Is Hiring an Affiliate Agency Worth It? ROI Benchmarks to Know First
- Charlie Calabrese
- Aug 12
- 3 min read
Affiliate marketing has long been positioned as a low-risk, high-reward channel. However, for brands operating at scale, the real question isn’t whether affiliate can work. It’s whether you can extract maximum value from the channel, and whether bringing in an affiliate agency is worth the investment.
If you’re a mid-market or enterprise brand evaluating the opportunity, your decision shouldn’t start with budgets or partner lists. It should start with ROI benchmarks. Knowing what affiliate marketing delivers across different sectors and verticals gives you the clarity to benchmark your own potential, avoid common pitfalls, and evaluate whether external support could unlock incremental growth.
Let’s walk through the latest industry ROI benchmarks and where an agency adds measurable value.
What’s a Good Return on Affiliate Spend?
The short answer: It depends on your vertical. But thanks to the Performance Marketing Association’s 2025 Industry Study, we have a comprehensive snapshot of what success looks like across the U.S. market, based on 2024 data.
Here’s what the numbers show for average Return on Ad Spend (ROAS):
Overall Retail ROAS: $11 for every $1 spent
Clothing & Accessories: $12
Travel: $19 (the highest-performing sector)
Telecom: $9
Healthcare & Pharma: $6
Entertainment & Media: $3
Lowest Performing Sub-sector: Food & Drink, with a $5 ROAS
These figures represent averages across tens of thousands of merchants and more than $13.6 billion in affiliate spend. If your current affiliate program is returning significantly less than the benchmark for your category, or you’re not sure what it’s returning at all, it’s a sign to pause and reassess your strategy.
The True Value of Hiring an Affiliate Agency
This is where a seasoned agency can make a meaningful difference.
ROI benchmarks are great directional tools, but incremental ROI is what truly matters. A strategic agency doesn’t just help you match industry averages; it helps increase the share of affiliate-driven conversions that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise.
At AIM, we’ve seen this play out repeatedly with mid-market and enterprise clients who:
Were over-indexed on coupon or last-click channels.
Lacked high-performing upper-funnel partners like content creators or influencers.
Had under-optimized tech stacks or dormant programs.
Weren’t capturing the full value from cross-device tracking or mobile attribution.
By rebalancing partner mix, tightening measurement, and aligning incentives, an experienced agency can turn a stagnant program into one that is both profitable and genuinely incremental. This is especially true in complex environments with long consideration cycles or high-value transactions.
Where ROI Starts: Strategic Readiness
Before asking whether an affiliate agency is “worth it,” a better first question might be: Is your program even structured to deliver measurable value at scale?
For many brands, ROI is blunted by operational gaps that have nothing to do with commissions or partners. These are just a few questions we ask when evaluating program maturity:
Do you have a documented strategy that directly connects affiliate KPIs to overarching business goals, such as new customer acquisition or market expansion?
Is your platform integrated with tools like GA4, Adobe Analytics, or your CRM to enable accurate attribution and performance insights?
Are your recruitment processes automated and targeted, allowing you to find high-value partners beyond the obvious?
Do you have enforceable policies and contracts that mitigate legal and brand safety risks?
If you answer 'no' or 'not sure' to any of these, your current ROI probably has room for significant improvement. These foundational elements are where a seasoned agency brings measurable value before a single dollar is spent on commissions.
The Bottom Line
If you’re asking whether hiring an affiliate agency is worth it, you’re asking the right question. But the better one might be: Is your affiliate program built to deliver and scale sustainable ROI?
If not, it may be time to rethink how you’re investing in affiliate. With affiliate driving over $113 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales last year, the opportunity is too big to leave on autopilot.
Partner with AIM to ensure your affiliate program is strategically aligned, technically sound, and built for incremental growth.
