The Most Unusual Ways Brands Use Tapfiliate and Why They Work

Most affiliate programs follow a familiar pattern: partners promote offers, links are tracked, and commissions are paid. This is also the way most affiliate tracking platforms, including Tapfiliate, are typically used.

Cashway and Atlas Endgames, two companies running their affiliate and referral programs on Tapfiliate, don’t follow that pattern.

They operate in completely different markets, but both use affiliate tracking as infrastructure for non-standard growth models that scale precisely because they do not rely on traditional affiliate mechanics.

This article breaks down how these setups work, why they scale, and what other brands can realistically learn from them.

Cashway: Affiliate Tracking Beyond Traditional Programs

An affiliate model with inverted roles

Cashway is a cashback platform, and this context explains why its affiliate setup differs from the way most Tapfiliate customers use the product.

Instead of using standard affiliate tracking to promote its own product, Cashway uses Tapfiliate to connect brands and users inside a cashback ecosystem. The platform sits in the middle and operates on both sides of the affiliate relationship.

How the model works in practice

Cashway combines two roles within the same setup.

It works with retailers and brands to run affiliate programs and serves as the publisher that promotes those brands to its own user base. Traffic is sent to retailers through tracked affiliate links, and purchases are attributed to the correct programs.

When a user completes a purchase through Cashway, the flow remains technically familiar. Tapfiliate tracks the transaction, attributes the sale to the relevant affiliate program, and assigns the commission to Cashway as the publisher. Cashway then shares part of that commission with the user in the form of cashback.

From the retailer’s perspective, Cashway appears to be any other affiliate. From the user’s perspective, cashback appears after the purchase, without needing to understand how affiliate programs work in the background.

What makes this setup different

Although the mechanics resemble a standard affiliate flow, the structure differs.

Cashway does not use affiliate tracking to manage a network of external partners. Instead, tracking functions as infrastructure for a two-sided marketplace, connecting brands, the platform, and users within a single system.

This also gives Cashway clear visibility across the entire flow. When cashback is missing or a transaction fails to track, users report it directly. That feedback loop makes tracking issues visible quickly and allows the team to resolve them without relying on delayed reports or complex audits.

Why the model scales

The scalability of this setup comes from how responsibilities are distributed.

Cashway does not need to recruit, onboard, or motivate affiliates. The platform itself is the publisher. Users do not need to learn how affiliate programs work or actively promote offers. They simply use cashback as part of their normal shopping behavior.

Affiliate tracking runs quietly in the background, supporting attribution and revenue sharing without adding friction. As a result, growth comes from repeated user behavior rather than from a small group of high-performing partners.

Who this model works for

Cashway’s approach is not limited to cashback platforms, but it does require specific conditions.

It works well for businesses that:

• Sit between brands and end users,
• Act as a primary traffic source for partners or merchants,
• Can share value downstream through cashback, credits, or similar mechanisms,
  
• Need reliable attribution across multiple advertisers.
  

It is less suitable for products that rely on recruiting independent affiliates, expect users to actively promote offers, or lack natural sharing moments in the user journey.

In this setup, affiliate tracking becomes a natural part of how the Cashway platform operates at scale.

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Atlas Endgames: How Affiliate Tracking Supports Non-Standard Growth Models

A community-driven affiliate model with a clear lifecycle

Atlas Endgames was a Web3 gaming studio that built its growth around a highly engaged player community. During the active phase of the game, players were not just users but participants who spent time, effort, and attention inside a shared ecosystem.

That context shaped how affiliate tracking was used.

At the time, many players were already inviting friends into the game, helping newcomers get started, and contributing to the community organically. Tapfiliate was introduced to bring structure to those referral flows and to make attribution and rewards more transparent as the community grew.

In practice, referrals were not limited to links. Atlas Endgames implemented a referral code system that players could use during in-game purchases. These codes were entered at checkout, validated by the system, and temporarily linked to a player’s profile, allowing attribution to persist beyond a single session.

Different roles within the community had different attribution windows, which reflected their level of involvement and contribution to the ecosystem.

The game was later shut down, and the team moved on to other projects. Still, the way affiliate tracking supported community-driven growth during the game’s active lifecycle remains a strong example of how non-traditional referral models can work in practice.

Why this case still matters

Although Atlas Endgames is no longer live, the mechanics of its affiliate setup remain relevant.

The platform didn’t rely on classic acquisition campaigns or short-term promotions. Affiliate tracking supported behavior that already existed inside the community, giving it clear attribution and fair rewards while the product was actively evolving.

That makes this helpful case not just a success story with a permanent outcome, but also a well-defined growth phase in which affiliate tracking played a supporting role rather than driving growth on its own.

How the model worked in practice

During the game’s active period:

• Players invited other players as part of everyday community interaction,
• Referrals were tracked consistently,
• Rewards were tied to participation rather than isolated clicks.
  

Affiliate tracking functioned as neutral infrastructure, helping the team understand how the community expanded and ensuring contributions were recognized without disrupting the social dynamics of the game.

Where this approach applies

This type of setup works best for products that have:

• Strong community engagement,
• Ongoing participation rather than one-off transactions,
• Natural social loops where users bring in others without being prompted.
  

It is less suitable for products with low engagement or purely transactional user relationships, where referral behavior needs to be manufactured rather than supported.

Wrapping up

Although Cashway and Atlas Endgames operate in very different environments, both cases point to the same underlying idea.

Affiliate tracking becomes most effective when it is aligned with how a business already grows. In Cashway’s case, it supports a two-sided cashback ecosystem where attribution and revenue sharing are part of the product logic. In Atlas Endgames’ case, it provides structure for community-driven growth built around long-term engagement and participation.

In both setups, Tapfiliate is used as infrastructure rather than a standalone growth channel. It adapts to the business model instead of shaping it, making non-standard approaches easier to run, measure, and scale.

These examples show that affiliate tracking does not have to follow a single template. When applied thoughtfully, it can support a wide range of growth models, as long as sharing and attribution are already meaningful parts of how the product works.

If your growth model doesn’t fit the traditional affiliate playbook, Tapfiliate gives you the flexibility to build something that does. Explore how teams use Tapfiliate beyond standard affiliate programs.