How to Grow Your Affiliate Program – 6 Ways to Drive Conversions

Trends show that 74% of online shoppers visit multiple affiliate sites before making a purchase. You may be wondering, what can I do to leverage that traffic and drive more sales? We’ve got answers for you! Read on to discover our six methods for enhancing your affiliate program to increase conversions and ROI. 

1 – Recruit Affiliates Wisely

Choose your affiliates strategically to maximize conversions – seek out partnerships that align with your brand and are relevant to your target audience. Take into account an affiliate’s audience size and average engagement, their reliability, and their existing brand relationships – are they working with your direct competitors? Ask questions to learn more about where they’ll be promoting your brand and how they plan to drive traffic to your site to ensure that you’re building affiliate relationships that provide results.

2 – Partner With an Agency Who Specializes in Affiliate Marketing

Find a specialized affiliate marketing agency to help you scale your program using their industry expertise and existing publisher relationships. Unlike an affiliate agency, general digital marketing agencies typically can’t provide the resources and recommendations best suited to grow your affiliate program. By partnering with an agency like Perform^[cb], you can leverage relevant, proven publisher relationships, while simultaneously recruiting new, full-funnel partners. Not sure how to choose the affiliate marketing agency that is right for you? Read about the qualities that you should look for in an affiliate marketing agency here.

3 – Use Promotions to Your Advantage

97% of consumers look for a deal when they shop, and promotions such as coupons or limited-time price reductions can instill a sense of urgency in consumers to purchase before the deal expires. To capture customers at each stage of the buyer’s journey, you’ll need to establish a full-funnel promotional strategy. A full-funnel marketing strategy allows marketers to nurture their prospects throughout each stage of the funnel, while keeping their brand top of mind along the way. Keep your partners in the know by sharing your promotional calendar with them. In doing so, your partners can plan their content calendar around your upcoming product launches and promotions to maximize reach.

4 – Streamline Processes for Your Affiliates

Providing your partners with marketing materials such as creative in different sizes, brand and product descriptions, and audience targeting details will increase their connection to your brand while generating high-quality conversions. Give your partners the information and instructions they’ll need to earn commissions with your affiliate program to set them – and your program – up for success.

5 – Create Landing Pages That Drive Conversions

When an affiliate link directs consumers to your product page, you want to ensure that they remain engaged and follow through to conversion. You’ll want to optimize your landing pages for conversion by ensuring these pages are user-friendly and provide the details necessary for consumers to confidently make a purchase. Test your landing pages to make sure they load quickly, are easy to navigate, and have engaging product imagery and descriptions that provide helpful information, including customer reviews. User feedback, such as positive customer reviews, is one of the many forms of user insights that marketers can use to drive new customers to convert. 

6 – Use Seasonality to Your Advantage

Changes in seasonality can cause shifts in consumer lifecycles and intent. When a holiday is right around the corner and the clock is running down, one-third of consumer purchases are made on impulse. You can make your products and promotions more enticing by aligning with major shopping holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Free Shipping Day.

Ready to Increase ROI?

Driving sales through affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be intimidating. With thoughtful and strategic affiliate program management, your revenue and ROI can dramatically increase in a matter of weeks. For example, learn how a popular marketer saw a 286% increase in revenue in just one month after Perform^[cb] began managing their affiliate program. Your program could be next! Interested in learning more about how Perform^[cb] can help you scale your affiliate program and increase conversions? Reach out to our team of experts today.