Competition in the eCommerce space is increasing by the minute! And enticing shoppers to make an actual purchase is tough as it is.
Added to that, costs of customer acquisition are also increasing by large margins.
The high costs of customer acquisition have forced marketers to diversify their sources. That is why it is time to tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing – Shopify affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is without a doubt one of the best ways to promote high-converting Shopify stores. Why? Simply put, affiliate marketing costs less and you get more out of it.
What is Shopify affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when a merchant pays an affiliate a commission for every sale that is made as a result of their referral.
Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation: you get more customers and your affiliates get paid for bringing them to you.
Shopify affiliate marketing can be a great way to increase your sales because it taps into the power of others who already have an established following. You don’t have to do all the work yourself—you just need to find someone who knows what they’re doing and get them on board with your company.
Why is Shopify affiliate marketing important?
eCommerce affiliate marketing has many benefits, including –
Better sales and revenue
One of the biggest reasons for using affiliate marketing is that it can help you increase sales and revenue for your business. You can use affiliate marketing to drive traffic to your website, which will increase the number of people who buy from you. This means more money in your pocket!
More customers
Another reason why eCommerce businesses should use affiliate marketing is that it can help them get more customers by bringing more traffic to their sites through links from other websites or blogs that are related to what they offer on their own site as well as other types of content like social media posts or videos that others have created but share with them as well before posting them onto their own sites where more people will see them as well which helps bring even more traffic back over time again too!
Boost your SEO rankings
When a company uses affiliate marketing, it often means that they have a network of affiliates who are promoting the company’s products or services.
When these affiliates promote the company’s products and services, the search engines will see this as a positive ranking factor. This increases the chances that the site will be seen as relevant to potential customers and be ranked higher in search results.
Improved brand recognition and awareness
Many eCommerce businesses have a very limited reach. They only have customers who have come across them through search engines, perhaps by searching for a particular product or service.
Using affiliate marketing helps you reach potential customers who might not be aware of your brand or already know about you. It also boosts your online presence, which can lead to increased sales in the long run.
Cost-effective yet result-driven
Affiliate marketing is also an excellent alternative to traditional advertising because it gives you more control over what you’re spending money on. Instead of paying for ads or buying space on SERPs, which can be expensive, this type of ad campaign allows you to choose where you want your ads placed and how much money you want them to cost per click—and then pay only when someone clicks through!
Examples of eCommerce affiliate marketing and why they work
1. GoPro
GoPro is one of the most popular action cameras on the market today. It’s easy to use, has some great features, and takes good photos and videos.
What works:
- Visual content is crucial for marketing video cameras, so all of the affiliate marketing efforts involve visual content.
- Most of their affiliate relationships last for years, and they keep their affiliates engaged by hosting events and providing other perks.
2. Daniel Wellington
Daniel Wellington is a fairly new brand that makes affordable watches with a clean aesthetic.
What works:
- Daniel Wellington’s affiliate program goes beyond the simple commission model of most brands. It offers its ambassadors a range of benefits, including free products.
- They ask their ambassadors to promote their products on visual social media platforms like Youtube, Tiktok or Pinterest, etc.
3.Allbirds
Allbirds is a shoe company that makes comfortable, sustainable, and vegan shoes.
What works:
- Allbirds offers two kinds of affiliate programs – Social Ambassadors and Media Publications. This helps them expand their reach on two very different channels.
Best practices brands should follow to create a high-converting Shopify affiliate marketing program
Have a plan
Having a plan is the first step to success in affiliate marketing, and it’s also the most important.
A good plan will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure that you’re maximising each of your marketing channels. It will also help you anticipate changes in your business or industry, so you can be prepared for them when they come.
One of the best ways to create a solid plan is by determining what your goals are for the next year or two. Once you know what you want to achieve, it’ll be easier to figure out how to get there—and who will help make it happen!
Optimise your Shopify affiliate program landing page
Your affiliate landing page should be optimised to convert. That means it should work to promote the products that you’re selling, and not just the idea of making money by promoting them. Your landing page should make it as easy as possible for your visitors to become affiliates.
Here are some tips to optimise your affiliate program landing page –
- Include a sign-up form
- Use a responsive design so the page works on all devices and browsers
- Use images to help explain what your product or service is, or what it does for the customer
- Consider using testimonials from happy customers on your landing page to show potential customers that others have used your product or service and were happy with their results!
Keep your affiliate registration form short
Keeping your affiliate registration form short will help you to get more signups.
People are busy and don’t have time to fill out long forms. If the form is too long, then the potential customer may just abandon their shopping cart without completing it.
The shorter your registration form is, the more likely people will complete it. You should also try to make sure that you only ask for information that is absolutely necessary in order to register as an affiliate.
Have clear terms & conditions
You might think that your terms and conditions are obvious, but they’re not. You need to be very clear about what you’re offering, what your marketing strategies are, and how the affiliate should expect to benefit from this partnership.
When it comes to effective Shopify affiliate marketing, you need to have terms and conditions that are clear and easy to understand. If you don’t spell out the terms of your agreement, you may end up in trouble with your affiliates.
Track KPIs
KPIs are the key performance indicators that you should be tracking with your affiliate marketing campaigns. These are the metrics that will help you determine whether or not your campaign is successful, so it’s important to pay attention to them.
You’ll want to look at things like –
- Total affiliate revenue
- Revenue by individual affiliates
- Top affiliates
- Effective earnings per click (eEPC)
- Average Order Value (AOV)
Track, analyse and utilise data
The only way you’re going to be able to make informed decisions about your affiliate marketing program is by tracking the right data. This means tracking everything from sales to bounce rates and keeping an eye on both short-term and long-term trends.
The more you know about what your customers are doing online when they visit your site (and how they’re interacting with your products), the better able you’ll be to provide them with a product or service that will make them happy.
Set up your eCommerce affiliate program with Enlistly
What makes affiliate marketing so effective is that it taps into human-to-human marketing.
However, running affiliate marketing campaigns can be tricky. There are a number of factors that you need to take into account if you want to turn a profit as an affiliate marketer. Overall, there’s a lot more to affiliate marketing than meets the eye. It’s not easy work and it takes time to do well.
That’s where Enlistly comes in!
Enlistly can help you set up a good program for your brand that drives more sales through affiliates. Built for Shopify, Enlistly is the fastest way to get an affiliate program set up. In less than 2 minutes you’ll have a full-featured affiliate management platform with real-time order tracking. It’s free to get started.
Author
This is a guest post contributed by the Shopify experts at Enlistly, a Shopify app that focuses on helping growing brands set up and run successful affiliate marketing, referral and influencer marketing campaigns to drive more sales.
