Affiliate vs. referral: picking the right pay-for-performance engine

Affiliate recruits strangers to reach new audiences; referral turns your own happy customers into low-CAC growth. Pick by your margin, your repeat rate, and who you can already reach.

Affiliate and referral programs both pay only for results, but they recruit different people for different reasons. Run the wrong one for your stage, or leave either unguarded, and you burn budget and invite fraud.