Avelon unveils new Smart Referral Pages to block coupon code leaks

BikeBiz sat down for a quick Q&A with Andrew Richardson, founder of Avelon, discussing ‘coupon code leaks’ and how the new Smart Referral Pages feature combats the issue for clients using Avelon.

Andrew, let’s start with a straightforward question: What’s the issue with coupon code sites?

Let me start by framing the problem: Widespread misuse of codes. Affiliates being paid commission for sales they didn’t drive. A nightmare for eComm managers.

This happens a few ways.

• You have coupon code sites using bots to crawl your checkout pages and then display promo codes across the internet. This leads to misattribution of sales, as I mentioned above. 
• It’s also rampant with content creators sharing discount codes on social media. Firstly, the code has a high probability of leaking, and secondly, brands/retailers have no idea where their sales actually come from.

There’s so many problems, and they all lead back to one type of website. It’s a huge issue in the affiliate (and eCommerce) industry – one which, in my opinion, isn’t focused on enough.

Can I say ‘screw coupon code scraping sites’? That’s the tagline I’m going with here.

Why does this matter for retailers? Surely, they’re making the sale anyway?

Yes, they may be making the sale, but it’s not a genuine referral.

The key point: Retailers are paying commission on sales which doesn’t need to be paid, whilst losing margin in the process. 

By curbing invalid referrals, brands can trust that every referred customer is genuine. This strengthens the affiliate program’s efficiency and ensures long-term, sustainable growth. With fewer losses and more reliable data, retailers can redirect resources to strategies that truly move the needle.

How do you solve this problem? Is there a solution?

Crawlers are incredibly advanced and can disguise themselves as humans through some clever techniques, so we’ve repurposed our anti-bot algorithm (which is present in all our link and tracking tech) and added a ton of new features. But to be honest, it’s all down to understanding how bots actually scrape in the first place.

In simple terms, we’ve found a sure-fire way to identify bots, blocked them from pages and then embedded safeguards to ensure that if they do manage to get to the page, they can’t read the important information. 

We’ve seen a 0% coupon leak rate in testing, which is awesome. Conversion rates have even increased to 15.8% vs our baseline 4.5% whilst click-through rates on links have shot up to 95.5%.

If a code does get out for some reason, we’ve made it simple to replace the code on the page, too. Literally, it takes 10 seconds.

Alright, this all sounds impressive. What does the solution actually look like?

The solution to this issue is having an intermediary page between the affiliate and the website instead of just posting a discount code. These pages are automatically created and can be branded with a background image, too.

Adding a click into the mix also allows us to see exactly where a sale originates from and attribute it with pinpoint precision – instead of an affiliate just posting a code on their social media. Don’t get me wrong, coupon codes have their place in the affiliate industry, but we’re pushing for a more data-driven, reliable future where people know exactly where their sales are coming from.

This is just version 1 of what we’re calling the coupon code site killer. Version 2 will use even more tech to assign codes to users to ensure codes can’t get shared around or leaked.

Introducing smart referral pages by Avelon

Smart referral pages by Avelon transform how brands handle referral campaigns. Instead of relying on generic link-sharing, brands can customize dedicated pages that capture genuine customer interest. The result is a seamless referral experience that attracts real, engaged audiences—and blocks unwelcome bot traffic.

To learn more about smart referral pages, visit Avelon’s knowledge base.