- Refersion has launched an AI-powered affiliate suggestions feature designed to help new merchants find relevant affiliates during onboarding.
- The tool curates creators, influencers, and publishers based on product category and target audience fit.
- Affiliate discovery is embedded directly into Refersion’s signup flow, reducing the time and effort required to launch a program.
- Each suggested affiliate includes pre-written outreach templates with embedded affiliate links to speed activation.
- The update targets one of affiliate marketing’s biggest friction points getting the first partners live and generating early ROI.
A new feature curates relevant creators and publishers based on product category and audience fit.
Refersion has launched a new AI-powered affiliate suggestions feature designed to help brands overcome one of the most common barriers in affiliate marketing: getting a program off the ground.
The update focuses on early-stage merchants who often struggle to identify and recruit their first affiliates, influencers, and content partners.
Announced on December 15, 2025, the feature is built directly into Refersion’s onboarding flow. Instead of asking new merchants to manually search for potential partners across platforms, the system automatically generates a curated list of affiliates aligned with a brand’s products and target audience.
According to Refersion's CEO Ryan Hilliard, the goal is to shorten the time between program setup and first activation.
Many brands abandon affiliate programs early due to friction in partner discovery. The company is positioning AI as a way to remove that initial guesswork and help merchants reach revenue-generating partnerships faster.
How the AI affiliate suggestions work
The new feature uses a merchant’s product categories, industry signals, and customer profile inputs to recommend affiliates with a demonstrated history in similar niches. These suggestions span multiple partner types, including influencers, bloggers, publishers, and content creators, rather than focusing exclusively on social media personalities.
Unlike traditional affiliate marketplaces that rely on keyword searches or manual outreach, Refersion’s approach surfaces partners automatically during signup. Merchants see suggested affiliates as they configure their account, making partner recruitment part of onboarding rather than a separate workflow.
Each suggested affiliate is paired with a pre-written outreach message that includes a personalized invitation and an affiliate link. This allows merchants to contact potential partners immediately, even if they have no prior experience running affiliate programs.
Addressing the First Affiliate Problem
Refersion CEO Ryan Hilliard described the feature as a response to a consistent pattern the company has observed among new customers. Brands often understand the value of affiliate marketing but struggle with where to begin.
Finding the first few affiliates is frequently the hardest step. Without early traction, programs stall before delivering measurable returns. By embedding AI-powered suggestions directly into the signup process, Refersion aims to turn affiliate recruitment into a guided starting point rather than an open-ended task.
The company emphasizes that the feature is meant to assist rather than automate the entire process. Merchants still choose which affiliates to contact and how to structure their offers, but the AI reduces the time spent searching and qualifying potential partners.
Designed for Speed and Early ROI
The release reflects a broader trend in performance marketing platforms shifting toward activation-focused tooling. Rather than adding advanced optimization features for mature programs, Refersion is targeting the earliest stage of the affiliate lifecycle.
By helping merchants connect with relevant partners from day one, the company expects faster program launches and earlier revenue signals. This is especially relevant for e-commerce brands using platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, where merchants often want quick validation before investing heavily in new channels.
The feature is currently available to all new Refersion merchants and does not require additional setup beyond the standard onboarding flow.
Broader Implications for Influencer and Affiliate Marketing
Refersion’s update highlights how AI is increasingly being applied to discovery rather than just reporting and attribution. While many influencer and affiliate platforms focus on tracking, payouts, and analytics, discovery remains one of the most manual and time-intensive parts of the process.
Automating early-stage partner identification could lower the barrier to entry for brands experimenting with affiliate marketing for the first time. It may also shift expectations around how quickly new programs are expected to perform.
For creators and publishers, AI-driven discovery could increase inbound opportunities from brands that previously lacked the resources or expertise to run outreach campaigns. Over time, this may lead to more structured and data-driven matching between brands and partners.
Availability and Integrations
The AI-powered affiliate suggestions feature is now live for new Refersion accounts. The platform supports integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Stripe, and additional e-commerce and payment systems.
Refersion positions the release as part of its broader effort to simplify affiliate program management while maintaining performance-focused tracking and attribution. As affiliate marketing continues to converge with influencer and creator partnerships, tools that reduce setup friction may play a growing role in adoption.
For brands entering affiliate marketing for the first time, Refersion is betting that smarter onboarding powered by AI can make the difference between stalled experiments and scalable growth.
