How to Increase Your eCommerce’s Revenue with Affiliate Marketing

Reaching new customers and getting your products into more hands can be tough.

If your sales have dropped or you’ve hit a plateau, one way to grow your eCommerce store is with an affiliate program.

This is when you partner with other affiliates and pay commissions based on sales they make for your business.

Affiliate programs can cost less than other advertising platforms, making them a cost-effective way to increase your sales.

Here we put together some tips to help you make the most of this strategy.

Before we do, let’s take a look at what affiliate marketing is and how it benefits your business.

Affiliate marketing is based on a relationship between merchants and publishers.

Merchants are the businesses that have products to sell. As an eCommerce store owner, you would be the merchant.

Then we have affiliates or influencers, also called publishers, who work with merchants and promote their products on their own site or publishing platform. Affiliates earn a commission when they refer someone who makes a purchase.

For example, affiliates can promote your products on their site or share their thoughts, like this review of Credit Saint.

Affiliate marketing is beneficial for both parties — merchants can increase their reach and generate more sales, while affiliates can make money on referrals they make.

If you’re not already using affiliate marketing, you’re missing out on opportunities to grow your eCommerce store. Affiliate marketing can help your business:

• Lower advertising costs: Affiliate marketing has relatively lower costs than other advertising channels. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to set up an affiliate program.
• Raise brand awareness: Reaching your target audience can be difficult if your eCommerce store is still new. Affiliates do most of the heavy lifting for you, which allows you to reach wider audiences.
• Improve your reputation: Consumers trust product recommendations from friends and family. Working with credible publishers can help lend more credibility to your brand and build consumer confidence.

With all these benefits, it’s no surprise that more companies are turning to affiliate marketing to grow their brands. In fact, affiliate marketing spending is projected to reach $8.2 billion dollars by 2022.

Source: Statista

That figure is only going to continue increasing as more brands incorporate affiliate marketing into their marketing strategy.

Now let’s look at the strategies you can use to grow your eCommerce site with affiliate marketing.

Starting your own recurring affiliate program has never been easier. For example, there are many plugins and apps you can install on your website for a low fee. These help you track sales and even manage direct payments.

But one problem you’ll face with a self-hosted affiliate program is attracting publishers. This will make it difficult to get your affiliate marketing efforts off the ground.

Instead, consider using a reputable affiliate network. These are intermediaries that act as a middleman between merchants and publishers. They can help you reach and connect to more affiliates to promote your products.

Here are some of the more popular affiliate networks:

• CJ Affiliate
• ShareASale
• ClickBank
• FlexOffers
• Rakuten
• Pepperjam

Whether you’re using affiliate marketing to sell your products or as part of your B2B SaaS marketing strategy to generate leads, be sure to research each platform. Some networks are better suited for certain types of products than others.

The next step is to decide on a commission structure. Commission rates for eCommerce stores are typically between 5% and 15%.

As an example, here’s how Amazon sets up its commission rates for its affiliate program:

Source: Amazon

If you can offer a higher commission rate than what your competitors are offering, you can attract more publishers to your affiliate program.

For example, Preply promotes its affiliate program for online language tutors through its website and offers a 70% commission rate on the first lesson. Affiliates can also earn up to $170 for approved tutors they bring in, depending on subject demand.

Offering a percentage and a fixed fee offers affiliates different ways to make money from your program. But be sure to determine your customer acquisition costs before you set your commission structure.

Most affiliate programs have a fixed fee structure. If an affiliate promotes a $100 product, they can earn about $10 depending on the commission rate. But these are one-time payments, which limit how much an affiliate can make.

Affiliate programs that offer recurring revenue are particularly attractive. Publishers can earn ongoing commission on referrals for as long as they remain a customer.

If you look at Wordable’s affiliate program, you’ll see that it offers recurring revenue on its plans:

Source: Wordable

Wordable even breaks down how much its affiliates can earn per month based on how many customers they refer.

Between two affiliate programs, one with a fixed fee structure and the other with recurring revenue, most publishers will choose the latter to boost their earnings.

If it’s financially viable, consider offering recurring revenue in your affiliate program. Be sure to break down how much affiliates can earn to get their attention.

One thing publishers consider when choosing an affiliate program is cookie duration.

Cookies are small text files that allow merchants to track clicks and credit sales to affiliates. Cookie duration refers to the length of time an affiliate can earn commissions on the traffic they send to a merchant.

For example, if a cookie has a duration of 10 days, affiliates can still earn a commission even if a visitor makes a purchase a week later.

Certain products like those with higher values tend to have longer sales cycles. Buyers may need more time before they make a purchase.

Set a high cookie duration to make your program more affiliate-friendly. As an example, Somnifix offers a 30-day-cookie for its affiliate program.

Source: Somnifix

If you set your cookie duration too short, you may have a hard time attracting affiliates. Set cookie durations for at least 30 days.

When setting up your affiliate program, you’ll want to provide materials that publishers can use on their sites to promote your products. These can help drive more traffic to your site and increase sales.

Here are some creatives you should make:

• Product images
• CTA (call to action) buttons
• Banners
• Videos
• Widgets
• Templates

You can take things further by providing data feeds — a file that lists details about your products such as names, prices, descriptions, availability, etc. Data feeds let affiliates easily integrate your products into their sites and keep listings up-to-date.

Affiliates can add your creatives to their sites and drive more traffic to your product pages with these resources. Even if you don’t have experience as a photographer, you can use photo editing apps like Canva or Pixlr to create stunning images.

Chances are you’ve searched online for a promo code to save on a purchase. You’re not alone, as 92% of consumers use coupons for shopping.

Another way to incorporate affiliate marketing into your growth strategy is to work directly with coupon websites. They’ll earn a commission when a shopper uses your promo code and you’ll get a sale. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Websites like SwagBucks are the best place for your eCommerce to grow. Offering discounts, such as these Hobby Lobby coupons, can attract new customers and encourage more first-time purchases.

Influencers have high engagement rates with their followers across social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Working with influencers can help you reach a larger audience and increase sales.

One study found that 82% of consumers are highly likely to purchase when an influencer recommends a product.

Use networks like Instagram and Facebook to find influencers in your industry. Then either send a direct message or email to request a collaboration.

How much you can expect to pay per post depends on audience size, post frequency, and engagement rates. In general, micro-influencers who have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers typically charge $100 to $500 per post.

Alternatively, you can also reach out directly to bloggers in your industry and invite them to become an affiliate. Both strategies will help you raise brand awareness and grow your sales.

Consumers are shifting more of their spending online. But reaching your audience is by no means easy, especially in today’s competitive market.

Turning to affiliate marketing can help you drive more sales to your eCommerce store. Get started by following the tips outlined here.

Partner with a trusted affiliate network, define an attractive commission structure and promote promotional materials for your affiliates.

It’ll take some work to gain traction with your affiliate marketing efforts, but it’ll be well worth the effort once it starts delivering results.

Dustin Howes owns an affiliate marketing agency that is dedicated to helping companies maximize their affiliate marketing efforts. Through group coaching and private consulting, Dustin teaches program managers how to recruit the right affiliates, optimize working hours, and how to take the growth of the program to the next level. Learn more affiliate marketing tips at dustinhowes.com.