Affiliate Marketing: what is it and does your business need it?

How can you attract customers to your website? If you’re an e-commerce business owner, chances are that question occupies your mind for a substantial part of the day.

Your marketing strategy likely includes one, or preferably a combination of the obvious channels: paid-for adverts, social media, and SEO optimisation in order to attract customers. But there’s one marketing program that’s a nothing-to-lose option — you won’t have to invest any money upfront, and you’ll only have to pay a fee once a sale has been made. Step forward with affiliate marketing.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate Marketing involves partnering with a more established e-commerce brand or platform that attracts the type of customers you are looking to entice and asking them to promote your product or service to their audience. In return, you give them a percentage of revenue from each sale they generate which they take as commission.

Let’s say, for example, you have an e-commerce site selling luxury sunglasses. You approach a high-end lifestyle blog and ask it to include your product in its ‘Must Have Holiday Buys’ roundup, with a ‘click to buy’ link through to your website. Your product gets seen by a larger audience and reach your target market, which increases your chances of making a sale, and the blog's owner receives commission for each pair of sunglasses sold. Win-win.

The five benefits of affiliate marketing

Low financial risk

With affiliate marketing, you only pay a commission to your affiliate partner once a sale has been made. This means that you can have better control of your marketing budget and ensure you're only investing in strategies that generate tangible results. When you compare this to traditional advertising, it's like paying only for customers who walk through your door instead of paying for everyone who sees your billboard.As a small business, you can reach a big audience for a much lower cost than paying for impressions

Reaching a big audience

Affiliate marketing provides a powerful platform to expand your brand's visibility and connect with a wider audience for a much lower cost than paying for impressions. In fact, for 54 percent of marketers, affiliate marketing ranks among the top three channels for acquiring new customers3. This highlights its effectiveness in driving conversions and generating a strong return on investment.

Targeted marketing with niche expertise

Affiliate marketing connects you with individuals or businesses who have an established audience relevant to your products or services. This means that if you're selling a niche product, working with a specialised affiliate partner can help you reach your target audience with great precision. This then increases the likelihood of conversions.

Build trust and credibility

Consumers are more likely to buy a product from you if it’s been recommended by a trusted website or someone they value. It is reported that 23 percent of consumers will be inclined to make a purchase after seeing a recommendation from a trusted influencer4. Plus, a notable 54 percent of consumers will purchase a product if it has received positive reviews from an influencer.

Improved SEO rankings

Affiliate marketing can boost your website's SEO ranking, as it will benefit from the backlinks from your affiliates' blogs, social pages and websites. These backlinks signal to search engines that your website is a credible and valuable resource6, leading to improved visibility in search results.

How to get started

Find the perfect affiliate partner

Your first stop when searching for an affiliate partner should be an affiliate network marketing company. Think of it as an intermediary that will connect you (the ‘affiliate program’) with thousands of content creators (the ‘publishers’) who can promote your product — everyone from bloggers to social media influencers and dedicated discount websites.

Affiliate network marketing companies operate as an ‘all-in-one’ solution that will give you technical support to set up your affiliate program, track generated sales, handle commission payments to your publisher(s), and share performance analytics with you (such as customer engagement and sector analysis.) By joining an affiliate network, you won’t have to invest in any additional affiliate tracking solutions.

Beware though; affiliate network marketing companies charge fees for their services, so shop around to find one that suits your budget. If you’re a small business, an affiliate network with commission-based fees may suit you better than one with monthly fees so that you only have to start paying once you’re making sales.

The sportswear brand Gymshark7 is a great example of a brand that is utilising an affiliate network to drive growth. It works with leading network Awin8 to access voucher platforms, student sites, and blogs used by its target market, which is 18-25-year-olds. The brand invests time and money to nurture its relationships with these publishers to ensure the content produced is of top quality, on-brand, and ranking highly in search engines — it even has an academy to support new talent. Publishers are compensated based on their performance, whereas Gymshark can directly attribute sales to them. 

Founded in 2012 by British university student Ben Francis, Gymshark has always worked innovatively to ensure maximum returns on its marketing budget. Right from the start, the brand leveraged the power of social media to promote itself, sending free clothes to fitness influencers with large followings, in the hope they’d wear and post about the products.

“Social media has always been an organic and natural process [for marketing], because that’s how we are connecting as friends and how we’re following our heroes. It was a really natural way of showcasing the products, brand and communities we were trying to build online.” - Ben Francis, Gymshark Founder⁶

Affiliate Marketing and influencer partnerships have helped Gymshark build an active community of passionate followers online – achievements reached for a much lower cost than paid-for advertising.

Of course, you might want to skip the affiliate network route and reach out to publishers yourself. Perhaps you have a specific website in mind that you know is a perfect fit for your product, or maybe you’ve discovered a blogger who regularly reviews products from within your market sector, feel free to contact the blogger directly. Either way, remember to perform a thorough analysis of their platform to check their audience demographic matches your desired customers. Tools like SimilarWeb can help you identify a website’s visitor numbers, bounce rate, consumer intent, and demographic makeup.

Step 2: Decide on the commission

Once you’ve chosen an affiliate partner, you’ll need to agree on a commission rate. The more generous you are, the more incentivised the publisher will be to really promote your product in the best way possible. And remember, the return on investment (ROI) you make here goes beyond the initial sale; you’ll have access to new customers you can remarket to time and time again.

Step 3: Add incentives

A good way to encourage customers to buy is to offer them exclusive deals or discounts. They’ll be more likely to click on the publisher's link to your product if there’s a promotional code or limited offer attached, so consider what you could do to attract the customer.

Step 4: Track your progress

As mentioned in Step 1, if you’re running your affiliate program through an affiliate network, you’ll already be given some basic tracking tools to help you monitor sales generated. But, if you prefer to find an affiliate publisher yourself, you can run an in-house tracking program using affiliate program software.  Affiliate tracking software solutions provide the interface and infrastructure needed to manage your affiliate program, allowing you to set up rules and policies, add products and creatives, track leads and sales, communicate with affiliates, manage payments, and more.

Of course, all this comes with a price — either a one-off fee or a subscription — yet you may find that it’s more cost-effective in the long term compared to paying a commission to an affiliate network.

How do affiliate marketers make money, and how much do they make in the UK?

Affiliate marketers earn by promoting others' products or services, receiving commissions for sales or leads generated through their unique links. While affiliate marketing earnings vary widely in Great Britain and beyond, new players in this field can expect to generate around £636 per month on average. However, with experience, this figure can climb significantly. Seasoned affiliate marketers, such as those with over a decade of experience, can reportedly earn upwards of £44,000 per month10.  This demonstrates the significant income potential within today’s thriving affiliate marketing landscape.

Best affiliate programs and networks in the UK

Amazon Associates UK

Amazon's affiliate program for its UK website provides access to millions of products. Affiliate marketers on Amazon can earn commissions ranging from 1 to 20 percent, depending on the product category11. Amazon's UK commission rates can be found in their comprehensive fee schedule.

• Payment Methods: Direct deposit, Amazon.co.uk gift certificates, Cheque

• Examples of Brands Available: Apple, Samsung, Sony

eBay Partner Network

The eBay Partner Network is eBay's affiliate program. Similar to Amazon Associates, commission rates for this program vary by category. Affiliate marketers can reach up to 4 percent for items like fashion and cars and even 1 percent on real estate purchases12. Bay Partner Network commission rates are detailed on their website, offering a clear breakdown of earning potential across various product categories.

• Payment Methods: Electronic funds transfer, PayPal

• Examples of Brands Available: Nike, Adidas, Apple

Shopify

Shopify's affiliate program is vastly different from the affiliate programs for sites like eBay and Amazon, as it focuses on promoting its e-commerce platform. This program is only open to established affiliate marketers who own and run an active website and create original content. According to Shopify, partners can earn up to a 20 percent recurring referral commission on the Shopify subscriber fees for every client they refer13.

• Payment Methods: Direct deposit, PayPal

Rakuten Advertising

As a global leader in advertising and technology, Rakuten operates one of the world's most extensive affiliate networks. With a focus on connecting businesses with relevant publishers in the retail, direct-to-consumer, finance, and travel sectors, Rakuten provides a lucrative platform for affiliate marketers. It is reported that for each qualified referral, affiliates earn a competitive $30 commission with additional bonuses14.

• Payment Methods: PayPal, Direct deposit, Cheque

• Examples of Brands Available: COS, Virgin Wines, Udemy

ShareASale

ShareASale is one of the biggest affiliate networks in the world. With a primary focus on retail, it connects affiliates with over 39 diverse consumer categories, offering a wide range of promotional opportunities. Earnings on ShareASale are influenced by factors such as audience engagement, niche relevance, and the types of products promoted. That’s why commission rates vary considerably, spanning from a modest 2 percent to an impressive 50 percent or more per sale15.

• Payment Methods: Cheque, Direct deposit, Wire transfer, Payoneer
• Examples of Brands Available: Allbirds, Reebok, Rockford Collection

Kickstart your affiliate marketing journey in the UK today!

Affiliate marketing offers a great blend of low financial risk, broad reach, and targeted engagement. But, affiliate marketing should be just one part of your brand’s e-commerce strategy. Staying ahead in today’s dynamic world of online commerce requires an all-encompassing approach, covering everything from the latest e-commerce trends and innovative marketing strategies to actionable logistics insights. Speak to a DHL expert today to discover other ways to help your business grow.