Top Affiliate Marketing Solutions You Need to Know in 2024

Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective strategy for ecommerce businesses to boost brand awareness and increase revenue while gaining customer trust through recommendations of affiliate partners. Still, many ecommerce brands struggle with it. 

Here are some common challenges that they face:

• Difficulty in finding suitable affiliates
• Inconsistent or low-value content
• Tracking individual affiliate’s performance 
• Personalizing their experience
• Maintaining regular and timely communication

Only effective affiliate marketing solutions can solve these problems. But how and which tools would be the right ones for your business? Let’s find out.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based digital marketing strategy where businesses collaborate with individuals (customer or influencers) to promote their products to their friends and following.

The brands offer affiliates a commission rate based on the number of sales they generate through their marketing efforts and hard work.

Stats show that more than 80% of brands use affiliate marketing campaigns. If you own an online business and still aren’t using them yet, you are missing out. 

Here’s why:

• The cost of starting an affiliate program is significantly less than running ads on social media and other platforms. 

Your ROI improves since you only pay commission for actual results rather than upfront advertising costs or flat fees for influencer posts. You can also choose to pay minimum commission as your budget allows.

• You can easily scale your affiliate marketing strategy by partnering with as many affiliates as you want. This enables rapid expansion in front of your target audience in different geographical locations. 
• 84% of people trust peer recommendations more than other forms of marketing. So, affiliate marketer promoting your products in their affiliate networks enhances your credibility, driving more sales.
• Affiliates creating written content that links back to the brand's website improves your search engine (SEO) rankings and boosts organic traffic.
• You can personalize your affiliate programs by using various tools and tailoring rewards to individual preferences.

6 Reasons why you need an affiliate marketing solution

1. Automated tracking and reporting: Tracking campaign metrics of your affiliate program is important for strategies to work properly. 

However, monitoring your affiliate’s activities, their performance, checking who's getting you most results, takes up your team’s bandwidth. It becomes even more tricky as your affiliate list grows.

Investing in an affiliate marketing solution solves this problem by tracking every metric in real-time. It lets you identify and address the issues in your affiliate campaign strategy promptly. 

2. Centralized dashboard: Switching between multiple marketing and sales tools is frustrating and may even cause data discrepancies. 

An effective affiliate tool integrates with your existing system and centralizes all affiliate data, creating a single source of truth with everything consolidated in one place. This makes it easier to manage your entire affiliate program from your dashboard without having to switch between tools.

3. Detailed insights: Affiliate marketing software generates accurate reports of affiliate marketing KPIs like traffic sources, clicks, conversion rates, and ROI, helping you understand the contribution of each affiliate. 

You get detailed insights into their performance, allowing you to pinpoint exactly where they are facing problems. Based on these insights you can creating resources and offer relevant assistance to maximize the ROI of your program.

4. Automated fraud detection: While affiliate marketing has numerous perks, unfortunately, fraudulent activities like fake clicks, coupon code leaks, and fabricated sales aren’t uncommon. They can cause significant financial losses for your business.

5. Affiliate onboarding: Getting affiliate marketing software simplifies onboarding through easily embeddable sign-up forms and integrations. You can also send these forms via email and SMS, add them to your store pop-ups, or share them on your social media handles. 

They also integrate with email marketing tools and other communication software, helping you stay in touch with your new and old affiliates. Once an affiliate signs up, you can guide their next steps by sending follow-up emails with onboarding resources like: 

• Their unique codes with information on commissions
• Rules and regulations 
• Best affiliate marketing practices
• Your style guide 
• Tips and tricks to maximize commissions

6. Scalability: As your affiliate list grows, handling all their activities manually will become impossible. 

With an affiliate marketing tool you can handle your increasing participant base, their performance, and transactions, including a two-way payout system that allows affiliates to choose how they receive their earnings.

The best affiliate marketing solutions to maximize your affiliate marketing efforts

Affiliate marketing solutions can do everything you need to run a successful campaign for both big and small businesses. From automatic affiliate tracking to boosting the program’s ROI by attracting qualified leads. 

But to get the most out of these benefits, you need to choose the right combination of tools that work well together. 

So, here are the top affiliate marketing softwares that can help you launch one of the best affiliate marketing programs with a well-rounded, scalable, and result-driven strategy:

#1. Social Snowball 

First, you will need a platform specially designed to manage affiliate and referral initiatives for ecommerce brands — and no other online tool does it like Social Snowball. 

With Social Snowball you can create hassle-free affiliate programs that are engaging, personalized, and easily manageable. 

Here are some of Social Snowball’s best features: 

Automatic affiliate onboarding

With our tool, you won’t have to jump through hoops to get customers to sign up. As soon as a customer buys something from your online store, Social Snowball creates their affiliate account automatically. 

All you need to do is switch the toggle button on and see your participant list growing like crazy.

Instant payouts

Earlier affiliate payments were mostly done manually. Companies had to track the number of sales made by each affiliate, calculate the amount they need to be paid, and process it all manually. 

Imagine having to do that every month for hundreds of people. It's not just time consuming, it's complicated and overwhelming as well. And the fact that there are high chances of errors goes without saying.

But with Social Snowball’s bulk payment option this isn't the situation anymore. We offer multiple payout options for easy commission release to your affiliates. 

You can choose to automate the entire process with just 2 links. 

Your affiliates can redeem their earnings instantly through bank transfer, PayPal, or gift cards.

Safelinks for code protection

Our one-of-a-kind Safelink feature will maintain the integrity of your program. It eliminates affiliate code leaks and coupon abuse through Safelinks. All the discount codes/links generated as Safelinks are single-use only and therefore cannot be leaked because:

• Browser extensions won’t be able to inject used codes.
• If the referring URL is a coupon site, Safelink won’t generate a code.

Additionally, it looks and works the same way as any other link. Here's an example: 

ROI tracking

When you log in to the dashboard, you'll be able to track your affiliates commissions, performance, payouts, and more without going back and forth between tools. 

Additionally, Social Snowball offers advanced analytics that gives you insights on:

• All your programs collectively and individually, and 
• How much revenue your top performing affiliates have generated.

Gains in Bulk, a premium nutrition supplement brand, faced multiple challenges with their previous affiliate program which were:

• Their affiliates weren’t interested in the program.
• They were facing difficulty managing the entire program manually.
• The rising cost of paid ads on Facebook and Instagram we're cutting in their margins.
• They lost 3 days every month to complete affiliate payments manually

Once they partnered with Social Snowball, here's how they improved their situation: 

• Set up automated flows and monthly campaigns for continuous communication with affiliates, keeping them engaged
• Leveraged bulk payment, saving time 
• Acquired customers for 50% less than paid ads
• Achieved consistent month on month growth and a 7x ROI.

#2. Klaviyo

Starting an affiliate program isn’t enough. You must keep affiliates engaged through regular correspondence through emails and SMS. A reliable affiliate marketing platform can help you here by ensuring all affiliates get the right information at the right time.

One such tool is Klaviyo. With Klaviyo you can:

• Create automated flows and trigger a mix of SMS, emails, and push notifications. 
• Segment your email list to target specific groups effectively.
• Access detailed reporting to track performance and engagement of your email campaigns.
• Compare your email marketing performance against similar businesses in your industry to stay ahead in the market. 

You can integrate your Klaviyo account with Social Snowball. All the klaviyo insights will be automatically synced to your dashboard, creating a comprehensive view of your entire affiliate program. 

#3. Postscript

Postscript is an online platform that helps run SMS marketing campaigns with features like: 

• Personalized and automated messages 
• Postscript AI that learns and adapts to your brand voice, keeping all marketing communication on-brand
• Action-based triggers and custom properties to target affiliates at the right time. 

Postscript also syncs with Social Snowball, adding another layer of efficiency to your affiliate marketing ecosystem. This integration lets you set up trigger events like ‘signed up as an affiliate via purchase,’ ‘signed up as an affiliate via the signup form,’ ‘new affiliate order,’ or ‘payout sent.’ 

Postscript can also sync each affiliate’s properties like referral code, affiliate link, and discount amount from Social Snowball and customize the text messages accordingly.

#4. Sendlane

Sendlane is another email and SMS marketing platform worth your consideration. Here you get: 

• Multivariable segmentation
• Deep-data integration
• Real-time analytics and reporting

The best part is, it also integrates into your Social Snowball account easily, letting you run and manage targeted communication with your affiliates.  

Maximize your affiliate marketing efforts

Now that you have the right softwares at your disposal, all you need are effective strategies to maximize affiliate marketing results. 

Here are some ideas for you:

Set KPIs and monitor affiliate performance

Rigorously monitor each affiliate’s performance metrics like: 

• Average order value
• Click-through rates
• Number of posts shared on social media
• CLV acquired through affiliate referrals
• Churn rate
• Traffic
• Payout to revenue ratio
• ROI

Understanding these metrics will help you identify and address any issues your affiliates might have, improving their overall performance. 

Leverage multi-channel marketing strategies

Different platforms have unique user demographics, interests, and behaviors. So, diversifying your affiliate marketing across various channels will let you tap into broader audience segments that you may have missed because of the single-channel approach.

Therefore, train your affiliates on ways to promote your products through social media, emails, and blogs. Create and share customizable templates for each channel to simplify the process for your affiliates. 

Cultivate strong relationships with top affiliates

Motivate your top affiliates by creating a nurturing relationship with them. Offer personalized rewards, generous commission structure, and bonuses to keep their morale high. 

It’ll encourage your good affiliate partners to keep up the good work, improving your brand visibility and sales further. A strong relationship with top-performing affiliates keep them loyal to your brand for the long run.  

Innovate with creative affiliate campaigns

Keep the affiliate program engaging through theme-based contests and gamification elements. You can run weekly or monthly award campaigns for your best affiliates. 

Organize UGC contests where affiliates and their followers create and share content about your product. The best submissions could win prizes or get featured on your brand’s official channels, generating buzz and excitement. 

Keep up with the latest trends in affiliate marketing

Keep your team updated on the latest affiliate marketing trends to keep your campaign updated. Join online forums, LinkedIn groups, and other affiliate marketing communities where experts in the niche share insights, ask questions and discuss trends. 

These platforms can provide early warnings about shifts in the industry, helping you adapt your initiative early on. 

FAQs about affiliate marketing solution

What are the key features of an effective affiliate marketing solution?

An effective affiliate marketing solution should include these key features to help businesses successfully manage and grow their programs:

• A centralized dashboard to view all affiliate data and activities in one place.
• Easy setup, tracking, and management of affiliate commissions.
• Tools to find, recruit, and onboard the right affiliates.
• Detailed reports on performance metrics like clicks, impressions, conversions, and revenue, helping to track success and identify top performers.
• Communication tools for reaching affiliates via email, SMS, and push notifications.
• Security measures to prevent affiliate fraud and misuse of promo codes.
• Smooth integration with e-commerce platforms, payment gateways, and other marketing tools to keep everything in sync and streamline workflows.

How can I ensure compliance in my affiliate marketing program?

Here are some strategies to ensure compliance in your affiliate marketing program:

• Create a detailed affiliate landing page or agreement that outlines the rules, expectations, and legal obligations for affiliates. This should cover commission structures, limitations, brand presentation guidelines, and data privacy requirements.
• Add a separate clause specifying the advertising laws and data protection regulations your affiliate marketing network must comply with. 
• Keep your team and affiliates updated on any changes in FTC guidelines, GDPR regulations, and CAN-SPAM standards. 
• Use automation tools and manual reviews to monitor affiliate activities. Check for misleading advertisements, incorrect disclosures, unauthorized content, or anything else that violates the affiliate agreement.

What strategies can increase affiliate marketing ROI?

Here are some strategies that can increase your affiliate marketing ROI: 

• Diversify your affiliates to appeal to different demographics. It expands your exposure and improves your program’s resilience. 
• Set higher commission rates on your high-end or promotional items.
• Host weekly or monthly contests and special bonuses and incentives to motivate affiliates. 
• Equip affiliates with resources like best practices, step-by-step guides, tips, and tricks to maximize commission to improve their methods. 
• Launch a weekly or monthly newsletter to offer marketing and promotional materials like email templates, banners, and testimonials so that they can promote more and worry less. 
• Gamify your affiliate program with quizzes and poles to keep engagement high.

Which affiliate marketing trends should businesses watch in 2024?

Top affiliate marketing trends businesses should look out for in 2024 include: 

• Rising competition between TikTok and Amazon’s affiliate models.
• Growing importance of community building to get better results.
• Content diversification and experimentation with a heavier focus on visual content.
• Adoption of AI-driven personalization to increase engagement.
• Shoppable content across social media platforms to aid affiliate content creation.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing might seem overwhelming at first, but with the right strategies and tools, you can easily overcome any challenges. One such platform is Social Snowball.

With Social Snowball, our comprehensive affiliate marketing solution, you can:

• Onboard Shopify affiliates automatically to streamline your program setup with seamless affiliate support.
• Create sign-up forms for past purchasers, turning your existing customers into potential affiliates effortlessly.
• Automate all communication by integrating Social Snowball with popular platforms like Klaviyo or Sendlane, ensuring your affiliates receive timely updates and support.
• Prevent affiliate fraud through advanced security measures, protecting your brand and ensuring fair compensation for genuine referrals.
• Keep track of every affiliate KPI allowing you to monitor performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize your program right from the dashboard which acts as your marketing hub.
• Bulk send instant cash as direct deposit or gift card payouts to your affiliates with just two clicks, simplifying the payment process and enhancing affiliate satisfaction.

Ready to optimize your Shopify affiliate program with the best tool stack? Book your demo with Social Snowball today.