Whether you sell carnivorous houseplants or vegetarian meatloaf, your success depends on reaching your target audience. Influential creators in your field wield influence over your target audience, so partnering with the right creators can help you leverage their popularity and authority.
You can use affiliate marketing platforms to find creators popular with potential customers and partner with them to increase brand awareness and increase sales. Here's how affiliate marketing works and some popular affiliate marketing platforms for online businesses.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing strategy in which online sellers pay influencers or creators (“affiliates” or “affiliate marketers”) sales commissions generated by the promotion of products by affiliates. It's a type of revenue sharing.
Typically, companies provide affiliates with unique affiliate marketing links, which affiliate marketers can share on their websites, social media channels, and other platforms to promote to their followers. This allows businesses to attribute sales to specific influencers and reward them accordingly.
Benefits of affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing offers a low-risk marketing strategy that can easily scale with your business. Here's a summary of the benefits:
Minimal upfront investment
Starting an affiliate program gives online business owners the opportunity to promote their products with little or no initial investment. Many affiliate marketing platforms offer free plans or free trials, so you don't have to put up any money to get started.
low risk
Affiliate marketing is a low-risk, long-term marketing strategy. You can decide how your affiliates will receive compensation and design a program that minimizes risk based on your specific goals.
For example, many programs pay affiliates for each sale or click. That is, costs are incurred only if the affiliate's efforts result in the desired action. This performance-based model ties marketing budgets directly to actual results, making affiliate marketing a relatively cost-effective strategy.
Niche targeting ability
Running an affiliate marketing program connects you with creators who are uniquely positioned to promote your company, and joining an affiliate platform connects you with creators who are qualified to promote your products and services.
What is an affiliate marketing platform?
An affiliate marketing platform (also known as an affiliate marketing network) is a website that connects businesses with influencers and content creators to establish affiliate partnerships.
Businesses post opportunities on affiliate marketing program sites, and affiliates join the network to browse affiliate programs, identify potential partnerships, and sign up or apply. Companies can also proactively approach influencers through the platform.
A reliable affiliate network can help you identify the right influencers for your product or service and manage your affiliate marketing program. Many platforms allow you to generate affiliate links, see results, and pay affiliates either directly within the platform or through payment integrations. Some companies offer additional marketing tools such as customer outreach templates and contact automation.
Top Affiliate Marketing Platform
Affiliate marketing platforms offer a wide range of features at different price points. Some are aimed at companies in specific industries. The best affiliate marketing platform for your business will depend on your budget, target audience, and goals. Here are the 10 most popular affiliate networks and their pros and cons.
Shopify collaboration
Shopify Collabs supports affiliate connections and provides customizable affiliate links and codes. Eligible creators can also apply to the Collabs Network, which streamlines the affiliate marketing process for brands and creators.
Through the Collabs Network, eligible Shopify Affiliates will have access to a network of brands and creators will be able to generate affiliate marketing links. You don't have to approve new partnerships every time. You can also create applications that allow creators to pursue specific affiliate relationships not covered by general program fees.
Features
- Automatic payments via PayPal or direct deposit
- Advanced reporting
- Efficient partnership with Collabs Network
- affiliate link generator
- There are no initial costs or monthly costs.
Pricing
- 2.9% payment fee on fee payment
CJ Affiliate
Founded in 1998, CJ Affiliate is one of the oldest affiliate networks on the market. The platform serves businesses that sell digital and physical products. Finance, travel, software, and retail are particularly popular sectors. CJ Affiliate verifies influencer activity before making the first payment and provides ongoing program compliance monitoring and fraud detection services.
Features
- custom commission rate
- Affiliate payments via direct deposit or Payoneer
- Shopify, WordPress, and Adobe Ecommerce (Magento) integration
- Fraud detection and monitoring
- Advanced reporting and tracking
- User friendly interface
Pricing
upfluence
Upfluence helps you find affiliates, generate promo codes and affiliate links, and track commission payments. You can pay affiliates directly within the platform, and international payments allow you to partner with affiliates around the world. Upfluence also offers outreach templates, which make it easy to reach out to influencers on the platform.
Features
- Shopify, WooCommerce, and Adobe Ecommerce (Magento) integration
- automatic payment
- international payments
- social listening tools
- outreach template
- Analytics dashboard
Pricing
truck desk
Trackdesk offers advanced automation features that help you recruit and pay affiliates, and track affiliate income and performance. The platform doesn't include native payment functionality, but it integrates with PayPal and Stripe to automate transactions.
Features
- Shopify, PayPal, Stripe, and Wix integrations
- Advanced automation features
- Flexible fee structure
- automatic recruitment tools
- real time report
- Allows unlimited affiliate partnerships
Pricing
- Earn up to $5,000 per month with $0
- $79/month and earn up to $19,999/month
- Custom pricing for unlimited monthly income
lead dyno
LeadDyno allows you to customize your affiliate website with the look and feel of your brand, and paid plans also include a custom domain name and 1:1 setup support. The platform also offers an automated email feature that allows you to invite your customers to join your affiliate program. Once enabled, the affiliate invitation email feature automatically invites new customers to your affiliate program. You can customize your email to include a one-click signup link in the email body.
Features
- Brand recruitment portal
- flexible fees
- Integrated payments with PayPal and Coinbase
- 25+ direct integrations including Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce
- Affiliate leaderboards and real-time tracking
- unlimited affiliate
- 30-day free trial
Pricing
- 4 payment stages
- $49 to $749 per month
as an affiliate
Affiliate offers a low-cost option for recruiting and managing affiliates. Pricing is based on the number of affiliates rather than revenue, making affiliate programs especially cost-effective for small businesses. You can also upload creative assets to your site to help affiliates promote their products.
Features
- Automatic payment via PayPal
- Provides tracking via link, QR code, or coupon code
- Advanced reporting
- Allows up to 2 affiliate tiers
- 90-day free trial now available
- Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, SquareSpace integration
Pricing
- Six pricing tiers including:
- $16/month for up to 50 affiliates
- Unlimited Affiliates for $129/month
challenging
Rewardful is specifically designed to support affiliate programs for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies with commission structures that accommodate scenarios such as subscription upgrades, downgrades, free trials, refunds, and cancellations. It has been. Direct e-commerce integrations are limited to Stripe and Paddle, but all plans provide API access to set up integrations with other platforms. Paid plans include a custom domain and unlimited team member access to the platform.
Features
- PayPal payment integration
- Fraud detection
- Commission parameters focused on subscriptions
- Supports multiple currencies
- User friendly interface
Pricing
- Three payment levels:
- Earn up to $7,500 in affiliate revenue per month for just $49 per month
- Over $15,000 in affiliate income for $149/month
Share A sale
ShareASale is a well-known affiliate marketing platform with over 270,000 affiliate members, making it a great starting point for building affiliate partnerships. In 2022, the platform generated over $17 billion in affiliate sales.
ShareASale proactively screens affiliates, protects them from fraud, and supports targeted outreach to affiliates based on performance data, niche, and brand relevance. You can also segment your active affiliates by groups to run reports, adjust commission terms, and offer assets based on groups.
Features
- Real-time performance updates
- Advanced reporting
- customizable fees
- Payment within the platform
Pricing
- Participation fee $625
- Minimum deposit $125
- $35 monthly access fee
- 20% recurring fee
partner stack
PartnerStack helps you recruit, activate, track, and reward affiliate partners, with a particular focus on SaaS businesses. Its reporting features include revenue and payment tracking. You can also track the progress of leads through your sales pipeline.
Features
- advanced analytics
- Recruiting features within the platform
- affiliate group
- automatic payment
- Salesforce, Hubspot, Stripe integration
- Email automation for partner engagement
- Incentive goals can be set for top partners
- Customizable onboarding
Pricing
everflow
Everflow helps you manage affiliate campaigns as well as other marketing activities like media buying and influencer marketing programs. Everflow has a steeper learning curve than many other affiliate networks, but the platform pairs each business with a dedicated account manager, and customer support is available 24 hours a day.
Features
- Advanced analytics and performance tracking
- 24/7 customer support
- affiliate group
- Shopify, Salesforce, and Facebook integration
- integrated payments
- Supports other marketing use cases
Pricing
Affiliate Marketing Platform FAQ
How do I choose the right affiliate marketing platform to use?
The best affiliate platform for your affiliate marketing efforts will depend on your budget, goals, and intended use. If you're just starting out, look for features like direct e-commerce integration, automated payments and recruitment, and fraud detection.
Can I use multiple affiliate marketing platforms at the same time?
yes. If you use multiple affiliate platforms, pay special attention to pricing terms to avoid doubling your costs. Many platforms charge a monthly fee rather than a percentage of revenue.
How do I become an affiliate marketer?
The following four steps will help you earn affiliate income.
- Increase your followers.
- Join an influencer marketing platform.
- Approach brands directly.
- Share your affiliate link with your audience.
