Ask an Affiliate Manager: 3 Core Principles for Building a Successful SaaS Affiliate Program

Building a successful affiliate program is crucial for expanding your business in a highly competitive field.

Emmet Gibney, CEO of Rewardful, recently shared valuable insights on effective strategies for creating and scaling affiliate programs during a webinar hosted by Product Marketing Alliance (PMA).

Meet the Experts

Emmet Gibney - CEO at Rewardful

Emmet Gibney is the CEO of Rewardful, an all-in-one affiliate management software for SaaS. He has coached hundreds of people in developing affiliate programs in the SaaS industry and possesses a deep understanding of what works and what doesn't in affiliate marketing.

Emma Buitendag - Community Manager at PMA

Emma Buitendag is the Community Manager at Product Marketing Alliance (PMA) and hosted the webinar, facilitating the discussion and Q&A session with Emmet Gibney.

Watch the full webinar session on YouTube.

Understanding Affiliate Marketing

Emmet explains affiliate marketing as:

"Affiliate marketing is a way for businesses to reward a partner for referring customers to them. The classic example would be an influencer who recommends, let's say, a holiday destination, and they give you either a link to press or a coupon code. And when you buy through their link or their coupon code, you attribute that to that influencer. Right? So the influencer would get a commission."

Is Affiliate Marketing Right for Your Business?

Before diving into affiliate marketing, it's crucial to assess if it's suitable for your business model. Emmet suggests considering two key factors:

1. Business model spectrum: Where does your business fall on the spectrum from highly transactional (e.g., self-serve SaaS) to highly consultative (e.g., enterprise solutions)?
2. Market culture: Is affiliate marketing common and accepted in your industry?

He also mentions that businesses with more transactional models and markets where affiliate marketing is prevalent tend to see better results.

To give a better understanding, Emmet provides an example:

"So, another example I'll reference here is, beehiiv. They're an email newsletter platform, and their motto is: newsletter platform built for growth for creators by creators. So, if you're in the creator economy, the idea of signing up for an affiliate program, sharing a link, getting a commission, that kind of thing, it's super native to that community."

Three Core Principles for a Successful Affiliate Program

Emmet outlines three core principles for building a successful affiliate program:

1. Make It Easy for Affiliates to Make Money

• Ensure your business is ready for an affiliate program
• Have a well-optimized funnel (your funnel is your affiliates' funnel)
• Offer fair and competitive commissions
• Remember that affiliates focus on Earnings Per Click (EPC)

Emmet emphasizes:

"Affiliate marketing is an exceptional channel, but it can be a difficult first channel. So there's nothing more frustrating, let's say, for an affiliate than I'm sending a bunch of traffic to a website, to an offer. I'm selling XYZ software, but none of that traffic is converting."

2. Run Your Program Professionally

• Develop a comprehensive onboarding process
• Provide resources and support for affiliates
• Maintain regular communication
• Establish clear terms of service
• Watch for and prevent bad behavior (e.g., brand bidding and self-referrals)

Emmet warns:

"A lot of customers come to me with kind of an expectation that affiliate marketing is kind of the set it and forget it channel that you're gonna get something for nothing. And, in marketing, you can't get anything for nothing. There's always something that needs to be invested. In the case of affiliate marketing, it's gonna be your time and energy."

3. Build an Affiliate Recruitment System

• Identify your ideal affiliate profile
• Create a dedicated landing page for your affiliate program
• Implement both inbound and outbound recruitment strategies
• Manage expectations (the 95/5 rule: a small percentage of affiliates will drive the most value)

Emmet stresses:

"Run your program like a professional. Don't let it be an afterthought. Same thing goes for your affiliate recruitment. You wanna have sort of an ongoing process for actively trying to build your list of referral partners."

Practical Tips for Implementation

1. Define your ideal affiliate profile: Align this closely with your ideal customer profile.
2. Create a dedicated landing page: Provide context and sell the benefits of your affiliate program.
3. Implement inbound recruitment methods: Place links to your program throughout your website and communications.
4. Develop outbound recruitment strategies: Research potential partners and reach out personally.
5. Onboarding and activation: Develop resources to help new affiliates get started quickly.
6. Provide ongoing support: Consider webinars, educational resources, and regular check-ins.
7. Monitor for bad behavior: Watch out for brand bidding, coupon site abuse, and self-referrals.
8. Optimize your commissions: Between 20 to 30% is usually the sweet spot for the commission rate for SaaS affiliate marketing programs.

As Emmet recommends:

"General rule of thumb or guidelines for SaaS affiliate commissions is somewhere between twenty and thirty percent recurring for either twelve months or perpetuity. That’s the range that you're gonna see."

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Affiliate Program

1. Not watching out for brand bidding (your affiliate sets up a paid campaign and bids on your brand)
2. Treating affiliate marketing as a "set it and forget it" channel
3. Not having a proper landing page for your affiliate program

Emmet notes:

"Not looking up for brand bidding is a big mistake because sometimes they'll think like, jeez, this affiliate is just killing it. They're doing so well. You know, they're doing so much better than everybody else. And then eventually, they realize, like, oh, it's because they've been bidding on our brand terms, and, actually, we should ban them from our affiliate program."

Final Thoughts

Affiliate marketing can be a powerful channel for business growth, especially for SaaS and other transactional business models. Success requires ongoing effort, clear communication, and a focus on building mutually beneficial relationships with your affiliates.

Remember, as Emmet emphasized:

"You're not going to find the best people to promote your affiliate program by accident. You need to go out and find the people who are going to be a really good audience and who will be interested in the product."

Want to learn more about affiliate marketing? Check out the Rewardful Academy for a free, comprehensive course on building and managing successful affiliate programs.

And if you’re ready to start your affiliate program journey, join the many happy users of Rewardful, the all-in-one affiliate management solution. Sign up today for a 14-day free trial!