, approve. If two or three are clear, treat it as a maybe. If fewer than two are clear, deny.

Here is an illustrative example. A skincare writer links a roundup updated last month, says she will add a section in November, and lists four skincare brands. That is a quick yes. A site that links a page of codes and says "all stores" fails step 1 and question 5. It takes about two minutes each to see the difference.

What do you do with a maybe?

Do not auto-approve, and do not delete, because deleting an affiliate can remove their history. UpPromote's docs say deleting removes the affiliate's history, coupons included (UpPromote docs, checked 26 October 2026).

For a real maybe, ask one follow-up question or approve with a short trial. For a trial, send a welcome note, one code, and a date a month away when you will review. If they have posted nothing by then, deny them.

Where does the form fit?

The form is one of three locks. Turn off auto-approval, use this form, and give each person their own code. Our guide to keeping coupon sites out covers all three. Our plan for the first 10 affiliates in 14 days shows who to invite. In our view, fewer wrong people then get in.

Frequently asked questions

What should an affiliate application ask?

Ask where they will promote you and how. Ask who reads them and for one piece they have written. Ask which other brands they promote and how they found you. Then ask if they agree to your terms.

How do I stop coupon sites applying?

You cannot stop them applying, but you can screen them before they get in. Turn off auto-approval, ask which other brands they promote, and open each link before you approve.

How long should the form be?

Seven fields is enough. A longer form is more to read and more to fill in. We have no data on the best length, so seven is our own suggestion. In our view, fewer than seven gives you too little to judge.

Should I auto-approve?

No, not while your list is small. Auto-approval means anyone who fills in the form joins at once. Review each person by hand, and revisit the choice once you have a clear pattern of who applies.