JOHN VICKERS Contact

Affiliate & performance marketing

Affiliate programme growth, quality and migration support.

I help advertisers, networks and performance teams understand what is holding an affiliate programme back, improve programme quality, and manage complex platform or network change.

Contact John Connect on LinkedIn What I solve

Available for senior permanent, fractional and project-based work.

Former senior client services leader at Affiliate Future, across advertiser growth, platform migration, publisher relationships, tracking, reporting and commercial operations.

John Vickers, affiliate and performance marketing consultant
John VickersLondon · UK
Core focus
01 / GrowthAffiliate programme growth
02 / QualityProgramme quality & risk
03 / MigrationPlatform & network change
04 / OpsCommercial operations
20+
Years in affiliate & performance
16 yrs
At Affiliate Future
Migration
Led a full affiliate platform migration
Senior
Client services leadership

Whether the answer is a senior hire, fractional support or a focused project, the starting point is the same: define the affiliate problem clearly.

I help turn unclear affiliate issues into structured decisions, commercial priorities and practical next actions.

Three practical ways I can help.

/ 01 – 03
01

Within 4 weeks

Affiliate Growth Diagnostic

Find out why your affiliate programme is not growing.

I can identify the commercial, partner, reporting and operational blockers holding the programme back, then turn the findings into a practical 90-day improvement plan.

Best for: Brands with an active affiliate programme that has stalled, become too dependent on a narrow partner mix, or is difficult to explain internally.

View the growth audit →

Areas covered

  • Partner mix & concentration
  • Commission & incentives
  • Publisher activation
  • Tracking & reporting
  • Internal visibility
  • Commercial blockers
  • 90-day action plan
02

Within 8 weeks

Programme Quality Score

Understand the real quality and risk profile of your programme.

I can assess and score the quality of your affiliate programme across the areas that usually determine whether the channel is commercially useful, exposed or under-managed.

Best for: Teams that need to know where the programme is strong, where it is exposed, and what needs attention before it becomes a revenue, compliance or trust problem.

View the quality audit →

Areas covered

  • Partner quality
  • Concentration risk
  • Commission levels
  • Voucher code leakage
  • Sub-network exposure
  • Cashback & loyalty
  • Tracking & validation
  • Reporting credibility
  • Incrementality risk
  • Operational governance
03

4 to 12 weeks

Migration & Partner Activation Support

Move platform or network without losing control.

I can support affiliate platform or network migration by helping manage planning, publisher communication, tracking readiness, commercial risk and post-launch issue control.

Best for: Advertisers, networks or platforms moving programme, relaunching affiliate activity, or needing structured operational support through change.

View migration support →

Areas covered

  • Migration planning
  • Publisher communication
  • Partner readiness
  • Tracking checks
  • Commercial risk
  • Programme setup checks
  • Stakeholder reporting
  • Launch checklist
  • Post-launch issue tracking

Experience across the commercial and operational stack.

/ Background

20+ years · Affiliate Future

More than 20 years in affiliate and performance marketing, including 16 years at Affiliate Future. My recent focus has been leading complex platform migration, alongside senior client services leadership, advertiser programme management, reporting, tracking and publisher strategy.

Sectors worked across

  • Retail
  • Travel
  • Ticketing
  • Finance
  • Services
  • Marketplace
  • 01

    Long-term ownership of major affiliate programmes at senior level

  • 02

    Senior client services leadership across a large advertiser portfolio

  • 03

    12 years managing a major UK retail advertiser programme

  • 04

    Equally comfortable advertiser-side, network-side and platform-side

  • 05

    Strong understanding of advertiser needs, network operations and publisher behaviour

  • 06

    Translating messy affiliate problems into clear priorities and practical delivery plans

Leading a full affiliate platform migration

Capability · Migration lead

I have led a full affiliate platform migration — moving brands and partners onto a new platform — owning the plan end to end, from technology and service-level gap analysis through to monitoring the changeover and technical lags.

  • Technology & service-level gap analysis
  • Contract negotiation
  • DPO, finance & legal coordination
  • Partner recruitment & communications
  • Dashboards & reporting
  • Brand tracking & technical setup
  • Changeover & technical-lag monitoring

What clients and partners say.

/ Recommendations

Excerpts from my LinkedIn recommendations, lightly edited for length.

“
A hugely trusted partner and a genuine extension of our team. John played a pivotal part in the growth of the Bensons for Beds affiliate programme, combining strong industry knowledge with a proactive, practical approach and the right balance between strategic thinking and getting things done.
Head of Digital Marketing, Bensons for Beds
“
John has been the go-to for all things affiliate related, but also anything technical or getting dev requests handled… manning the cockpit of a large affiliate network migration, whilst dealing with a plethora of clients and ensuring the progress and health of their programmes don’t fall.
Affiliate Manager, Master of Malt
“
I worked with John for nearly seven years. We worked together seamlessly, growing a multi-million-pound account exponentially, with regular glowing commendations from the client. A very objective client manager, always keen to explore new ways of increasing client revenue and customer satisfaction.
Senior Account Director, VoucherCodes.co.uk
“
A great professional: dedicated, hard-working and focused. Always fair with clients, suppliers and staff. A superior digital marketing professional with very good technical knowledge coupled with a very commercial approach.
Managing Director, Affiliate Future

Read more recommendations on LinkedIn →

Affiliate, AI and automation.

/ Where this is heading

I’m also focused on how AI, automation and LLM-driven discovery are changing affiliate and partner marketing.

My experience includes working with Cloudfind, now known as Publisher Discovery, on an AI-driven affiliate recommender tool recognised at the Performance Marketing Awards 2019 and The Drum Awards 2020. I was also involved in early OpenAttribution AI discussions.

I approach AI from an operational and commercial perspective: where it can improve decision-making, reduce manual work, surface risk, or create better partner and programme outcomes.

Practical areas of focus

  • AI search and its impact on affiliate content discovery
  • LLM-driven product and publisher discovery
  • Workflow automation across affiliate operations
  • Smarter publisher matching and recommendation
  • Reporting, monitoring and quality-control automation
  • How attribution and commercial models may need to adapt as user journeys change

How I can work with you.

/ Engagement models
01

Senior permanent role

For the right leadership opportunity across affiliate, partnerships, client services, commercial operations or platform services.

02

Fractional leadership

Senior affiliate and partnership expertise without committing to a full-time hire immediately.

03

Diagnostic project

A focused audit and action plan for a specific affiliate programme problem.

04

Migration or operational support

Structured support through platform, network, reporting or programme change.

The short version

A senior affiliate and performance marketing operator.

John Vickers is a senior affiliate and performance marketing operator with more than 20 years' experience across client services, advertiser programme growth, platform migration, reporting, tracking, publisher strategy and commercial operations.

He helps companies understand why affiliate programmes stall, where programme quality is exposed, and how to manage affiliate change without losing partner momentum or operational control.

Contact

Let’s talk: a role, or a problem to solve.

If your affiliate programme is not growing, your reporting is hard to trust, or you are planning a platform or network move, I can help identify the risks, priorities and next actions. I am also open to senior permanent and fractional roles. If you are hiring, I am happy to talk.

Contact John Connect on LinkedIn

UK-based. Available for UK, European and remote international work, including US project and fractional engagements.

Email[email protected]
LinkedIn/in/johnvickers
AvailablePermanent · Fractional · Project