10 amazing ways affiliate marketing will transform your eCommerce business
The key to any e-commerce business is to increase the number of ways you can make money from it. Once you have multiple working sources of income, it is important to optimize and maintain them so that they grow naturally over time. Using tools like affiliate marketing and deadline extensions are great ways to extend your business beyond any preconceived limits you’ve ever had. Here are ten amazing ways that affiliate marketing will transform your eCommerce business.
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1. Indirectly grow your sales team
Most online entrepreneurs are working alone or have a very small team. This means that there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to market and sell your products directly. Affiliates do all the leg work for you so you can sit back and handle the rest of your operation. They bring new traffic without you having to do much more than protect them initially. This makes it worthwhile to pay the commission they charge on each and every sale, as you wouldn’t even get that sale in the first place if it wasn’t for them.
2. Multiple paths to conversion
There are multiple incentives you can use to get affiliates interested in selling your products. You can have them receive people’s emails, fill out a form, download a pdf, or make a direct sale. Each type of incentive works best for certain customers, so playing all of these angles is a great way to get more conversions from a variety of potential customers and consumers.
3. Improve customer loyalty
Returning customers are more likely to spend a lot of money than a new face. Leveraging existing fan bases and turning them into your customers enables you to sell to them even more in the future. Once you have a list of past customers, you can start offering great products to them and use convenient features like delivery date extensions to increase your likelihood of purchasing additional items or services.
4. Improve credibility
Having an affiliate group increases your credibility as it can show that many people endorse your products. Some leads are more skeptical, and no amount of clever marketing will pull them off the trigger. For these difficult customers, you must show that other people have enjoyed your product and found value in it. Once they see that others are happy, they are much more willing to try their offers.
5. Better budget and ROI
You can save on marketing costs by using affiliates. With a traditional ad, pay for space or clicks that may or may not lead to actual sales. You only have to pay your affiliates when they convert, so you are guaranteed to make a profit.
6. User generated content overload
For those days, when you sit down to work, but the creative juices just don’t flow, you can trust your affiliates to create content that still generates income for you. Since they also want to be paid, good affiliates will maintain a steady stream of content that cycles through past products so you can still earn dollars as you struggle to plan your next move.
7. Develop brand ambassadors.
Influencers can nudge their followers in the direction of your products and show that your brand is one worth keeping in mind. The best influencers flaunt their products by actually showing off using them in their daily lives. This strengthens your brand recognition among thousands, if not millions, of potential customers who will now turn to you when they need to make a purchase.
8. Quick results
Traditional digital marketing takes an average of 6 to 9 months before breaking even and succeeding. You can accomplish a lot in that time, and some business owners can’t afford to wait that long. Affiliates can produce sales almost immediately as most of them have already established followers and funnels with which to convert sales. Take advantage of your existing online presence while building yours to maximize your profits.
9. Develop your niche
Knowing your audience is a crucial part of any business, and affiliate marketing is a great way to meet those who would be interested in your products. When you partner with someone, you can see first-hand what kind of customers attract your brand. Once you have an idea of who you appeal to, you can customize your campaigns to target more people with similar interests and needs. This leads to more conversions and sales as you have leads that have already shown they like what you are offering.
10. Custom target audience
Digital marketing on sites like Facebook has come a long way. It can target people with very specific hobbies, interests, or geographic locations. However, there is no way to see for yourself if those types of people see your ad. With affiliates, you have much more control over where and to whom your advertising is placed. This saves you money and time since only the people you want to target are seeing your business.