Affiliate marketing, also known as performance-based marketing, is a form of advertising that is paid for based on delivered results.
This means that online store owners pay for advertising activities only when a sale is made. Thanks to affiliate marketing, the advertiser incurs advertising costs only when they generate revenue.
In the e-commerce industry, affiliate marketing is carried out in the Cost Per Sale model, which means that the advertiser incurs costs in the form of a commission on the value of sales generated through publishers’ activities.
The form of advertising activities in affiliate marketing remains unchanged — these are standard promotional activities carried out by publishers across the online spaces they manage: on social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok), on niche, news, discount, and cashback websites, on blogs, in email campaigns, through messaging apps, as well as in Google Ads and Google Shopping campaigns. The only difference is that we pay for these activities in the form of a commission when a sale occurs, rather than for the mere fact that the activities are being carried out.
Affiliate marketing uses all possible advertising channels. Online creators operate in exactly the same way as in other paid collaborations, with the only difference being that they receive compensation only when they deliver results in the form of sales.
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Users make purchasing decisions based on opinions and reviews they get from friends or find online and on social media. The more recommendations of our products there are on the internet, the greater the trust in us as a seller. That is why cooperation with online creators is so important in the process of building brand awareness and increasing sales. An added value of affiliate cooperation with publishers is the fact that we do not incur any additional costs for the branding activities publishers carry out for us in their campaigns. Throughout the cooperation, we continue to work based on the Cost Per Sale performance model.
Yes, there are no industry limitations when it comes to affiliate marketing. Of course, some industries are already well established in affiliate marketing, which makes it easier for them to attract publishers, because the number of publishers in popular industries is also constantly growing (fashion and cosmetics, books, electronics, furniture, children’s products, or gadgets).
At the same time, less popular and niche industries often find it easier to stand out among typical affiliate programs and, as a result, attract publishers to work with them. More and more websites focused on narrow industry topics are appearing online, and these platforms are highly specialized in their fields. As a result, they gather followers who are genuinely interested in the topic, engaged, and active. And that is exactly what is most valuable in affiliate marketing — not the size of the community built around a publisher, but its active engagement and response to the content being published.
Smaller e-commerce businesses have lower advertising budgets. That’s exactly why affiliate marketing is ideal for them!
Absolutely no store should give up on affiliate marketing activities. On the contrary, it should implement affiliate marketing at an early stage of the store’s development. Affiliate marketing is not a classic promotional campaign where we set a budget, launch it, and see what happens. Running your own partner program (affiliate program) is a process — above all, a process of building a network of publishers, and the earlier we start it, the sooner we will see measurable results.
In Western Europe, 80% of online stores use affiliate marketing. It is a “must-have” for every online business, both small e-commerce companies and large online stores that have been operating for years. One of the pioneers of affiliate marketing in the United States was Amazon (in 1996), whose partner program is still running today, and its development continues continuously.
In affiliate marketing for e-commerce, we do not need to have a predefined advertising budget, because we operate on a commission-based model tied to sales. So the key issue is not the size of the budget set at the start, but rather the commission rate we offer publishers. The higher the commission, the more attractive it is, of course. But the commission also depends on the industry. Where expensive products are sold, a 5% commission may be attractive. However, if the average shopping cart value is less than PLN 100, then a 5% commission is no longer as attractive from the publishers’ perspective.
Cost Per Sale (CPS for short) in affiliate marketing is a commission-based model for compensating publishers in exchange for promoting the advertiser’s products. In this way, the advertiser pays only for advertising that delivers a result in the form of a sale.
The advertiser independently determines what percentage of sales they can share with the publisher. Information about the Cost Per Sale rate is included in the terms of the affiliate program. Therefore, before the publisher starts promoting the advertiser’s products, they can check what commission they can expect from a successful promotion.
An advertiser registered in the affiliate network has access to a panel where they can approve or reject sales resulting from publishers’ referrals. The advertiser settles payments with publishers in a single monthly payment. The affiliate system totals all transactions and independently pays remuneration to individual publishers as soon as it receives the transfer from the advertiser.
Affiliate marketing can be conducted:
An affiliate platform such as webeAds provides the technological infrastructure needed to launch a program, as well as a range of free affiliate tools for publishers. These tools enable publishers to promote products from stores in various ways and thereby support sales in the store.
webeAds is an affiliate system for small and medium-sized brands to independently run an affiliate program and manage advertising campaigns on publishers’ placements. webeAds guides the advertiser through the process of launching an affiliate program. webeAds has all the functionalities of an affiliate network and access to the webePartners database of potential publishers.
When an affiliate program is launched in the affiliate network, information about the new program is sent to all publishers. The affiliate program appears on the list of available programs in the publisher’s panel. This means that all registered publishers, as well as new ones who register with the affiliate network every day, have the opportunity to join the program. The advertiser reviews and analyzes the publishers who apply to their program and either approves their application or not.
But that’s not all. At the same time, the advertiser can invite publishers registered with webeAds to cooperate, even if they have not applied to the program on their own. The Affiliate Marketplace was created for this purpose. The invitation process is very simple: the advertiser only needs to select those they would like to work with and click the “invite” button.
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The key to success in affiliate marketing is working with publishers who are credible in their recommendations. Therefore, if we sell products for children, it is best to work with publishers whose placements focus specifically on parenting topics. In that case, we benefit from their position as an expert in this field. Our offer reaches an audience interested in products for children of a specific age, who base their purchasing decisions on the advice of our publisher.
However, this is not the only group of publishers we can work with on an affiliate platform. If we offer discount codes or run discounts, sales, or other promotions in the store, it is a good idea to work with coupon and cashback websites as well. As part of affiliate marketing, we can also run campaigns in Google Ads or Google Shopping.
The Affiliate Marketplace database also includes publishers who run email marketing campaigns within affiliate programs. Once the mailing details have been agreed in advance and the advertising creatives have been finalized, it is worth testing this type of cooperation. The group of publishers also includes price comparison websites as well as industry-specific directories and product search engines. It is therefore worth making sure that our offer is also added to the product listings on the publisher’s website.
To learn more, check out the article: How to Be a Good Advertiser? 10 Rules to Follow.
