It’s no secret that the way shoppers are researching and purchasing products and services online has changed. Prior to online searches, in-person buying was the only option. Then came Google. It gave shoppers a way to search for products and brands. They would see something in the search engine results that interested them and looked relevant, and they would click.
Today, a click isn’t always necessary. A customer researching noise-canceling headphones might ask Google for recommendations, read through an AI-generated summary that references Wired and CNET, then go straight to Amazon to buy. No affiliate link gets clicked, no cookie gets dropped, and no attribution gets recorded.
The publishers still did the work behind the scenes to get shoppers to the right place, but their expertise traveled through the AI layer and drove a conversion that’s invisible to “last-click” attribution tracking systems.
We wanted to know exactly how much affiliate influence occurs outside of clicks. So we measured it in our latest report. Introducing “The Zero-Click Economy: How GenAI Is Redefining Affiliate Influence,” the 2025 Clickless Affiliation™ Index Report by Partnerize.
What the Data Says
Our research team analyzed 187 brands across six major verticals: Clothing & Apparel; PCs, Laptops, and Computing Accessories; Meal Delivery & Specialty Food; Home Improvement; Beauty & Personal Care; and Gift Baskets. We tracked both traditional last-click conversions and what we call “zero-click conversions” where publisher influence was present but no affiliate link was clicked.
The findings are significant. Publishers are driving conversions at an average rate of 2.06x higher than click-based attribution captures. Some categories show even larger gaps. For example, home improvement hits 2.71x, and fashion is right behind at 2.70x.
Why AI-Driven Attribution is Invisible
Several dynamics are creating this measurement gap, and they’re all accelerating.
AI-assisted research is now standard behavior. Consumers bounce between ChatGPT, publisher sites, retail sites, and back again. The buying path was never linear, but it’s more fractured than ever.
ChatGPT is currently at the forefront of this space with 85-90% of GenAI-assisted shopping journeys. Perplexity is emerging at 5-10%. And the content feeding these tools AI answers is already well-known to the affiliate industry: publisher reviews, guides, and recommendations.
Trust transfers through citations. When a search engine AI summary answers “What’s the best espresso machine under $500?” it synthesizes content from publishers who built credibility over years or decades. That authority carries weight in the AI-generated recommendation, even though the consumer never clicks back to the original source.
If brands are optimizing partnerships based purely on click data, they’re dramatically undervaluing their affiliate relationships.
What This Means for Different Verticals
The clickless multiplier varies by vertical, and the patterns reveal how consumers actually research before buying.
Home improvement shows the highest hidden influence at 2.71x. Someone Googles “how to fix a leaky faucet,” gets an AI summary from The Spruce and HGTV, and heads straight to Home Depot to buy the exact products mentioned. The publishers who provided the helpful content and reccomendations don’t get credit under last-click models.
Fashion follows at 2.70x, consumer electronics at 1.87x, and beauty at 1.50x. The multiplier correlates with purchase complexity. High-consideration categories with longer research cycles show larger gaps between traditional attribution and actual influence.
Across all six categories, premium publishers like GQ, Wired, Allure, and PCMag consistently drive more value than click-based metrics reveal. Their content gets synthesized in AI responses, which drives conversions traditional systems never see.
Strategic Implications for Advertisers & Publishers
If you’re a CMO, your affiliate program is likely delivering significantly more ROI than you’re currently measuring. That hidden value represents both an opportunity and a risk. You’re getting more than you paid for, which is great. But competitors who measure this correctly will outbid you for top publisher partnerships.
The strategic question is straightforward: can you afford to keep making partnership decisions based on incomplete data?
If you’re managing affiliate programs, you’re being judged on metrics that capture less than half of true attribution. When you optimize purely for last-click conversions, you’re likely undervaluing premium publishers who drive research and consideration while overvaluing bottom-funnel affiliates who capture existing intent.
Last-click attribution still matters, but it’s only a small part of the picture.
Get the Research
The clickless economy is already here. Brands optimizing purely for clicks are making partnership decisions based on incomplete data while their competitors figure out how to measure total influence.
Download the full research report to learn more. You’ll see category-specific data, publisher rankings, top brands benefiting from clickless influence, and the complete methodology.
