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 (https://ecommercefastlane.com/recommends/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/ Connect with us: 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify