What is affiliate marketing?
TL;DR
Affiliate marketing pays partners a commission for every customer they refer to your business. Commissions typically range from 5-30%. It's like a referral program with a structured payout system, often used by e-commerce and SaaS.
Detailed answer
- 1.Affiliates promote your product via blog, social, email, or YouTube.
- 2.They get a unique tracking link.
- 3.You pay a commission when their link drives a sale.
- 4.Average commission: 5-15% (physical goods), 20-30% (digital/SaaS).
- 5.Best platforms: Impact, Refersion, ShareASale, PartnerStack.
Common mistakes
- 1. Setting commissions too low to attract serious affiliates.
- 2. Not vetting affiliates (some use spammy tactics that hurt your brand).
- 3. Ignoring the program once it's launched.
What to do instead
Start with a small group of hand-picked affiliates (5-10) before opening a public program. Quality compounds; spammy affiliates damage your domain reputation.
Combine affiliate with customer referrals. Affiliates drive top-of-funnel; customer referrals close at much higher rates because of pre-existing trust.
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