Getting your first e-commerce sales can be challenging when you’re just beginning. You might have limited funds to allocate towards paid advertising, and even if you do, recent studies indicate that costs are increasing while there are fewer potential customers.
One possible rephrased version could be: Utilizing affiliate marketing can be an effective strategy for business owners to collaborate with content creators who will promote their products. By partnering with affiliates who produce genuine and relevant content, businesses can connect with their target customers more directly.
With a worth of over $5 billion, more than 81% of brands have incorporated an affiliate program within their operations. The reason behind its prevalent use is due to its effectiveness and accessibility to dropshipping ecommerce stores, leading to comparable success as traditional online stores.
Continue reading for an introduction to affiliate marketing, the advantages and disadvantages it presents, and instructions on initiating your own affiliate program if you are uncertain about its suitability for your business.
E-commerce and Affiliate Marketing: The Ins and Outs
Affiliate marketing is a type of collaboration between online content producers and product advertisers, but it operates on a distinct payment system compared to traditional advertising. With affiliate programs, content producers receive a commission, meaning that business owners only incur advertising costs when they see leads or sales.
While brick-and-mortar stores may have customer referrals and commission sales, affiliate marketing is exclusive to e-commerce settings.
As the business owner, you supply every affiliate partner with a distinct tracking link which they utilize to promote your merchandise or shop. Each time a consumer employs that link to make a purchase, you gain a sale while they obtain their commission.
Affiliate marketing is a top choice for 38% of marketers as affiliate partners are incentivized to market their products in order to receive payment. Brands can either establish their own affiliate program or utilize a network to initiate it, but ultimately have jurisdiction over their business.
You have the flexibility to determine the commission rate, the promotional graphics for affiliates, and the collaborators you wish to partner with. Additionally, you can limit the sales amount to enhance gradual progress and manage demand. Affiliate marketing initiatives can be seamlessly incorporated into many e-commerce platforms, enabling swift and effortless configuration.
Best Types of Affiliates for E-commerce Stores
E-commerce stores can collaborate with anyone who has a substantial audience to attract customers through affiliate marketing. Nonetheless, certain categories of content creators offer significant potential for e-commerce stores to begin their quest for valuable affiliates.
1. Bloggers
Specializing in a particular niche is common among bloggers, making it possible to find partners who can reach your desired audience. In addition, they usually have active social media accounts through which they remain in constant contact with their followers.
Bloggers have the option to utilize affiliate links within their blog posts in addition to affiliate banners on their website. Consequently, they can create a blog post solely dedicated to promoting your product and generate timeless content that will continue to attract consumers in the long run. Collaborate with bloggers who frequently engage with your ideal customer avatar on subjects associated with your product.
2. Review sites
Online reviews are a significant form of social validation, as 76% of individuals trust them to the same extent as advice from acquaintances and 93% claim that reviews influence their purchasing choices. As vast numbers of customers search for reviews, affiliate partners can effectively be found on review sites.
When people are looking to purchase products in your niche, review websites that specialize in that area tend to have strong SEO, resulting in higher search rankings.
Search for the leading review websites that are relevant to your product or service, and those that provide insightful evaluations that address your target audience’s requirements. Then, make contact with the writer or business and inquire if they would like to include an affiliate link in their article.
3. Email marketing
Content creators often possess sizable email databases, which they employ to communicate with their followers. Such lists enable them to contact customers directly, without depending on them to visit a website or appear on a social media platform.
When you collaborate with affiliate partners who own expansive email databases, they can promote your products to a wide range of people. Nevertheless, a considerable number of individuals do not appreciate receiving promotional content via email, which means that excessive messages can come across as spam.
Launching an eCommerce Affiliate Program
Indicating that this method is an effective approach to boost sales, the 81% proportion of ecommerce stores equipped with an affiliate system is noteworthy. However, it is prudent to assess if this course of action aligns with your objectives at present or over time before diving in, despite its popularity.
1. Determine if an affiliate program is right for you
Running a successful ecommerce affiliate program involves numerous factors. Among them, the commission payouts are subject to fluctuation on a monthly basis, depending on the number of publishers, the traffic they generate, and the sales that follow.
Before launching your ecommerce affiliate program, it’s important to take into account various factors such as store size, product availability, selection, and the amount of time you can dedicate to managing the program. You can start by asking yourself a few questions such as:
- Can you manage the program on your own or do you need a dedicated customer support team?
- Do you have a network of bloggers and influencers you can reach out to? How similar are their audiences to yours?
- Do you have a process in place to help affiliates promote your products properly?
- Do you have a commission strategy in place? Does it fit your budget?
- What product trends are your followers interested in?
- What are your audience needs?
In addition, investigate the affiliate programs utilized by your rivals. Observe the manner in which their commission system operates, the duration of their cookie life, and the procedures for signing up and gaining approval.
Utilize the insights gained from your research to establish standards. This facilitates monitoring of your performance in attracting and converting audience gradually. Additionally, it reveals areas where you can surpass rival initiatives, differentiating yourself from publishers.
2. Attract publishers
To successfully adopt an ecommerce affiliate program, it is necessary to seek out publishers with whom to collaborate. Design a web page on your site specifically intended for publisher applications, and advertise your program on social media in order to appeal to potential partners.
Assess the suitability of publishers who have applied for your program by evaluating their:
- Audience reach. How many followers do they have on social media? How big is their email list?
- Business focus. How closely do their business values match your own?
- Goals. Are they focused on catering to the needs of their audience and providing quality content?
When these factors are put together, you can be sure that you are teaming up with the top publishers for your merchandise, and that they will aid in increasing your sales.
3. Review and approve publishers
Afterwards, employ an SEO tool such as Ahrefs to evaluate the standing of your targeted publishers in Google. For instance, if your objective is to promote tech devices by collaborating with bloggers, Ahrefs can display the amount of traffic their content attracts and the times it is shared:
If these bloggers can generate more shares and traffic towards their content, it is highly likely that they will reach a larger audience and potentially boost your sales.
Additionally, verify the expertise of each publisher in their respective field. This can be achieved by examining their Ahrefs domain rank (DR) as a high rank indicates credibility and trustworthiness, and their level of brand recognition.
It’s important to ensure that these publishers are promoted and that their content is read and viewed by the audience. Additionally, you can investigate whether any prospective publishers have collaborated with or been highlighted on popular platforms within their specific category.
4. Conduct ongoing reviews
Regularly review which publishers can be part of your ecommerce affiliate program after their approval to determine:
- Which publishers are generating lots of traffic to your site
- How much of this traffic is converting
- How much you’re paying out to publishers every month
- Which products are the most popular
- What types of customers are buying
Utilize this data to assess your program’s effectiveness and identify the publishers that are driving your sales growth. Consider sharing resources such as videos and content with your publishers to clarify the advantages and values of your merchandise and provide marketing campaign suggestions that they can personalize.
You can opt to concentrate your affiliate program on specific products and incorporate new ones, depending on their effectiveness. It is essential to monitor the performance of publishers and products to ensure that your program meets your requirements and performs according to your expectations.
Tools of the Trade: What you Need to Know
Utilize automated tools for your ecommerce affiliate program to simplify management and free up time for other business aspects. With effective tools, assessing program performance and monitoring ROI is effortless since all data is automatically computed and recorded.
You can gain access to features such as with tools like Affiliately and ShareASale.
- Setting custom commissions per product
- Reviewing publisher stats and earnings
- Sending payments
- Identifying and removing inactive publishers
- Developing resources for publishers, like videos
- Creating and modifying marketing strategies
- Creating publisher segments to help track trends
The majority of platforms provide a complimentary trial to begin with and offer various monthly plans depending on the number of publishers you possess.
By making use of Refersion, Pura Vida has been able to automate and effectively manage their program. The affiliate program they introduced witnessed rapid and consistent expansion, which they currently supplement with micro-influencer marketing on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Pura Vida discovered that their program adhered to the 80/20 principle, where approximately 80% of their sales were generated by 20% of their publishers. In order to increase publisher involvement, Pura Vida implemented a reward system that featured varying commission rates. Publishers soon realized that by sharing more, they earned higher commissions.
More and more publishers are joining every day, resulting in a total count of over 130,000. Pura Vida has experienced a 230% increase in sales due to the doubling of traffic to their site.
Make sure to utilize the features available in your chosen ecommerce affiliate management tool to keep your program interesting. The program should be designed to keep publishers enthusiastic about promoting your products. Regularly examine the reports in your platform and adjust the program as necessary to meet publisher requirements.
Affiliate Program Importance
Although the significant return on investment makes them an easy preference for online entrepreneurs, there are other advantages of affiliate programs that may not be immediately apparent.
1. Relatively cheap to set up
One advantage of affiliate marketing is that expenses are kept low since payment is received only after the sale is made. Another advantage is the minimal initial costs involved. Integrating an affiliate program on an e-commerce platform usually comes at a low cost, while purchasing a plugin is still relatively affordable.
Aside from the technical aspect of establishing an affiliate program, the expense of locating affiliate collaborators also needs to be considered. While signing up for an affiliate network can aid in finding collaborators, this often necessitates a modest monthly charge or a percentage of the collaborator’s commission. Otherwise, opting to seek out affiliates alone will solely require an investment of time and effort.
2. Can drive sales
Affiliate partners are eager to promote products to direct traffic towards you, as it generates revenue for them. When you select an affiliate partner, it’s due to their affiliation with your desired market, resulting in high-quality traffic being directed to your site. Since individuals who click on affiliate links have a pre-existing interest in purchasing your product, this heightens sales.
You can receive potential customers through your affiliate partners, whom you can establish relationships with. After their purchase, you gain their email address and can market your products or services to them directly, fostering a loyal customer base.
Enhances the visibility of your brand.
The concept known as the rule of seven is frequently discussed in advertising, stipulating that a customer must be exposed to an advertisement a minimum of seven times before making a purchase.
The promotion of your product by your affiliate partners through their online platforms such as vlogs, blogs, and social media creates brand awareness that ultimately increases the chances of making a sale. This exposure allows people to become familiar with your brand and return to the recommendation when they are ready to make a purchase.
Algorithms are affected by brand awareness, and having backlinks is crucial for SEO. Whenever affiliate partners link to your website, search engines such as Google take notice and provide you with a better search result ranking as a reward.
Additional notes or comments written alongside the main text.
A marketing initiative known as an affiliate program has the potential to yield significant benefits despite its low cost and minimal risk.
By utilizing affiliate marketing, e-commerce stores can generate brand awareness, attract new customers, and effectively reach their targeted audience, all while only paying commissions on actual sales. The successful implementation of this marketing program relies heavily on selecting the appropriate affiliate application and partnering with enthusiastic and credible affiliates.
