SaaS products have made my daily life easier. The products have increased my productivity. If you are familiar with SaaS products and wondered if affiliate marketing SaaS products could create an additional income, then you are in the right place.
If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, it simply promotes a company’s product or services. Any time a purchase is made from your affiliate link, you earn a commission. The place where you, the affiliate, and the company collaborate is on the affiliate program’s website. The company provides the products they are marketing, and the affiliate uses affiliate links to market these products.
Affiliate programs offer companies an affiliate a platform to monitor their progress. Affiliates can monitor their sales, progress, and other companies through the affiliate marketing process.
Companies also use the platform to track clicks, conversions, and payout commissions. Some companies run a stand-alone affiliate program. At the same time, others work on an affiliate platform with hundreds or thousands of other merchants. Two of the most well-known B2C networks are CJ Affiliate and Clickbank.
At this point, you might be wondering why you should consider affiliate marketing. I will give you my insights on why you should consider SaaS affiliate marketing. These insights will include what you should look for in a SaaS affiliate program. Lastly, you will learn how to drive values to your readers and increase your income by learning about brand recognition and transparency.
Learn more on Affiliate Marketing.
Why SaaS Affiliate Marketing?
In some circles, affiliate marketing has garnered a poor reputation. Companies and affiliates using unethical behaviors are part of the minority. Bad experiences can tarnish an image that can not be corrected by many positive stories that are rarely spoken.
Some dismiss affiliate marketing as a get-rich-quick scheme. If you do things right, you can make some money, but the reality is affiliate marketing isn’t going to help you retire in the next few years.
When it is done well, affiliate marketing is simply about promoting the products you believe in and making money while doing so. The most popular online service providers and eCommerce sites, such as Amazon and Walmart, have their own affiliate programs.
Over the past five years, affiliate marketing has rapidly grown by 52%. The industry is valued at around $6.8 billion this year, with over 11,000 affiliate programs in the United States alone.
The rise in affiliates in affiliate marketing means those first trying it out are flocking to sites like CJ Affiliate, Amazon, and Walmart’s affiliate programs. The increase in affiliates has decreased the overall income revenue available in these programs. So there is less money to be earned.
So if you are considering an affiliate program, you should consider affiliate programs that are not as well known. There is tremendous financial opportunity in software-as-a-service (SaaS) affiliate marketing.
Why is there financial success in SaaS affiliate marketing? The apparent reason is that there is less competition. Many people are not tech-savvy and do not know how to communicate about software. Your expertise in using SaaS products can help steer others towards software you already use.
When you build an audience in your niche, SaaS, your goal is to reach a “smart passive income” phase as an affiliate marketer. When you are at this stage, money continues to come in regularly from your previous work.
Now that you are an aspiring SaaS affiliate marketer, you need to know which program you should choose? You will need to know what factors to consider when selecting an affiliate program.
How to Run a Successful Affiliate Program
As I have previously mentioned, affiliate marketing has something of a poor reputation. To not get a poor reputation, you must resist the temptation to promote anything and everything to make a quick buck. Being a legitimate and trustworthy source is central to affiliate marketing success.
You might be wondering what the best way to build legitimacy and trustworthiness is. The first articles you write for your affiliate marketing site should be products you use.
If you are an expert in the way the SaaS product works, you will be able to communicate the product’s benefits. You can also discuss some of the shortfalls. Knowing the pros and cons of the product will help build value for your audience.
Promote products you believe are trustworthy, as trust is everything in affiliate marketing.
Technical Considerations
A robust technical capacity is necessary for any SaaS affiliate program with powerful technical capabilities to see the best possible results. When you join an affiliate program, check how the functionality of the tracking software works.
The best SaaS affiliate tracking software includes:
- Deeplinking. These hyperlinks are custom affiliate links associated with your profile. You can use these links anywhere, not just your blog.
- Product feed. The affiliate platform should list all the merchant’s products and key data about each, allowing you to promote them to your audience more effectively.
- Cookieless tracking. These scripts utilize site visits instead of monitoring via cookies. More browsers are using tracking protection, making cookieless monitoring even more important.
- Postback tracking. This method stores the data on the advertiser’s server instead of using cookies to trace the buyers’ purchases.
- Multiple programs in one dashboard. You want to avoid having to log into every program separately, make sure you choose a tool like Reditus with a SaaS Partner Marketplace.
Now you know some of the most important technical aspects. It is also essential to learn about the functions of the SaaS affiliate program.
What are the SaaS Affiliate Platforms’ Commission Rates
Companies on the affiliate platform will offer different commission rates to affiliates in its program. The SaaS industry typically has a 20% commission rate on sales. Variations on the rates can occur based on the length of the subscription. Companies that highly value affiliate marketing will have higher rates than their competition.
The highest commission rate is not the only point to consider as affiliate marketing requires time and effort. High commission rates are an excellent starting point as you build your marketing strategy. The bottom line do not to sell yourself short.
The highest value you can get is life time commission, meaning you will receive commission as long as your referral remain a client.
Affiliate Tracking Lifespan
One of the main ways of tracking in SaaS affiliate marketing is through cookies. When you visit a website, minor data points are stored on your computer and called cookies. Cookies do not last forever and will expire.
Therefore, it is vital to know the cookie lifespan. Some programs will only allow a 30-day lifespan. If this is the case, you will only earn commissions if a site visitor purchases within 30 days of clicking your affiliate link.
Since people often do not convert on a first website visit, longer cookie lifespans are advantageous. In general, do not bother with programs that have a cookie duration of fewer than 30 days. Shorter tracking lifespans means you will need to edit these links in the future.
Quality Brand Recognition
When people subscribe through your affiliate link, you earn money. The easiest way to help funnel subscriptions is with recognized brands. Branding is often an excellent conversion factor.
Know there are new brands with genuinely innovative products needing marketing too. Getting involved with these companies might help drive more conversions as there is less competition. Finding the right balance between brand recognition and innovative products can be challenging.
Some factors to find balance are:
- Social media presence. What social media platforms does the company operate? Do they have a highly engaged audience on these platforms?
- Customer testimonials. Are the reviews on social media positive? How many reviews do they have?
- Customer demographic. Are the customers local, national, or international? Does the company have many customers as a startup?
- Revenue scale. How does it fare against its competitors? What is its annual turnover?
If a prospective company on the affiliate platform has a recognizable brand and good reputation, you can feel safe knowing they are a reputable partner.
Affiliate Policy Transparency
A good working relationship is based upon trust and communication. One way a company can build trust with its affiliates is by transparent communication.
Clear and concise affiliate program policies and conditions are essential when scouting a prospective company. You should easily find out the rules and how commissions are calculated. The policy should also give you contact information for support.
If there is a lack of transparency, you might wish to move on to another company, as this might spell trouble in the future.
When selecting a SaaS affiliate program, one last but critical consideration is the product’s level of integrations with other tools you promote. You will understand quickly how this can help you lift conversions and turn your readers into fans!
See SaaS Partner programs in the Reditus Marketplace; https://app.getreditus.com/marketplace