Affiliate marketing for eCommerce is a method where businesses give commissions to third-party publishers, also known as their ‘affiliates,’ every time someone visits their website using an affiliate’s unique link.
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Affiliate Marketing for eCommerce
As an entrepreneur, although the concept of incentivizing people who promote your company isn’t new, this type of marketing strategy is easily adaptable for firms who would like to succeed in the world of eCommerce.
Keep in mind that affiliate marketing may not be appropriate for your business goals. But, if you’ve done your research and believe this type of promotional tactic is suitable for your brand, here’s how to make affiliate marketing work for your eCommerce business.
1. Offer Competitive Compensation
One of the core things you can do if you want to make affiliate marketing work for your eCommerce business is to offer competitive compensation to your affiliates.
Making sure you build a strong commission structure will increase your chances of attracting quality affiliates for your eCommerce brand. The typical commission rate for affiliates should be somewhere between five to 15 percent.
If you’re just starting out, check out your competitors on social media and read up on affiliate feedback to gauge the running rate of commissions in your niche. Don’t forget to factor in your cost of goods sold (COGS), profit margin, and affiliate commissions to launch a program that will benefit your affiliates and give you a solid return on investment (ROI).
2. Ensure You Have Partnership Guidelines In Place
The next thing you should implement to make affiliate marketing work for you is to ensure you have guidelines for your affiliates. As part of your marketing strategy, it’s always best to ensure everyone on your team is on the same page so that your branding is consistent on all platforms.
It might help if you have an onboarding process where you send out a welcome email that talks about your program, successful products, and some ideas on how you would like your affiliates to promote your brand. Setting these guidelines early on will ensure that the way they promote your brand is aligned with your values and vision.
The last thing you want is to get a review talking about how one of your affiliates used your program in a disingenuous way.
3. Focus On High Average Order Value (AOV) Products
To ensure a win-win scenario for you and your affiliates, you should focus on products with the highest average order value or AOV. If you intend to profit significantly from these high AOV products, you have to make it a point to tell your affiliates which products have high AOV so they can promote these too. Some other tips to boost your eCommerce sales include:
- Free shipping threshold: A retail study shows that 9 out of 10 online shoppers buy from brands that offer free shipping.
- First-time-buyer discount: You may want to offer discounts to new customers when they make their first purchase and give their email addresses in return.
- Minimum spend discount: Incentivize shoppers by giving discounts to those who have ordered over a given amount.
4. Connect With Your Affiliates Regularly
Maintaining continuous and open communication with your affiliates is also critical in making affiliate marketing for eCommerce work for your business. Connect with them regularly by updating them on upcoming product launches, giving them access to creatives they can use, such as product feature videos, banner ads, and landing pages.
Providing incentives now and then is an excellent way to entice more people to join your affiliate program. Ensure you find ways to have a wide range of affiliate partners to ensure your eCommerce business’ income doesn’t dry out.
5. Optimize Your Website
Your website is a precious asset in your eCommerce business. Making sure your website is easy to navigate and optimized for mobile viewing gives your brand extra points for anyone looking for an affiliate program to join. It’s also essential to include every detail people need to know before signing up with your affiliate marketing program.
6. Monitor Your Affiliate Marketing Program
As with any business tactic, it’s imperative to keep track of your numbers. Knowing these details will help you determine which part of your marketing campaign needs tweaking.
Monitoring how your affiliates use your links and where their traffic is coming from will give you valuable insights into your target market. Keeping track of your key performance indicators (KPIs) such as clicks, sales, revenue, and impressions can also help you make critical business decisions.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing for eCommerce is a scalable and cost-effective way to grow your brand identity. This strategy capitalizes on how competitive your commission’s structure is, how good you are at building a relationship with your affiliates and pouring in more effort and resources to winning products. Keep your branding consistent by making sure your affiliates promote you in a way that aligns with your company’s values and vision. A win-win scenario is attainable provided that you follow these steps.
