# Purple Cow Audit

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- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-affitor-affiliate-skills-purple-cow-audit`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Affitor](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/affitor)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [Affitor](https://github.com/Affitor)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Affitor/affiliate-skills/tree/main/skills/research/purple-cow-audit
- **Website:** https://list.affitor.com

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-affitor-affiliate-skills-purple-cow-audit
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Purple Cow Audit

Quality gate for affiliate marketers: score a product's remarkability 1-10 before promoting it. Based on Seth Godin's Purple Cow — if the product isn't remarkable, no amount of marketing skill will make it convert sustainably. The key question: "Would I recommend this to a friend WITHOUT earning a commission?"

## Stage

S1: Research — Evaluating a program's worthiness IS part of research and discovery. This is a quality gate before you invest time creating content, landing pages, and email sequences.

## When to Use

- User is considering promoting a specific product
- User asks "is this product worth promoting?"
- User wants to evaluate product quality before investing time
- User says "purple cow", "remarkable", "audit", "evaluate", "quality check"
- Before investing time in S2-S5 skills for a specific product
- User has a list of programs from `affiliate-program-search` and needs to pick the best

## Input Schema

```yaml
product:                    # REQUIRED
  name: string              # Product name
  url: string               # Product website
  description: string       # OPTIONAL — what it does
  reward_value: string      # OPTIONAL — commission rate
  tags: string[]            # OPTIONAL — categories

comparison_products: string[] # OPTIONAL — competitors to compare against
                              # Default: auto-discovered
```

**Chaining from S1 affiliate-program-search**: If run, evaluate the `recommended_program`.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Research the Product

1. `web_search`: `"[product] review 2024 2025"` — find recent reviews
2. `web_search`: `"[product] vs" OR "[product] alternative"` — find competitors
3. `web_search`: `"[product] complaints" OR "[product] problems"` — find issues
4. Check product website for: pricing transparency, unique features, social proof

### Step 2: Score Remarkability

Rate each dimension 1-10:

| Dimension | Question | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| **Uniqueness** | Does it do something no competitor does? | 20% |
| **Quality** | Is it genuinely excellent at its core job? | 20% |
| **Story** | Does using it make you feel/look different? | 15% |
| **Word of mouth** | Would users tell friends unprompted? | 15% |
| **Design** | Is the experience delightful, not just functional? | 10% |
| **Problem fit** | Does it solve a real, painful problem? | 10% |
| **Trust** | Transparent pricing, good support, real social proof? | 10% |

**Composite score** = weighted average (1-10)

### Step 3: Make Recommendation

Based on composite score:
- **8-10: PROMOTE** — This is a Purple Cow. Go all in.
- **6-7: PROMOTE WITH ANGLE** — Good product, needs strong positioning. Identify your unique angle.
- **4-5: CAUTION** — Mediocre product. Only promote if commission is exceptional AND you can add significant value through bonuses.
- **1-3: SKIP** — Not remarkable. Promoting this will damage your reputation. Find an alternative.

### Step 4: Identify Remarkable Angles

For products scoring 6+, identify:
1. The 1-2 features that ARE remarkable (Purple Cow elements)
2. The angles that make it share-worthy
3. The audience segment for whom this IS a Purple Cow (even if not for everyone)

### Step 5: Self-Validation

- [ ] Score is evidence-based (cited reviews, features, data)
- [ ] Recommendation is honest (not inflated by high commission)
- [ ] Remarkable angles are specific (not generic praise)
- [ ] Comparison with competitors is fair
- [ ] The "would I recommend without commission" test was honestly applied

## Output Schema

```yaml
output_schema_version: "1.0.0"
purple_cow_audit:
  product_name: string
  composite_score: number       # 1-10 weighted
  recommendation: string        # "promote" | "promote_with_angle" | "caution" | "skip"
  scores:
    uniqueness: number
    quality: number
    story: number
    word_of_mouth: number
    design: number
    problem_fit: number
    trust: number

  remarkable_angles: string[]   # What makes it a Purple Cow (for 6+)
  red_flags: string[]           # Concerns identified
  alternative_products: string[] # Better options if score  **Next step — copy-paste this prompt:**
> "Design an irresistible offer for [product] using these remarkable angles: [list from audit]" → runs `grand-slam-offer`

## Flywheel Connections

### Feeds Into
- `grand-slam-offer` (S4) — remarkable angles become the offer's core messaging
- `viral-post-writer` (S2) — remarkable elements are what makes content shareable
- `affiliate-blog-builder` (S3) — audit insights inform honest review content
- `landing-page-creator` (S4) — remarkable features highlighted on the page

### Fed By
- `affiliate-program-search` (S1) — products to evaluate
- `competitor-spy` (S1) — competitive landscape for comparison

### Feedback Loop
- `ab-test-generator` (S6) reveals which remarkable angles resonate with audience → refine what "remarkable" means for your specific audience

## References

- `shared/references/case-studies.md` — Real affiliate success stories
- `shared/references/affiliate-glossary.md` — Terminology
- `shared/references/flywheel-connections.md` — Master connection map

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [Affitor](https://github.com/Affitor)
- **Source:** [Affitor/affiliate-skills](https://github.com/Affitor/affiliate-skills)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://list.affitor.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-affitor-affiliate-skills-purple-cow-audit
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/affitor
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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