There’s a misconception around SaaS affiliate programs. Sypposedly they’re a super easy way to make money, like… REALLY easy. Kind of roll over, and you’ve earned $10-easy. Passive income, go-live-on-a-beach-in-Bali vibe. And it’s just not true.
Ok, actually, it’s kind of true, but only when correctly implemented and with plenty of ground work put in. SaaS affiliate programs can offer a legitimate way of generating an income stream while spreading the word about products you love.
What is affiliate marketing?
Before we all run off and sip strawberry daiquiris on Echo Beach, let’s clear up the basics. ‘What is affiliate marketing?’
In the simplest of terms, an affiliate program is a way of sharing a product or program that you love with others and getting a little financial reward if people sign up or buy the product.
An example you’re probably familiar with is when you’re watching a YouTube video (say, a video about making a website) and they tell you about their partner (say, Squarespace). They promote their affiliate link by offering a a little discount code. If you sign up, the YouTuber earns money and you benefit from a discount. That’s an affiliate program.
Take a look at an affiliate link, and you’ll see the URL includes a long string of random characters. That’s the tracking code. It means that you and your affiliate partner can see which sign-ups and purchases came directly from you.
So what happens if someone clicks on a link you promoted, close the webpage, mull it over for a few days, and then return to make the purchase? Well, cookies help these links remain valid for a set period of time. 🍪 So if someone clicked on your link and then returned to the offer the next day, that should still count as dolla-dolla in your pocket. 💵
Affiliate marketing programs can come in all shapes and sizes. From general codes that you share with friends and family (the team over at HelloFresh have totally mastered this) to more meaty tech-based ones with the likes of ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, and tl;dv.
So what about SaaS affiliate marketing?
While it can be a touch more complex when you get to SaaS-level affiliate programs, it can also be incredibly fiscally beneficial. SaaS, as you’ll already know, stands for Software as a Solution.
So whereas a baking blogger would encourage you to click on their Amazon affiliate links to purchase their favourite non-stick loaf pan, you would be encouraging your audience to install and try out an exciting new tech product.
And if the software is relevant to your audience’s interests, then convincing needn’t be too hard.
Typically there are two levels or types of affiliate programs:
Content Creator
These types of programs are geared up toward people with social media, YouTube, blogs, or other platforms that have an engaged audience.
This can either mean millions of followers or just a small but loyal and niche following.
A content creator affiliate scheme will typically allow you to share links and codes with your followers to receive a discount in turn. If they sign up, you receive a percentage or a payout.
These can be incredibly powerful programs if you have an established audience as a creator. Some affiliate programs require an invite.
In other words, you’ll get approached about a collaboration. Other affiliate programs can be joined by anyone, without prerequisites.
Company partnership
If you own, run, or are tasked with business development within a company, then there are also enterprise-level affiliate programs.
These can be incredibly lucrative if you have an engaged client base, as you’ll typically get a cut of the revenue for any sales that come out of your efforts.
This could be from a simple low-maintenance link-building strategy or by reaching out directly to potential clients instead of outsourcing link building, for example
The added bonus is that you’ll typically only share or work with partners and brands directly related to your business, offering a pretty captive market. Also, it can be a two-way street.
You receive an affiliate commission for passing any business to your partner and vice versa.
Four Fast Facts About Affiliate Marketing Programs
- The affiliate marketing industry is worth an estimated $17 billion as of 2023
- How much can you earn as an affiliate marketer? Well, some of the top affiliate marketers can earn in excess of $10,000 A DAY
- Mobile device traffic generates over half the affiliate market traffic worldwide
- Blogging is the top spot for affiliate marketing distribution with 64.48%, and social media is second with 67.32%
What does it take to be an affiliate marketer?
"First learn, then earn"
The keys to success in affiliate marketing are belief and consistency.
Belief in the products you promote is an absolute. If you’re not fussed about the product yourself, how are you going to persuade others to give it a swing?
You could be the most impressive marketer in all the land – a quick-witted, trend-savvy, SEO wizard and email marketer – but if you don’t believe in the product, you won’t get far. Your audience will be able to sense it. They’re smart and know when they are being sold to.
Real emotion is key to making promotions feel genuine and intriguing. Affiliate marketing is nothing new – consumers, end-users and even your Gran have heard the sales spiel a million times. So be fresh, be authentic, and be believable.
Market something you really think could help your audience.
Equally, consistency is paramount. You need to constantly push yourself and your brand out there. Just a couple of hours of social media posting and the occassional blog post won’t cut the mustard if you want to be successful in affiliate marketing.
Regularly and consistently delivering quality content will help you attract and retain an audience of potential customers. So keep content out-of-the-box and insightful.
How to get started with SaaS affiliate marketing
Starting with SaaS affiliate marketing can be as simple as signing up for an account with a program you’d like to promote.
Once you have your affiliate link, there are several ways to start promoting the product or service.
Content creation and email campaigns are the two most popular methods of SaaS marketing. Still, affiliates can promote their referral links through social media posts and paid search campaigns.
Additionally, many SaaS companies also offer resources to help affiliates get started – such as webinars, tutorials, and affiliate tracking tools.
What are the best SaaS affiliate programs right now?
Tools
Canva
What is it?
Canva is a web-based graphic design tool that offers access to millions of images, fonts, and other features such as templates, logos, and more. It’s great if you can’t afford a graphic designer or you’re just plain ass crap at design. It’s also particularly good for generating social media and email graphics.
What do affiliates get?
Affiliates can earn up to $36% commission for any sign-ups to Canva pro.
Anything to note?
While it’s free to join, you need to be a design influencer, design educator or have a large audience. There is also an application process.
tl;dv
What is it?
tl;dv is the ultimate AI meeting assistant and totally free meeting recorder. As well as recording meetings in Google Meet and Zoom, meetings are automatically transcribed, translated, and summarized. By timestamping meetings moments or creating short clips, you can easily share insights and recaps with your team, senior management, or clients. The tool is suited for product teams and user researchers, but is also widely adopted by sales and customer success teams. Even recruiters use the tool to capture, summarize and share candiate interviews.
How much can you make?
There are two levels in the affiliate program. The first is for tech influencers who have a well-established large audience. Each post on social media, blogs, etc., can earn $100 for every 20k organic impressions. The total is capped at $1,000.
The second level is for smaller influencers or sharing with your broader network. Every brand new tl;dv Pro customer you refer, you’ll receive 25% of their monthly subscription compounding every month. With this level, you can earn up to $10,000.
Anything to note?
There is no time limit. The links have no expiration date, and there’s no barrier to entry either. Everybody gets to share the tl;dv love! Unlike a lot of programs there’s no lengthy application process to join, and as long as you post in a heartfelt way about tl;dv anything goes. You can post your link in a comparison article with competitors. There’s no hard brand guidelines to get paid.
SemRush
What is it?
Supercharging your website SEO, SemRush gives you full scope and clarity on how your website performs in the keyword stakes, traffic against your competitors, and more. Track keywords, create campaigns, check your site health, and even create a strategic-led backlink campaign, all from the comfort of your SemRush dashboard.
How much can you make?
You can earn $200 for every new sale, $10 for every new trial, and $0.01 for every new sign-up. There’s also a chance to earn further down the line with cookies-tracked link attribution. This means that first-click attribution isn’t required, and if a user decides to come back later, you still get paid!
Anything to note?
The program is open to a wide range of people, companies, influencers, and more. However, as quite a technical piece of kit with a high ticket entry level, it may be a slower burner than other programs on this list. Also, if you don’t know much about SEO in the first instance, it can be hard to explain why people may need these insights with conviction.
1Password
What is it?
Simply put, one master password rules ALL the passwords. Never get locked out of your accounts ever again, and keep them all secure with 1Password. Securely store passwords and other important information, safely share items with trusted contacts and reduce the time you spend trying to come up with a new password other than IamCool2001!
How much can you make?
Affiliates can get $2 for each signup and a further 25% of the first year or month’s payment from signups.
Any restrictions?
You’ll need a Commission Junction profile for this one. This is a 3rd party platform you need to sign up for before signing up for the 1Password program.
Adobe Creative Suite
What is it?
If you have ever even so much as sniffed a PDF or looked at an edited image, then you’ll have heard of Adobe and its entire creative suite. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, the gang is all here and makes up a considerable amount of the creative industry’s software needs.
How much can you make?
A fair amount. With subscription models, annual plans, and a mix-and-match smorgasbord of different programs and software, there’s a chance to earn some serious dollar from referring people to Adobe. It’s such a universally acknowledged piece of software that it can sell itself to a degree.
Anything to note?
With such a well-known portfolio of products, much of the target market will be aware of, or probably even have, a subscription to Adobe already. Or, they will have an alternative that they favor.
Websites & Platforms
Webflow
What is it?
Webflow is an easy-peasy drag-and-drop platform that helps people design, build and launch professional websites. With an intuitive user interface and easy-to-learn tools, it’s the perfect way for anyone to build a website in no time at all. It offers a great alternative to AI website builders such as Wix and other platforms like Squarespace, and WordPress. It requires absolutely zero coding knowledge or expertise.
How much can you make?
You’ll get 50% of payments for everybody you refer. With plans starting at $14 per month, billed yearly, right up to over $200 per month for eCommerce, you’re looking at an easy $80 minimum.
Anything to note?
You’ll need a PayPal or Stripe account to be paid commission, and you’ll also need to sign up to a 3rd party provider PartnerStack.
Link?
https://university.webflow.com/lesson/join-webflows-affiliate-program
Shopify
What is it?
The ultimate eCommerce platform. Beloved by household names, Shopify makes selling on the web super easy with plenty of tools, tracking, bells, and whistles (e.g., headless commerce capabilities)” to help you get orders and keep track of them at the same time.
How much can you make?
There’s a fixed-price bounty for each signup, and there are deeper links as well. Equally, there are no cut-offs or restrictions with referrals either. This is a particularly good one to have if you run any type of agency or digital marketing service.
Anything to note?
You’ll need to have an established audience already for this one and will need a degree of familiarity with Shopify itself or another eCommerce user interface.
Elementor
What is it?
Elementor is a clever tool to supercharge your custom WordPress-based website. While WordPress offers functionality and flexibility, adding Elementor means that you can edit in a much more visual way. Things like adding shortcodes to posts, embedding tables of contents, and more. I
How much can you make?
With a 50% payout, it can be pretty lucrative. On the site’s frequently asked questions, they suggest that top affiliates earn more than $10,000 per month. Yowza!
Anything to note?
Unlike some other programs, Elementor doesn’t have a minimum payout threshold. As soon as you hit the $200 mark, you can request your commission. There’s also a 30-day clearance as they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee to new signups.
Unbounce
What is it?
Forget building an entire website. Just build a landing page! For marketers, salespeople, or really lazy types who just can’t make a whole site (LOL, we’re kidding), Unbounce is a great way to build marketing pages for campaigns quickly and easily.
How much can you make?
Pretty decent. There’s a 20% recurring commission rate, so if the customer you refer is paying $99 per month, then it’s around $20. Not bad! Landing pages are particularly great for regular affiliate income because while they tend to remain static, they need to stay online. Also, many people will need multiple landing pages, so one referral could lead to multiple income streams.
Anything to note?
As well as earning a few dollars, you’ll also get a real-life human person to help look after your affiliate account and guide you through it all.
Email Marketing & Sales
ActiveCampaign
What is it?
Move over other email marketing platforms; ActiveCampaign is here to automate and execute all your email marketing dreams. It’s super simple, it has a REALLY straightforward If-This-Then-That system for setting up automation, and once you’ve got the knack, it’s a breeze to use.
How much can you make?
You’ll get a 20-30% recurring commission. While that doesn’t sound like much where ActiveCampaign is a serious bit of kit that requires buy-in, you’ll find that when people sign-up, they tend to be customers for the long haul. The average affiliate receives around $1350 per sign up.
Anything to note?
The affiliate program comes with its own set of best practices and even a community to work with and meet other affiliates. Sharing is caring!
HubSpot
What is it?
Well, it’s a one-stop shop for marketing and sales. It helps track leads, set up campaigns, send emails, create content, and even carry out SEO (search engine optimization). All in all, HubSpot is a fantastic piece of kit that does ALL the things when it comes to sales, customer success, marketing, and more.
How much can you make?
As you can probably guess, HubSpot is an investment software. Although the lowest tier comes in at $45 a month, the time, energy, and resources to invest in it are a lot. That being said, the percentage is between 15% and 100% commission rate. Yes, that’s right – 100%. Affiliates can get a flat rate payout of 100% of a signup’s first month’s revenue. Alternatively, you can opt for the recurring plan, which is a 15% monthly commission capped at a year.
Anything to note?
Although it has an application process, HubSpot is free to join. If you’re an agency, though, the affiliate program may not be the most suitable, and there’s a dedicated partner program instead.
Privy
What is it?
Privy is a savvy lead-capture tool that helps small businesses grow their audiences and customer database. From sending SMS emails, creating bespoke pop-up email capture forms, and straightforward email marketing options such as abandoned carts, re-engagement, and more, etc.
How much can you make?
With a 10% revenue share for life, this is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving and giving. With the first paid-for plan coming in at $30 a month, you’ll be looking at a $3 per month minimum. A few of these regularly use Privy, and those $3 can start to add up super fast.
Anything to note?
It’s super simple to set up, and there’s no charge for becoming an affiliate. If you want to refer companies directly as a partner or agency, the Privy Partner Program is probably more suitable.
LiveAgent
What is it?
LiveAgent is a customer service platform that helps companies speak to and manage dealing with their customers online. This encompasses everything from live chats to ticket management, email threads, and more. When you go on a website, and a little chat box pops up offering to help you, that’s typically driven by SaaS like LiveAgent. It’s incredibly valuable and vital for customer success, monitoring the general vibe from customers and relaying back to marketing, Product, etc.
How much can you make?
For every sign-up you get, you’ll get 20% on the initial payment and then a further 20% commission on all payments onto the account. If a company uses LiveAgent for a continuous period, this can quickly add up.
Anything to note?
You get $5 just for signing up for the affiliate program. That’s it! Also, suppose more than one affiliate refers to LiveAgent, rather than just choosing the first affiliate. In that case, the commission is split between the two. So 10% for the introducer, and then 30% for the final affiliate that convinced them to buy. Also, the minimum payout is $250.
Spread the word about SaaS while earning money
While getting set up as an affiliate marketer sounds pretty sweet, it’s definitely not all sunshine and roses. Much like there is a preconception that being a YouTuber, blogger, or social media influencer is “easy” work, people underestimate the amount of work that goes into SaaS affiliate marketing.
There’s a lot oft hard graft behind the scenes to get it working, and it may take sometime before you start earning money.
So you’re not going to become a millionaire overnight – but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, SaaS affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn passive income while helping brands you love.
As with any business, it takes time and dedication, but once you have earned yourself a name as someone that knows what they are talking about, you will have created something that is regularly attracting new customers while putting money in your pocket.
