💸 🔁 Generate 40% of revenue through affiliates

Hey there,

Welcome back to another edition of Bootstrapped Growth. 👋

Today, we cover affiliates as a growth channel that many startups overlook. Learn from the best real-life examples when it comes to building affiliate programs that turn customers into your sales force.

Affiliates work best for SaaS, digital products, courses, consumer products with a higher order value (at least $50+), and any other product or service with high lifetime value.

Table of Contents

• 🚀 Strategy

• ⭐️ Extra Tips

• 🛠️ Resources

Thanks for reading. Let’s jump in!

🚀 Create Evangelists From Customers

Affiliates are a powerful growth channel that can build ongoing audiences. This is in stark contrast to paid advertising that doesn’t foster relationships beyond simple clicks.

1) Turn Customers Into Your Affiliate Army

The Sill (online plant retailer) invited their plant buyer customers to refer friends, versus focusing on influencers. They understood that plant enthusiasts naturally talk about their purchases. The Sill used designed an affiliate program to formalize these conversations. This strategy tapped into genuine recommendations and nurtured customer loyalty in a way more powerful than any paid marketing.

Takeaway ➡️ Create a customer referral track. Customers have built-in credibility and authentic product experience.

2) Arm Affiliates With Resources To Succeed

Shopify's affiliate program drives approximately 20-30% of their new customer sign-ups. This cost-effective approach works because they make affiliate customers feel like insiders versus simply vendors. Their program includes a thorough content library including creative assets, educational materials, and performance dashboards.

Takeaway ➡️ Treat affiliate partners as strategic partners through enablement tools, data and content. This can be more important than simply high commission rates.

3) Build Affiliate Tiers For Different Audiences & Rewards Scale

Kit (email marketing for creators) structures their affiliate program with multiple tiers (Bronze, Silver & Gold) for various audience types. They offer recurring commissions with earnings for every month a customer remains subscribed versus simply on initial signups. This naturally leads to higher-quality referrals. They’ve added gamification where affiliates chase the next tier for higher recurring commission rates.

This structure rewards consistency and volume, turning casual promoters into dedicated partners. Segmentation of their affiliate program also facilitates authentic promotion from affiliates within their specialization.

Takeaway ➡️ Recurring, tiered commissions foster long-term partnerships and higher-quality leads. Equip affiliate types with specific resources for their niche audience.

⭐️ 3 Essential Elements For Affiliate Programs

1. Develop a strong commission structure

• One-time commissions: 20-30% for product sales

• Recurring commissions: 20-40% for subscriptions (ensures quality referrals)

• Tiered bonuses: Unlock higher rates at volume milestones

2. Offer resources that enable success

• Customizable, pre-written email templates

• Social media graphics in multiple formats

• Demo videos, product tutorials, case studies and testimonial clips

• Real-time performance dashboard

3. Provide ongoing support that builds relationships

• Monthly affiliate newsletter with tips, updates and previews of new features

• Direct Slack or Discord channels for quick questions

• Affiliate contests with bonus payouts

🛠 Useful Resources

Researching a new tool? Find over 131k software and app alternatives with user reviews with Alternativeto. This resource is also great to keep track of competitor offerings.

Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.

Hundreds of apps create silos, wasted time, and missed opportunities. Rippling replaces SaaD (Software as a Disservice) with one system to run HR, IT, and Finance – without the drag.

Take a stand against SaaD today.

Is SaaD hurting your org?