How to Find and Test Winning Affiliate Setups

Hello, community! It’s very difficult to find up-to-date and profitable funnels. Typically, you only learn about them when they no longer work. Affiliates share them in affiliate marketing case studies, but most of the time such funnels look like pure retrospectives.

However, many affiliates do make money right now. And obviously, for that they use profitable funnels. So where do they find them? We explain in this fresh overview.

Before we begin, a quick reminder that we’ve already explained what affiliate marketing cases are. Highly recommended!

What is a funnel in affiliate marketing?

As always, let’s start with the basics. What is a funnel? Many beginners get confused by terminology. No worries — we’ll clarify everything.

A funnel is a combination of all elements of an ad campaign, including:

• The offer you send traffic to;
• The traffic source;
• Targeting and GEO;
• The creatives you use;
• Landing pages and pre-landers.

In simple terms, a funnel is like a recipe you follow to cook your profit.

Where to find profitable funnels?

Without a doubt, the hardest part of affiliate marketing is finding a working funnel — not even a profitable one, just working. Experienced affiliates can come up with ideas based on their background, but what should beginners do? There are several options:

1. Analyze competitors. Use not only affiliate cases, but also various SPY tools. They help you understand which product, from which source, and which traffic type you should test. The main thing is not to rely on outdated campaigns — they won’t bring you profit.
2. Conduct your own analysis. Study the offer thoroughly. Understand its target audience — who it’s made for and who might convert. If necessary, use AI assistance.
3. Communicate with experienced colleagues. For example, in our Telegram community, where you can ask for feedback on your idea or even find partners to build something great together.
4. Test funnels. The best way to find what brings money is to test your hypotheses. Only through testing can you discover unique funnels and get ahead of your competitors.

Let’s now focus on the last point, since testing funnels is a complex process.

How to test funnels?

Any test begins with the most important step — analyzing your budget. You must decide how much money you can safely spend on testing your hypothesis.

What budget is optimal?

Most often, the calculation is based on the target lead price. It equals the approval rate multiplied by the payout. For example, if a conversion pays $30 and the approval rate is 15%, then the target lead price is $4.5. For a small test, multiply this by 4 — meaning you can spend about $18 to validate the hypothesis.

So a budget equal to 3–4 target leads is ideal for initial testing.

A/B testing — the foundation

A/B testing is the core of all funnel testing. What does it mean? You need to test each element of your ad campaign step-by-step:

1. Segment your audiences and work with each separately until you find the most relevant one.
2. Test different creatives until you identify those that generate the highest CTR.
3. Try different ad formats — not only targeting, but also push ads or teasers.
4. Test the landing page — especially if you see a lot of clicks but no conversions.

The most important rule of split testing is to test changes gradually and isolate variables. Only then can you understand exactly what impacts results and which part of the campaign needs improvement.

Further optimization and scaling

If during testing you discover what seems to be a working funnel — it’s time to take action.

First, optimize the campaign: remove everything that failed and keep only what works. Set up daily spend, rotate only high-performing creatives, and refine the structure. This is the best and most enjoyable part of affiliate marketing.

And then — scale it, if after optimization your funnel brings stable and high profit.

Conclusion

There are many ways to find a funnel. While professional affiliates generate ideas based on experience, beginners can choose alternative approaches. But profit will always depend on your ability to test, optimize, and scale.

A quick reminder: we actively discuss all fresh funnels in our Telegram community, where you can get help with any aspect of affiliate marketing!

With respect, Your Geek!

How to find and test funnels FAQs