Benefits of Affiliate Marketing on Shopify

Bringing you some of the advantages of affiliate marketing on Shopify.

Cost-Effective

Affiliate marketing can be a cost-effective marketing strategy for your Shopify store since you only pay affiliates when they successfully refer a sale or lead.

“According to Statista’s projections, the value of the affiliate marketing industry is expected to increase to $8.2 billion. Which means, it represents a growth from $5.4 billion in 2017.”

Increased sales

This type of influencer marketing can help increase sales as it leverages the influence of affiliates to reach a wider audience.

“Over 79% of marketers use affiliate marketing to captivate new customers and invite more sales from the existing customers.”

More traffic

It also helps improve your store’s traffic by generating backlinks from affiliates‘ websites to your Shopify store.

“80% of the respondents of a poll mentioned affiliate marketing programs benefitted them with increased website traffic and conversions.”

Targeted audience

Affiliate marketing allows you to reach a targeted audience through their affiliates’ niche expertise. As a result, you can execute more targeted campaigns and gain more loyal customers.

“Awin reports as 92% of buyers trust the recommendations of their friends or influencers they know.”

Next, we will discuss how to set up an affiliate program on Shopify.

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Recommended: Is Influencer Marketing a Key to Scaling E-commerce Businesses in 2025?

Easy Steps to Set up an Affiliate Program on Shopify

Here are some easy steps you can follow to set up affiliate marketing on Shopify.

Step #1 Choose an Affiliate App from Shopify Marketplace

The first step to setting up affiliate marketing on Shopify is to choose an appropriate affiliate marketing app that integrates with your Shopify store. We can assist you in choosing the right app as we will be suggesting a few relevant ones along with steps, up ahead.

However, check out these popular ones from the Shopify app store – Refersion, LeadDyno, BixGrow, etc. There are 600+ such apps in the Shopify app marketplace.

Step #2 Recruit Affiliates

Next, find potential affiliates in your niche and invite them to join your program. Let us also give you a few tips and tools to do this.

Tip 1: Direct Sign-up on Branded Portals

Check out GOAFFPRO – Affiliate Marketing app from the Shopify marketplace for it lets you set up and manage an affiliate program effortlessly. Additionally, it allows you to create a custom-branded affiliate portal where interested affiliates can sign up easily.

It also generates affiliate links right here on the portal for your affiliates to share in their marketing campaigns. Furthermore, the app provides you with tools to manage your affiliates, including tracking their performance, paying out commissions, and communicating with them.

Tip 2: Leverage Social Media

On the Afluencer: Influencer Collabs app, you can search for appropriate influencers based on criteria such as location, niche, and number of followers. This app smartly filters out fake or bot profiles and verifies the influencer accounts with genuine followers.

In addition, you can access other tools to manage the entire collaboration process, starting from setting up campaigns and tracking performance, to paying out commissions.

Tip 3: Onboard through Pop-ups

For this method, use ReferrLy from the Shopify app store. Use the app’s user-friendly style editor to create a custom pop-up form that includes information about your affiliate program.

Furthermore, customize the pop-ups to match your store theme and capture the potential affiliates’ names, email addresses, and website info. Later on, check and onboard new affiliates to your program from the app’s dashboard.

Tip 4: Take-in through Registration Forms

With the UpPromote Affiliate & Referral Shopify app, you can set up an affiliate registration page, where potential affiliates can sign up to join the program. Customize this page as per your campaign needs.

Once an affiliate signs up, the app has an automated approval process that can quickly approve or deny the application. This reduces your manual effort and saves time.

On top of that, you can find a range of marketing materials like banners, text links, and product feeds. Customize these to match your brand and share them with your affiliates.

Tip 5: Using Surveys

One of the key features of Omnistar Affiliate Software is that it helps you to create bonus surveys and send them to your existing customers. In this survey, you will collect their feedback and also ask if they would be interested in becoming a brand ambassador for the store.

Based on their responses to the survey, the app lets you identify potential brand ambassadors among your loyal customers. Moreover, there are other tools to help you manage affiliates and campaigns.

Step #3 Determine Commission Rates

When it comes to defining commission rates, there are several factors that you should consider.

• Know your profit margins: It’s important to understand your profit margins for each product or service that you offer.
• Look at your competitors: Research what commission rates your competitors are offering for similar products or services.
• Consider the value of the product: For instance, higher-priced products or services may warrant higher commission rates to incentivize affiliates to promote them.
• Set different rates: Set different commission rates for different products or services depending on their profitability or the amount of promotion they require.

Once you have these values, you can derive a rate. Yet, it should benefit both you and your affiliates.

Why?

Say, in case you set the commission too low, it may discourage your collaborators from promoting your products. On the other hand, setting it too high could lead to a lesser profit or even incur losses to you.

Let us now give you two ways of calculating the affiliate commission.

1) Percentage or Flat Rate

You can choose to define the commission rate as either a percentage of the sale or a fixed amount for each sale. This is the fundamental form of affiliate commission.

For the percentage type commission, it is generally between 5-30%.

Look at this Amazon example here,

Amazon has set fixed commission rates for different categories. As in, it pays a 20% commission when the affiliate closes a sale of the game “New World” which is for $49.99.

2) Calculate the Average CLV to Derive Commission Rates

In this method, you will consider your customer lifetime value (CLV) to calculate commission. As this value indicates the total amount of profit a customer generates for your business, you can fix the commission accordingly.

So, the formula to calculate the average CLV is,

(Average Order Value ✖ Customers Repeat Purchase Rate) – Customer Acquisition Cost

Once you get this value, you can assign an affiliate commission. Remember, it should be less than the derived average CLV.

See how BigCommerce offers attractive incentives to its affiliates.

Thus, you can choose to determine the affiliate commissions depending on your products or services and customer lifetime value.

Recommended: 10 Effective eCommerce Referral Marketing Strategies in 2025

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So, Are You Ready to Start Affiliate Marketing on Shopify?

In conclusion, starting an affiliate marketing program can be a game-changer for your Shopify store in 2025. Remember to choose the right affiliates and set up an attractive commission structure. Plus, provide them with the necessary tools and resources to promote your products effectively.

And if you’re looking for a reliable tool to identify influencers without much effort, Saufter is an excellent choice. All you need to do is just share your campaign requirements with the team and they notify you with the best matching influencer profiles.

Along with that, you will find a wide range of Shopify customer support automation to ease your E-commerce support services. So what are you waiting for? Start your 15-day free trial now.

Start your affiliate marketing program today and watch your sales soar!