Affiliate tips for lifestyle brands

Hello!

This week I’ve had the privilege of judging the Best Awards digital category. It’s day 4 and it’s been equally inspiring and intense. To say the last few days have been busy is an understatement – but not so busy that I would ever dream of skipping the Almond Labs newsletter! Let’s get into it…

Last week, I briefly touched on affiliate marketing in the context of TikTop Shop (you can revisit that here). Today I want to dig into affiliate marketing as a whole and why as a lifestyle brand, you should be adding this string to your bow.

It’s not a new concept and it’s executed with varying degrees of success. We’ve all seen tacky videos of people trying to make a quick buck, peddling some product they have no real interest in. But when it’s executed well, it can be a viable marketing strategy with a great ROI. And the best part is you can track it dollar for dollar since affiliates only get paid for what they convert.

Here’s what’s on the agenda:

Stats
📈 Affiliate marketing – the numbers

Tactics
🏃 Where to start
✅ Do’s and don’ts

Studio News
🚀 Launches
🎉 Client results

📈 STATS

Affiliate marketing – the numbers

I was reading this article by Shopify last week and I seriously recommend checking it out. Both the video and the write-up have loads of insights about affiliate marketing, starting with some really impressive stats. Here are a handful of them:

• Globally, the affiliate marketing industry is worth about $16 billion.

• Unsurprisingly, over half of the global affiliate marketing spend comes from the United States.

• 44% of all affiliate marketing revenue comes from retail businesses, making retail the biggest contributing industry.

• Fashion is the most popular niche.

• 56% of online consumers have purchased a product from an affiliate website.
  

• 54% of marketers rank affiliate marketing as one of their top 3 customer acquisition channels.
  

• 52% of marketers say that affiliate marketing brings in high-quality leads.

Pretty compelling, right?

🏃 TACTICS

Where to start

Implementing a new marketing strategy can be daunting but the beauty of affiliate marketing is that it’s scaleable. You can start off small, track your progress, and then expand if it works for your brand.

Here are a few steps to get started:

Figure out your pricing model

There are 2 factors to consider:
1. What you will pay your affiliates – this could be a $ value or it could be products / gift vouchers.
2. What incentive affiliates can offer their audience – this is usually a discount code.

For example, you may pay your affiliates 10% of each sale they make. But to incentivise link clicks, your affiliates may need to offer a 10% discount code. In this instance, the affiliate marketing cost would be 20% of your sale.

You’ll need to work out what you’re comfortable with and what makes sense for your margins, but the good news is it’s completely in your control.

Define your objective
Define what constitutes a conversion for your affiliates. Is it a link click? Is it a sale? Set your marketing objective upfront so that you can track your affiliates’ performance and pay them accordingly.

Find your affiliates
One way to get affiliates is to set up a page on your website with a form so that people can apply.

Another way to do it is to approach existing fans or influencers directly – ideally, those who have already left you glowing reviews.

Track their performance
You can go pretty lo-fi to start, setting up personalised discount codes directly on Shopify. That’s an easy one to track as you can see on the platform how many times the discount code has been redeemed.

If you want to get a little deeper, you could try Shopify Collabs. It’s an affiliate marketing app that allows you to create affiliate links and track the traffic and sales attributed to them. It’s currently available for all Shopify plans except the Starter and Retail plans. The app is free to add to your site but they do charge a processing fee on commissions.

✅ TACTICS

Affiliate marketing dos and don’ts

As you know, there are plenty of examples of bad affiliate marketing but we also know the power of social proof. If you have genuine fans promoting your product, it can be pretty compelling.

Here are some tips to foster the right kind of content:

DO:

• Have a strict vetting system
  Ensure you only work with people who align with your brand and have a genuine interest in your products. Be sure to check out their social accounts to see what type of content they produce.
  

• Approach like-minded brands
  Affiliate marketing isn’t restricted to individuals, you can also partner with relevant brands.
  

• Provide a media kit
  Give your affiliates the tools they need to promote your brand and products, including background info, brand assets and the actual product.
  

• Set rules and guidelines
  While you want the affiliate's content to feel authentic, it’s important to outline what you do and don’t want your brand to be associated with. Draw from your brand guidelines to communicate what’s appropriate and what’s a hard no.
  

• Foster long-term relationships
  Vetting and onboarding your affiliates will take time, so it’s important to keep them engaged to maximise your ROI. Create different segments with strategies to re-engage underperformers and reward top performers.

DON’T:

• Work with serial affiliates
  Too many partnerships affect a person’s credibility. Nobody wants to engage with someone who is always trying to sell them something.
  

• Discount everything all the time
  If you give affiliates a discount code, ensure it’s limited to certain products or first-time purchases. You want to attract a new audience, not cut your revenue off at the knees.

💬 FEEDBACK

Humour me

After reading all this, I’m keen to hear your thoughts. Affiliate marketing is commonplace in North America, but I’d argue that it’s still in its infancy in Australia and New Zealand.

🚀 STUDIO NEWS

New launches

Last week, we launched not 1 but 2 sites. What do they say about going big or going home? I’m proud of our team for pulling out all the stops on these. Check them out when you have a moment!

Acme
Utilitarian with surprising moments of joy – Acme’s new site champions their reputation as a hospitality heavyweight, reinforcing their desirability amongst professional and at-home baristas alike.

Be sure to check out ‘x-ray mode’ on the product pages!

Flooring Xtra
With a new editorial design, we’ve dialled up the inspiration factor, encouraging customers to explore the range, while educating them on the finer details.

💰 STUDIO NEWS

Client results

As a design-led studio, we place a huge focus on the aesthetic of a site, but as ecommerce specialists, we know looks mean nothing if the site doesn’t deliver sales.

When we started working with Harker Herbals, we could see the potential for the ecommerce branch of their business. Conversion strategy was baked into every design decision and with the addition of Roadmap, we gave them the tools to grow.

This week, the Harker’s team posted this on LinkedIn. We love a success story.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time.

Alex Murton
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Studio Almond