Setting Up Affiliate Marketing For Ecommerce

Building a strong #partnerships #ecosystem takes a lot of work, testing and iterating - especially with limited time and often resources. So what have I seen working quite well in one of the most incredible partnership ecosystem I've ever worked in? ✨ Clarity on 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲: listen to your partners find a way to keep enriching that exchange. Some will value commercial rewards, some will value exposure more. Find what works and create processes that support that and are attached to business outcomes. 👯♀️ Sales x partners collab: joint selling is key to increase the close rate. 📊 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: identify key operational friction points and work with partner ops to address them. Developing sophistication with data/tracking is going to be a must for a long-term ride. 🏔 Setting clear 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: there's no point in overpromising or hiding business goals. Develop a joint plan with your partners and make sure you're clear on which segment of the market they can add value to customers + resource accordingly. 🤝 Partnerships between "apparently 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴" 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: I lost count of how many times I've seen service partners operating in a similar TAM ending up shaking hands to cooperate, rather than compete. This might be unique to the Shopify ecosystem (it is a special place, not gonna lie), but I believe with the right framework, mindset and coaching other industries could benefit from this collaboration too. 🚀 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 & 𝗜𝗦𝗩 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: one can't survive without the other. Developing a strong joint GTM strategy between these two types of partners is essential to keep nurturing both pipelines. 🎉 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: in a world where ROI has to be measured on every activity, you have to find ways to measure the impact on community events too (traditionally harder to evaluate). However, I'm a strong believer that a strong partnership community needs to be supported (be it through event sponsorship, funding, talk participation, event space lending etc) for it to keep thriving. After all, partnerships is all about relationships. And when things get hard, you need to have strong and trusted relationships that can take a tough conversation and define a way forward together. 📈 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: without data, tracking and attribution it's hard to justify recurring investment. Make sure you have clear metrics in mind (and communicate them clearly) + strategies to ensure these are measured from the get go. Iterating in time is totally fine as the business develops. After all, "companies with mature partnership programmes grow revenue nearly 2X faster than others and see up to 28% revenue increase. Partnership channel revenue growth rates for high-maturity companies outpace low-maturity companies by more than double" [Forrester research] - so if you're not investing in partnerships yet, it might be time to understand why and take action to rectify this!

An ecosystem is more than just integrations! Plugging into APIs and calling it a day is NOT partnerships. Often integrations are table stakes to opening a door towards a partnership, in order to drive growth and win-win's for all participants. If not, they’re just a marketing collaboration which will only go so far. Or worse, something that keeps your team busy without delivering real impact. Partner managers inevitably get fired or leave frustrated sooner or later. This is what happens in most companies: ➡ They integrate where engineering capacity allows without a clear strategy. ➡ They measure success by connection count, or number of partners and not by real business impact. ➡ Their partnerships aren’t aligned with the company’s big-picture goals, and this isn't communicated effectively enough. So what should your team be doing instead? ✅ Assess where ecosystem plays make sense. Not every integration is valuable. Focus on ones that enhance your core offering, outside of your product roadmap, improve customer experience, or create new revenue streams. ✅ Prioritise partners that create network effects, not just one-off connections. The best partnerships amplify your business by driving more adoption, expanding reach, or unlocking new markets. ✅ Structure partnerships for repeatable success. Build systems. An effective ecosystem isn’t built on one-time deals, it’s designed for scalability and long-term value on both sides Aimless integrations are just an expense. Light integrations too often frustrate customers rather than add value. A true ecosystem attracts the right partners, the right users, and creates real business impact along the entire customer journey. If your company needs help building a real ecosystem, we at Hockey Stick Advisory can help. #partnership #ecosystem #growth

We built a zero-cost ad funnel that's scaling a skincare brand's ad account with 20+ whitelisting ads a month for free from their creator community. For the first 3 months we focused on scaling their creator-affiliate revenue above $10k/mo to offset the total cost of building a creator community. Here's the exact playbook we used: 1) Built a tiered creator affiliate program (VIPs, organic, and whitelisting partners) 2) Implemented performance-based compensation (product + commissions + bonuses) 3) Identified high-converting organic content for paid amplification 4) Established whitelisting partnerships with top performers The results: Partnership Ads (45 Days): - 1.16 blended ROAS across all creatives launched - Top performing ads hitting <$15 CAC - Consistent improvement in performance week over week But here's the kicker... Organic Affiliate (Same Period): - Generated enough direct revenue to completely offset all ad costs - 500+ tagged content pieces creating a scaled content pipeline - $10k+/mo in EMV strengthening their brand equity We're now scaling both the affiliate revenue AND the Meta ad account at the same time and it's completely self-funded. Instead of treating influencer marketing, affiliate, and paid social as separate channels, we integrated them into a single creator community ecosystem.

We added an affiliate program on a whim. 3 months later: $59,551 in revenue added. No ads. No promotion. Here's how to actually run affiliates: 1. Calculate your CAC first. If your customer acquisition cost is $1,000, you can pay affiliates $500-1,000 per referral and still break even or profit. 2. Service businesses: pay 5-15% commission for first project or first 3-12 months. SaaS businesses: pay 10-30% for at least 1 year. Go perpetual if you're bold. 3. Marc Lou does 50% lifetime commission on datafast. It works. 4. Add affiliate link to bottom of every weekly email you send customers. Make it muscle memory. 5. Send one dedicated affiliate promotion email per month. "I'll buy you coffee" for small referrals. "I'll sponsor your Starbucks for a year" for big ones. 6. Put affiliate program on your homepage. Simple Notion page with link to join. 7. Give close-lost deals your affiliate link. They loved your product but weren't ready to buy. Turn them into referral partners instead. 8. When someone says "not now, maybe in 6 months" in cold outreach, send them the affiliate link. Get them in your ecosystem. 9. Train sales team to share affiliate program when customers hit their aha moment. While they're on the high of seeing success. 10. Train customer support to mention affiliates during follow-up calls. "How's your experience? By the way, we pay really well for referrals." 11. Ramp replaced their signup page for existing users with referral flow. Two options: copy link or message LinkedIn connections. 12. The LinkedIn button opens custom search with ICP filters pre-applied. First-degree connections who are founders/CEOs/finance leaders in the US. Makes referring effortless. 13. Credit-based SaaS with fast aha moments and products people brag about using? Every day without affiliates is money lost. 14. Word of mouth is the strongest acquisition channel. Affiliates are word of mouth on steroids. 15. People who promote your product as affiliates eventually become customers themselves. They see others get value, join your email list, enter your ecosystem. 16. Start with 5 referrals/month. 50% improvement in 3 months = 8/month. Compounds fast. 17. If you’re an early-stage startup (<$3M ARR), pull out a separate list of customers that came from referrals and enrich it. Add their LinkedIn profiles, emails, phone numbers, job titles - plus company details from their website (revenue, headcount, industry, region). You’ll usually see these customers retain longer than the rest. Then look for patterns across them and shift your marketing + GTM toward that audience. Same idea as hiring: the best hires are referrals from employees, and the best customers are referrals from customers. Most founders treat affiliates as "maybe we'll get lucky." That's why it doesn't work. Calculate your CAC. Pay 50-100% of that in commission. Put it everywhere users look. The ROI is stupid if you do it right.

We’ve built dozens of summits over the last few years. And one thing gets consistently overlooked. Even though it could turn a mid-sized email list into a 6-figure event: Affiliate whales. 🐋 Most creators focus mostly on speaker lineups, funnel design, email sequences. All important. But the real success of a summit is often decided before you even open the ticket page. And it usually comes down to your affiliate strategy. If you only invite the usual suspects - your team, your speakers, your own audience - you’re missing out on a goldmine. What you really want: - People with large, loyal email audiences - People who care about your summit - People who benefit when you win You guessed it. Your speakers are your best bet. Here’s how we bake this into every summit we launch: 1. Start 8+ weeks before the summit Bake the affiliate deal into the speaker invite. Let them know from day one. 2. Create win-win commissions 40% is the benchmark. 50% or more if you want whales to actually move. 😂 3. Test your assets in advance Don’t hand them guesswork. Make sure your banners, copy, and funnel convert before they go live. Your next summit, focus on actually reaching out. Introductions. Co-marketing. Treating them like partners, not list-rentals. Make it EASY to say yes (Pre-written emails, Swipe graphics, Trackable links, Calendars of when things go live) If your list has just 5,000 people… Affiliates could 10x that and bring in a segment you’d never reach alone. If you’re a coach or course creator, building relationships is already your strength. Use it. 💪

Partnership pros: you know that feeling when you're supposed to build an entire partner program solo? Map the ICP workflows yourself. Identify partner types yourself. Set the success metrics yourself. Recruit and enable partners yourself. Then prove ROI to the board yourself. I've been there. I know that grind. And here's what I learned: the programs that actually work aren't built by one person working harder. They're built by cross-functional teams who each own a specific piece. This playbook is what I wish someone had told me: 𝟎𝟏 - 𝐌𝐚𝐩 𝐈𝐂𝐏 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 + 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)  Study how your customers work daily. Document their tools, workflows, pain points where integrations deliver measurable value. Not what you think they need, what they actually use. 𝟎𝟐 - 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 + 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐬) Technology integrations, referral partners, resellers, strategic alliances. Prioritize based on ICP overlap and co-selling potential. 𝟎𝟑 - 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 + 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞)  Define goals for partner-sourced pipeline, revenue attribution, CAC by channel, deal velocity. Build the dashboard with Finance before you recruit a single partner. 𝟎𝟒 - 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 + 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)  Targeted outreach to priority partners. Create enablement materials and value props that actually drive activation. 𝟎𝟓 - 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 + 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭) Make your ecosystem discoverable through a searchable marketplace. Track what works, scale it. Every step needs a different cross-functional owner. That's not overhead, that's how you scale.

The affiliate industry just witnessed a power move. 𝗥𝗮𝗸𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘅 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁.𝗰𝗼𝗺 is not just a partnership — it’s a structural shift in how performance marketing will operate going forward. At its core, this alliance brings together three critical layers of the ecosystem: • Scale & relationships (𝗥𝗮𝗸𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗻’𝘀 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿 + 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸) • Technology & infrastructure (𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁.𝗰𝗼𝗺’𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀) • Consumer intelligence (Rakuten Rewards data + shopper signals)  👉 For 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀, this means: A single, unified system to manage partnerships globally — from discovery to payouts. Expect better attribution, real-time tracking, and clearer incrementality, which has been the biggest blind spot in affiliate marketing for years The outcome? Smarter budget allocation and stronger ROI. 👉 For 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, the upside is equally powerful: Access to a larger pool of global brands, faster and more reliable payments, and improved tracking transparency. This directly impacts revenue predictability and scale opportunities. But the real story is the strategy behind this alliance. This is consolidation with intent. For years, affiliate marketing has been fragmented — 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮. This move signals a shift toward a unified “𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆” infrastructure, where everything lives in one ecosystem.  Even more interesting — Rakuten gradually moving onto impact.com’s platform indicates a future where s𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 + 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 + 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀.  In simple terms: They’re not just improving affiliate marketing — they’re redefining it as a scalable, data-driven growth channel. My take? This will accelerate: • 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • 𝗔𝗜-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 “𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲” → “𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀” The winners will be those who adapt early to this unified ecosystem. The question is no longer which network to choose — It’s how fast you can evolve with where the ecosystem is heading. What are your thoughts?

For the first time in decades, the affiliate landscape is getting a real rewrite. And it’s happening because LLMs are starting to pull affiliate content directly into how they make recommendations. That shift has major implications for brands and agencies. For years, Amazon owned about half of all shopping traffic. That dominance kept a ceiling on the broader affiliate ecosystem because everyone else—brands, publishers, creators—was competing inside the other 50%. We all optimized within a confined universe. That era is ending. LLMs need authoritative, structured, commerce-ready content to generate real product recommendations. Affiliate publishers and creators have been building exactly that for decades. Reviews, buying guides, comparisons, creator POVs—this is the raw material LLMs learn from. This opens the playing field for brands in a way we haven’t seen before. When you invest in affiliates, creators, and creator-affiliate programs, you’re not just driving distribution—you’re shaping the outputs of the systems consumers now rely on. Affiliates and creators aren’t side channels anymore. They’re the engines powering how LLMs recommend products. Full thoughts in the clip below.

2009: I started as a jr. affiliate manager. 2025: Scaling my affiliate marketing company to 7-figures. It's been a 16-year journey in affiliate marketing. Here are 9 rules for affiliate marketing that you must remember in 2025: 1. Affiliate marketing isn’t passive revenue. Brands that recruit, engage, and optimize will scale. 2. If you are not working with the ‘RIGHT’ affiliate, it doesn’t matter how good your strategies are.  Review sites, influencers, and media buyers that drive high-intent traffic will help you with volume and scale. 3. Ensure that the audiences of those affiliates align with your brand’s audience. A skincare brand likely won’t see results with an affiliate who mainly reviews tech gadgets. 4. A small handful of affiliates- often just 5 to 7- generate the vast majority of revenue. Use data to pinpoint your top 1% and invest in what’s working. 5. Affiliate marketing is highly competitive, with thousands of programs. So, having a good offer with a lucrative deal and structure will attract the best affiliates. 6. To attract and engage the top-performing affiliates, offer exclusive deals, bonuses, and performance-based incentives. 7. Affiliate marketing is not a ‘Set-it-and-forget-it’ model. You need to keep building and nurturing the relationships with the affiliates. Help them by sharing your top-performing ad creatives, content, and funnel to improve their conversions. 8. You can’t scale your program without data-driven adjustments. Keep tracking the performance and conversions of ads & landing pages, and refine your strategy accordingly. 9. Affiliate marketing is just like a sales process. You need to keep adding more affiliates to your sales funnel every week to scale your revenue. Implement an outbound affiliate recruitment strategy. Bonus: Affiliate programs aren't overnight success stories. They need time. For both affiliates and brands to win, it's a dance. A dance that can take 5-8 months to really get in sync. That’s it. I’m Fred, and I help scale 8/9-figure DTC brands through affiliate marketing. Connect and follow for more insights.

The people you partner with will either build your brand or destroy it. Choose carefully. Most founders ignore red flags because they're desperate for money. But then, they end up paying for it in refunds, complaints, and reputation damage. I've worked with thousands of affiliate partners over my career. And I had to figure out the red flags the hard way, and on my end. But this doesn't have to be the case for you. So, if an affiliate partner, or any partner for that matter, shows you one of these red flags in the first conversation, walk away. 1. Communication & professionalism 🚩 Takes weeks to respond. No-shows calls. Says, "just send me the link." ✅ Responds fast. Shows up prepared. Asks strategic questions. Flaky before = flaky during. 2. Audience & fit 🚩 Can't describe their audience. High followers, zero engagement. ✅ Clearly describes demographics. Strong engagement. Selective about promotions. Wrong audience = low conversions, high refunds. 3. Track record 🚩 Won't share examples. Promotes competitors simultaneously. Burns bridges. ✅ Shares case studies. Loyal to partners. Other brands vouch for them. Past behavior predicts future behavior. Ask around about them. Do your homework. 4. Expectations & entitlement 🚩 Demands premium commission upfront. Expects you to do their work. Acts like you owe them. ✅ Tests first. Creates their own content. Treats it as collaboration. Entitled partners demand more, deliver less. 5. Compliance & ethics 🚩 Makes exaggerated claims. Doesn't disclose affiliate status. Uses your brand without permission. ✅ Discloses clearly. Follows FTC guidelines. Asks permission first. One bad affiliate can destroy your reputation. Most founders won't reject affiliates because "What if I miss out on traffic?" But one bad partner costs more than no partner at all. They'll send the wrong traffic. Damage your reputation. Create customer service nightmares. Violate compliance. You name it, they'll probably do it. You're better off with 10 great partners than 100 sh*tty ones. The goal isn't volume. It's quality. You don't owe anyone a relationship just because they applied. Vet ruthlessly. So, once you've gone through these flags, use this simple vetting rule so you know exactly when to move forward and when to walk away: - If they show 2+ red flags, walk away. - If they show 4+ green flags, test them. - If you're unsure, trust your gut and move in either direction. Say no to red flags even when they come with big audiences. Because the wrong partner will cost you more than revenue. They'll cost you reputation, time, and trust. Which red flag have you ignored that cost you? Share the story in the comments. ♻️ Repost this for your network to learn these red flags too. And follow me, Amber Spears, for more on building relationship programs that protect your brand.