Ecommerce affiliate programs: Benefits and outstanding programs to promote your products and services

Affiliate marketing is a term that is no longer unfamiliar, especially in recent years. This is one of the most common and widely used marketing models in the modern days that can help everyone get additional revenue and achieve their goals with ease. In this article, Arrowtheme will show the great benefits as well as the best ecommerce affiliate programs. Hence, it will broaden the opportunities to earn extra money for you. Then, explore with us right now! 

What do ecommerce affiliate programs mean? 

Simply speaking, an ecommerce affiliate marketing is simply known as affiliate marketing with an internet component. Besides, a commission is earned when an online merchant promotes another company’s products, services, or website on their own website. 

What’s more, in the modern days, ecommerce affiliate programs are one of the most popular and useful methods to promote your products and services. As a result, an increasing number of firms are joining affiliate programs, up to 81 percent of brands currently take advantage of this marketing model. 

How do ecommerce affiliate programs work? 

In fact, affiliate marketing ecommerce can be set up and implemented in a variety of ways. Most programs, however, entail a corporation delivering a unique trackable code to its affiliate partners, which they can then distribute with their consumers and clients. Moreover, whenever customers use the code to make a purchase, the affiliate is compensated.

When it comes to ecommerce affiliate programs, there are three main commission structures: 

#1. Purchase-Based commission structures 

When someone uses their code to make a purchase on the merchant’s website, the affiliate partner is paid. 

#2. Traffic-Based commission structures 

No matter what visitors make a purchase or take another action, the affiliate partner is paid a commission depending on the number of individuals who visit the company’s website through their link. 

#3. Customer acquisition-Based commission structures

As soon as an affiliate partner’s promotion aids the merchant in closing a new deal or gaining a new customer, the affiliate partner is compensated. 

Additionally, we will deliver you the prime example of Amazon with its affiliate marketing ecommerce named “Amazon Associates”. In reality, this is considered as one of the most popular and prominent ecommerce affiliate programs. For more details, this commission-based system is used for website owners and bloggers to join up for a free Amazon Associate account and use links to promote Amazon products on their sites. Then, they will get paid a referral commission every time one of their clients or site visitors clicks on a link and buys something from Amazon.

Great benefits of ecommerce affiliate programs you need to know

#1. Generate an additional revenue stream

The first awesome visible benefit that affiliate marketing for ecommerce brings for anyone is to create an additional revenue stream. First and foremost, this marketing form is a quick and easy option for ecommerce firms to add another cash stream. Then, boosting overall revenue as a result. With a referral program, you will earn an affiliate commission every time one of your contacts makes a purchase from your affiliate partner. Hence, you can start earning a lot of money from ecommerce affiliate programs by just simply marketing affiliate partner’s products or services on their behalf and introducing your connections to them.  

#2. Make stand out from competitors

Regardless of selling any items, especially in the ecommerce environment, you will surely have to face a lot of difficulties and competitions. Thus, let’s create the difference by joining an affiliate network  in order to deliver more value to your clients. To put it plainly through ecommerce affiliate programs, you can connect them with your affiliate partner’s products and services without having to go through the effort, cost, and bother of supplying them yourself.

As you know, consumers will highly appreciate as well as tend to buy easier if they can get a recommendation for a product or service they require from someone they trust. Because it will spare them the time and effort of having to search for a partner on their own. Therefore, aside from gaining affiliate commissions, this also can help you earn higher customer satisfaction rankings. 

#3. Reach a bigger customer base

Affiliates can be found in almost every market and product category. This is the reason why whether you want to build a reputation on your own in retail or any industry, there’s still a suitable website for you. What’s more, many of these affiliates will already have a large number of visitors, allowing you to make yourself noticed inside their communities without a lot of effort or expense. Not only that, these affiliate partners are even considered as an extension of your present marketing or sales team. As a result, you can easily drive more sales and increase engagement from them. 

#4. Straightforward scale up your business

In order to stand out from the rest as well as catch up with the changing consumer tastes, almost all modern ecommerce business owners are constantly seeking for wonderful methods to not only expand their customer base, increase revenue, but also enhance their operations. Best of all, ecommerce affiliate programs can assist you create a new revenue stream. Then, you can utilize the extra cash flow and revenue to expand your business rapidly.

Furthermore, you are able to develop new items, invest in the latest technologies to improve your business operations. Plus, you can also deploy software to increase your ability to communicate with clients. As a result, it will help you develop your business, and at the same time, offer clients the highest satisfaction. 

#5. Become a member of an affiliate network of like-minded companies

An affiliate network can be a terrific place for you to meet other business owners who have the same interests and establish vital professional connections. Thanks to it, you can quickly achieve your company goals faster, attract more customers, and experience a larger profit margin. In fact, this is a win-win solution, because they will help each other improve their client base and revenue while also helping other businesses do the same.  

What do you need to consider when developing your ecommerce affiliate programs? 

#1. Research competitors carefully

The first thing and also the most crucial one you should do before diving into the world of affiliate marketing is examine your opponents research. Specifically, you should make a list of your competitors and use Google to look up their ecommerce affiliate programs. Besides, you can maintain track of their affiliate network of choice, commission distributions, incentives or bonuses, cost-per-action, and cost-per-lead in an Excel spreadsheet.

What’s more, you can also join their affiliate marketing ecommerce to check what type of emails, incentives, and bonuses they provide to their partners. For instance, in case your competition pays 10% per transaction and you notice his or her company on popular review sites, you can match the fee and target those sites.

In addition, in case you have a restricted budget, you can try out affiliates in new verticals and identify affiliates that your competitors don’t work with. Plus, focus on a few select affiliate partners to drive ROI.

#2. Determine the goals and KPIs of your ecommerce affiliate programs

Besides, you have to set your objectives and key performance indicators after conducting competitive research (KPIs). Moreover, the sort of affiliates in your program and the commission distributions will be determined by this. Then, you can refer to some examples of common goals below:

• Firstly, the goal is to grow site visitors by 15% month over month.
• Secondly, by the end of the year, we want to raise income by $10,000.
• Thirdly, within two months, increase the average order value by $10.
• What’s more, the goal is to increase the conversion rate by 20% year over year.

After creating a list of objectives, you need to consider the metrics you will use to track your progress toward reaching them. 

Several common KPIs

Click traffic: this is the number of clicks your ecommerce affiliate programs received in a certain time period.

Gross orders: the total sales reported by your affiliate marketing ecommerce program.

Net orders: refer to purchases that were voided owing to issues such as buyers returning products, canceled orders, and so on.

Commission: the amount you paid affiliate marketers to promote your business

The top affiliate partners who are driving the most revenue for your affiliate program, as well as their share of total sales.

Performance from each category of affiliate: The type of clients your affiliates are sending to your website is measured by the performance of each affiliate category. This contains: sales through coupon and loyalty affiliates, review sites, WordPress blogs and so much more. 

Conversion rate: is the percentage of visitors that purchased something from your site.

Total affiliates: refer to number of affiliate marketers in your ecommerce affiliate programs 

Percentage of active affiliates: the number of affiliates who generate clicks in a certain time frame.

The percentage of productive affiliates: is the number of clicks and sales generated in a certain period of time.

ARPU: stands for average revenue per unit of order/ service.

EPC: is the earnings per 100 clicks. In fact, this is an important indicator that shows how much money your publishers make each click on your website. Especially, publishers like to collaborate with you if your EPCs are in good shape.

#3. Come with a clear commission strategy 

The next essential thing you also need to consider to develop your ecommerce affiliate programs better and better is to have a clear commission strategy. Following that, you should calculate your acquisition cost (known as CPA). Besides, in case acquiring a regular customer costs you $100, you must make $100 from that customer to break even, without including your gross margin.

Alternatively, because average commissions of 8-10% per order provide gross income 10 -12.5x more than the commissions, many ecommerce companies can run their affiliate programs at a ROAS of 10 or higher. 

Now, we will show you the cost per acquisition model (CPA). For more details, this mentions how much it costs to get a new customer.

In general, you divide your affiliate spending by the number of new clients you’ve acquired:

          (Marketing Spend/ Customers = Cost Per Acquisition)

Furthermore, imagine that you invest $10,000 in your ecommerce affiliate programs and receive 20,000 site visitors, deducing this equates to roughly $0.50 each visitor. 

Your cost per lead is $10 if 5% of these visitors fill out an email popup and convert into leads (1,000 leads). Otherwhile, your cost per acquisition is $50 if 1% of those 20,000 visits convert into paying consumers (with 200 clients).

In addition, by combining this information with your average order value (AOV), you may develop an affiliate program commission strategy that considers cost per acquisition, conversion rates, cost of goods sold (COGS), and gross margin to determine a percentage you can afford to spend. After that, there are a few more things to think about when determining commissions, such as customer retention and lifetime value.

#4. Know your client retention rate

The commissions you can provide will be influenced by your customer retention strategies. Besides, you can afford to invest more in your affiliate program if you have a good retention rate since the customers you earn will return to buy more. A low retention rate, on the other hand, suggests that you will have to keep acquiring new clients in order to stay successful in the long run. Then, you can determine the following to determine the client retention rate:

• Customers at the conclusion of the time – E. 
• New customers obtained during that period – N. 
• Customers at the beginning of the period – S.

Once you’ve got those, you should follow the steps below:

CRR = ((E-N)/S)*100

After that, you need to imagine you started the quarter with 100 customers (S), lost 10 customers (L), and gained 50 customers (N), for a total of 140 customers at the end of the quarter (E).

Then, you can calculate retention using the formula: ((140-50)/100)*100 = 90

#5. Know customer lifetime value

The next step is to calculate the lifetime value of your customers (known as CLV). Then, this will decide how much profit you make from your average customer over the course of their relationship with you. You can use the formula below to compute CLV:

(Average Value of a Sale) X (Number of Repeat Transactions) X (Average Retention Time in Months or Years)

Moreover, in case you run an ecommerce subscription business where clients pay $15 per month for two years, you can use the following formula:

                        $15 x 12 transactions x 2 years = $180

This enables you to recognize that a new customer acquired through an associate transaction is worth $180 to your company, not the original $5. Besides, you can separate your consumers and forecast the average customer lifespan of each segment to get a more precise picture. Not only that, you will also have to account for expected sales, estimated expenses of goods sold (COGS), gross margin, and other factors. Plus, you may also determine your LTV rapidly using the Compass Revenue Report.

#6. Calculate how much you will be paid in commissions

While there isn’t a set formula for calculating commissions, you should go for it if your affiliate marketing program generates a lot of sales and you can pay a 20% commission on product sales. However, keep in mind the previous factors we discussed, such as customer lifetime value (CLV), customer retention rate (CRR), return on ad spend (ROAS), cost of goods sold (COGS) and so on. 

Besides, what you can afford to pay affiliates is largely determined by your profit margins. For instance, in case your margins are 30% and you are dealing with dropshipping suppliers on Amazon, you should pay your affiliates less than if your margins are 40%.

Moreover, if you’re not sure what your commissions should be, you need to talk to people in your sector and look at what your competitors are doing to come up with a final approach. Then, you should keep in mind some pointers while calculating your payouts:

Don’t pay for impressions or clicks

CPM payments are preferred by affiliates over CPA payments because they carry the least amount of risk. CPM does not always equate to sales, and you could be wasting money without seeing any returns.

Encourage affiliates to select your Ecommerce affiliate programs

First and foremost, you must convince affiliates to join your program. In fact, there are numerous businesses that offer high-paying affiliate programs. Then, your duty is to entice affiliates to join your program by offering incentives, advantages, and commissions that are competitive. 

Don’t forget to generous with your affiliate partners

Instead of asking yourself, “How much do I have to pay my affiliates?”, you need to ask yourself: “What is the most I can afford to pay my affiliates?” These affiliate websites are your loyal friends, and you should treat them well, cultivate solid connections, and compensate them fairly. Furthermore, the larger your rewards, the happier your affiliates will be, and the more traffic and revenue you will generate in the long term. 

Strong commissions allow you to swiftly scale your program

Payouts should be based on client lifetime value with a ROAS of 3 or greater, not on a single sale, if you want to scale your program. You will spend more up front, but you will end up with the most sales over time. 

Affiliates are rewarded with contests and promotions

In order to invoke your affiliates to promote you, you need to send them an email with higher tier rewards, contests, and bonuses. When you’re onboarding new partners, this is very effective at fostering a positive relationship. Then, to maintain your data in one location, you can utilize a Gmail extension to track emails that you send affiliates.

Based on your competitive analysis, set up commissions

You must establish the criteria for your niche, the number of commissions given, and their methods by analyzing competitors. Thus, knowing who your competitors are can help you figure out how to attract high-quality affiliates to your program.

Begin by joining an affiliate network

You need to look into affiliate networks if you’re not sure where to begin. They may take a percentage of your sales or charge a monthly fee. But they will give you everything you need to run your program.

Top outstanding programs to promote your products and services 

#1. The Fulfillment Lab

The first awesome affiliate marketing ecommerce we highly suggest for you to boost sales is The Fulfillment Lab (That’s Us!). First of all, the Fulfillment Lab’s ecommerce affiliate program makes finding the right fulfillment partner for your audience easier than ever. Simply register online to acquire a one-of-a-kind code that you can easily share with your acquaintances. Besides, you will get credit and start earning commissions once one of them establishes an account using your affiliate code and starts shipping with TFL. Plus, with volume-based shipping methods, you will keep earning lifelong referral commissions every time they ship with The Fulfillment Lab.

#2. The Shopify affiliate program

Coming to the next affiliate program you can’t ignore is the Shopify affiliate program. In fact, this is one of the most flawless ecommerce affiliate programs in the global market. You can earn affiliate commissions for each user who signs up for a paid Shopify plan using your unique referral link through Shopify’s affiliate marketing program. Additionally, by linking to Shopify’s blogs, webinars, video tutorials, tools, and automated funnels, you will be able to save time and money on having to create content yourself. 

#3. Bluehost

In case you are seeking ecommerce affiliate programs to drive revenue for your company, you can take a look at Bluehost. Due to its low-cost plans ($2.95/month) and substantial commissions (one-time payouts start at $65 or higher), the Bluehost affiliate program is particularly popular for site hosting.

#4. eBay Partner Network

When it comes to the top best ecommerce affiliate programs, we can’t help but mention eBay partner network. Firstly, you can advertise eBay products on your ecommerce site, social media platforms, blog, or website via the eBay Partner Network. Besides, every purchase sold through your link earns you affiliate commissions. And, there’s a never-ending supply of interesting products to advertise, including hot trending items and daily discounts.

#5. Fiverr Affiliates Program

Last but not least in this topic is Fiverr Affiliates Program. It is one of the most excellent ecommerce affiliate programs that can’t be lacking for any business that wants to join in affiliate marketing. With over 11 million users in 190+ countries, this is one of the world’s largest digital service marketplaces. With the Fiverr Affiliates Program, you will be compensated for every first-time buyer, with no limit on how many you may suggest and lifelong attribution. Besides, this adds significant value to your customers. Because you can link them with any freelancers they require whether their internal team is overburdened or they require extra assistance during their busiest seasons.

Wrapping up 

To sum up, this article is an overview of ecommerce affiliate programs that anyone who wishes to effectively do affiliate marketing need to know. Arrowtheme hopes you will get more helpful information and quickly promote your products and services successfully. Then, if you have any question on this topic, let’s CONTACT US, we will surely give you the clearest answers.