A standard operating procedure for an affiliate program is what separates a real program from a "we have a referral link somewhere" hand-wave. Without a written SOP, the VA inherits ambiguity, the founder loses visibility, and the program decays inside 12 months.

This SOP is meant to be copied into your Notion or Loom library and adjusted for your specifics. If you are still planning the program structure, our affiliate management workflow covers the cadence; this piece covers the documented process.

For where this fits in the broader role, our Fitness VA tasks list maps the responsibility split.

Purpose

This SOP defines who does what when running the fitness affiliate program. It covers onboarding, tracking, payouts, performance review, and offboarding. It assumes a Fitness VA owns daily operations with founder review at quarterly checkpoints.

Roles

  • Founder. Approves new affiliate tiers, signs commission terms, owns top-affiliate relationships.
  • Fitness VA. Day-to-day operations: applications, onboarding, weekly reporting, payouts, asset refresh.
  • Software (e.g., FirstPromoter). Tracks links, calculates commissions, generates statements.

Section 1: Affiliate intake

Trigger. New application submitted via the program landing page.

Steps.

  1. VA reviews application within 24 business hours.
  2. Score against three criteria: audience fit, engagement quality, brand alignment. Use a 1-3 scale on each. Total of 7+ accepts; total under 5 rejects; 5-6 routes to founder.
  3. For accepts: send the welcome email template, generate tracking link, add to the affiliate Slack.
  4. For rejects: send the polite-decline template; archive in the CRM under "rejected affiliates" tag.
  5. For founder review: route via Slack with the application screenshot and the score breakdown.

Output. New affiliate onboarded or routed within 24 hours. Application status logged in the affiliate tracker.

Section 2: Affiliate onboarding

Trigger. Application accepted.

Steps.

  1. Welcome email with asset pack link and tracking link.
  2. Within 48 hours, schedule the 15-minute Loom walkthrough recorded just for this affiliate.
  3. Add to the monthly newsletter list.
  4. Tag in the CRM with onboard date, audience size, and affiliate tier.
  5. Schedule the day-7 check-in.

Output. Affiliate is equipped to launch within 7 days.

Trigger. Affiliate request for link or new campaign.

Steps.

  1. Generate unique tracking link in the affiliate platform (FirstPromoter or equivalent).
  2. Append UTM parameters per the company UTM convention.
  3. Test link from a private browser to verify cookie set and redirect.
  4. Document link in the affiliate's record.
  5. For campaign-specific links (launch, promo), add an expiration note to the record.

Output. Working tracking link delivered within 4 business hours.

Section 4: Weekly reporting

Trigger. Monday 9am.

Steps.

  1. Pull last week's sales by affiliate from the platform.
  2. Update the master affiliate tracker (Airtable or Google Sheet).
  3. Identify any affiliates inactive 30+ days for the re-engagement queue.
  4. Note any disputes or issues from the week.
  5. Send the Monday one-pager to founder by 11am.

Output. Weekly report delivered consistently.

Section 5: Commission payouts

Trigger. 15th of the month.

Steps.

  1. Verify all sales from the previous month have cleared the refund window.
  2. Generate per-affiliate commission statements (sales, gross, refunds, net).
  3. Process payouts via the agreed rail (PayPal, Stripe Connect, Wise).
  4. Send statement email with payment confirmation.
  5. Log payout in the master tracker with date and amount.
  6. Flag any disputes for founder review within 48 hours.

Output. All payouts complete by end of day on the 15th.

Section 6: Quarterly performance review

Trigger. First week of each quarter.

Steps.

  1. Pull 90-day sales by affiliate.
  2. Sort into keeper, maybe, and cull buckets per the criteria.
  3. Draft personalized notes for each bucket.
  4. Send keeper appreciations within 5 business days.
  5. Send maybe re-engagement campaign within 7 days.
  6. Send cull communications with founder approval; remove tracking links 14 days post-notice.
  7. Update the master tracker with final tier assignments.

Output. Cleaner roster, tighter focus on producers.

Section 7: Asset pack refresh

Trigger. Every 60 days for high-volume programs; 90 days for steady state; immediately after major offer change.

Steps.

  1. Audit current asset pack against the latest brand assets and offers.
  2. Refresh email templates, social captions, and screenshot kit.
  3. Record a 90-second Loom highlighting changes.
  4. Distribute via affiliate Slack and email.
  5. Update the asset pack date in the CRM.

Output. Affiliates have current materials within 7 days of brand change.

Section 8: Affiliate offboarding

Trigger. Affiliate departure (voluntary or culled).

Steps.

  1. Final payout processed within 30 days.
  2. Tracking link deactivated 14 days post-notice.
  3. Asset pack access revoked.
  4. Slack channel access removed.
  5. CRM record archived with departure reason.

Output. Clean exit; no orphaned tracking links remain active.

Approvals required

These actions always need founder approval:

  • New affiliate at top tier (10K+ audience).
  • Commission disputes over $500.
  • Cull communications.
  • Any change to commission structure or terms.

Common pitfalls

Three patterns this SOP guards against:

  • Late or inconsistent payouts. Defined cadence prevents drift.
  • Asset pack rot. Scheduled refresh prevents the most common quality slip.
  • No culling. Quarterly review forces the issue.

For the broader VA role, our hiring playbook covers the candidate fit for someone who can run this.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take a VA to learn this SOP?

Two to three weeks of shadowing plus 30 days of supervised execution. After that, the SOP runs without daily founder oversight.

Should this SOP live in Notion or Loom?

Both. Notion for the canonical text, Loom for the procedural walkthrough. Update both when you change steps.

Can the VA propose SOP changes?

Yes, monthly. Route via the Friday wrap-up. Founder approves changes before they go into effect.

What if an affiliate violates terms?

Pause tracking, send a written notice, give 7 days to cure. If unresolved, offboard per Section 8. Escalate to founder if the dispute is over $500 or involves brand risk.

How is this SOP stored and shared with future VAs?

In the company SOP library. New hires read all SOPs in week one. Versioned with date stamps so changes are traceable.

For pricing on the VA who runs this, see our Fitness VA cost guide.

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