Nov. 25, 2025

The $20 Billion Affiliate Mistake: Stop Paying for Customers Who Were Already Buying

The $20 Billion Affiliate Mistake: Stop Paying for Customers Who Were Already Buying

You're paying affiliate commissions on customers who were already buying from you—Josh Kennedy calls this the "$20 billion mistake."

In this episode, discover:

  • Why 2/3 of affiliate partnerships drain profit instead of driving growth—loyalty platforms and coupon sites intercept checkout without creating value
  • The search-first framework that generated $10M in real revenue—reverse-engineer where customers already look for solutions, then build direct creator relationships
  • How to audit your top 10 partners for cannibalization—switching from last-click to multi-touch attribution reveals who actually influences decisions versus who games the system

Josh Kennedy is Founder of Imagine Marketing. He's generated over $10 million in documented affiliate revenue by focusing on upper-funnel content partnerships that drive new customers instead of intercepting existing ones.

Whether you're doing $10K months or $1M months, this conversation delivers actionable insights you can implement this week.


📝 Full show notes, strategic takeaways, and resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-434/

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