Affiliate marketing is the process of partnering with bloggers, publishers, or influencers to promote your products. Let’s take a look at some of the right companies to consider for a successful partnership.

When you think of marketing strategies for your online business, what comes to mind? Social media marketing, paid advertising, email marketing are some of the most popular methods. But have you ever considered affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process of partnering with bloggers, publishers, or influencers to promote your products to their audience. They receive a commission for the products they sell, and you can reach new potential customers.

Affiliate marketing is growing in popularity year after year, and currently accounts for 16% of online sales in the United States. Plus, it’s a way to increase your profits with less risk and effort. Affiliate marketing software makes it easier to manage. Explore the software options for affiliate programs below and find the right tool for your business.

What is Affiliate Marketing Software?

Affiliate marketing software (or affiliate management software) is a type of marketing tool that brands use to support their affiliate marketing programs and streamline business operations. This software can track sales referral methods (such as coupon codes or affiliate links), affiliate marketer earnings, affiliate commission rates, and payments. It can also be used to market, recruit, and manage affiliates.

The best affiliate software integrates with other ecommerce platforms, like Shopify. Software costs can vary, but our data suggests monthly fees range from $25 to $750 .

To start an affiliate marketing program, you need tools to create custom links, track commissions, and pay affiliates. Affiliate management software allows you to spend more time on high-impact work.

Now that you understand the basics of affiliate marketing, let’s take a look at 8 recommended software to get your program started, along with criteria to consider when choosing new software to manage your affiliate program.

Affiliate Marketing Software

1. Affiliaty
2. Everflow
3. Referral
4. Tapfiliate
5. Post Affiliate Pro
6. LeadDyno
7. UpPromote

Now that you know what to look for when evaluating your options, let’s take a look at seven popular affiliate marketing software that can streamline your business’s referral program. Check out the key features (e.g., coupon codes, advanced analytics), costs, and user reviews of each affiliate marketing tool.

1. Affiliatly

Affiliatly is an affiliate marketing tool that helps you manage your partners from a single dashboard. It can be integrated with your Shopify store or other platforms, and tracks sales from your website and connects them to affiliates. You can track affiliate sales by email, SKU, coupon code, link, and more.

Affiliatly's main features are:

• Affiliate Portal : Partners can log into their own dashboard to create customized affiliate links, view past sales, and track commission payments.
• Set custom commissions : You can offer generous commissions to your top affiliates or set different payouts for different products. For example, you can adjust the commission rate based on the product’s profit margin. A product with a 50% profit margin could offer a 10% commission, while a product with a 20% profit margin could offer a 5% commission. You can also offer store credit or gift cards to encourage affiliates to purchase your products.

• Checkout Affiliate Popup : For many brands, finding new partnership opportunities is the hardest part when running a referral program. There’s no better affiliate than an existing customer who knows your product well. With Affiliatly, you can add a popup box to your Shopify checkout page and invite new customers to join your referral program.

G2 rating : 4.4 out of 5 .

price : Starting at $16/month, with a 90-day free trial.

2. Everflow

Everflow is an affiliate marketing program that tracks sales data from multiple sources. Designed primarily for established online stores or growing businesses, Everflow’s key features include:

• Coupon Code Tracking : Instead of driving traffic through custom links, affiliate partners can create coupon codes for their audience. Not only does this provide an incentive to drive purchases, Everflow tracks coupon code usage and attributes sales to the affiliate marketer who shared it.

• Click-to-Conversion Reporting : This feature helps prevent affiliate fraud and link abuse. You can be notified when suspicious activity is detected.

• QR Codes : If you are working with affiliates who have influence in a specific area, you can use trackable QR codes to drive sales offline. Each affiliate can print their own QR code and receive credit when a purchase is made, expanding the reach of your affiliate marketing program.

G2 rating : 4.8 out of 5 .

Pricing : Starting at $750 per month.

3. Referral

Refersion is another tool to consider to support your affiliate marketing campaigns. The software provides real-time insights into who your affiliates are, how much revenue they are generating for your business, and even provides a built-in post-purchase marketing channel to invite customers to become affiliates.

Refersion's affiliate marketing software, used by successful online businesses like Magic Spoon and Pura Vida Bracelets, offers:

• Access the Affiliate Marketplace : Find 5,000+ qualified influencers, content creators, bloggers, and more through the Refersion Marketplace. Invite them to your affiliate program with just a few clicks.

• Email Marketing : Keep in touch with your affiliates automatically. Send automated emails when their affiliate program application is approved, when a sale is made, when a payment is processed, and send personalized broadcasts to inform them about new products and discounts.

• Affiliate Payments : You can pay your affiliates in a lump sum at the end of each month using Refersion’s PayPal integration. Or, if you want to offer gift cards to encourage customers to refer a friend, you can email a unique code to eligible affiliates.

G2 rating : 3.5 out of 5 .

Pricing : Starts at $99 per month for an annual subscription, with a 14-day free trial.

4. Tapfiliate

Tapfiliate is an affiliate tracking software that integrates with Shopify. These ecommerce brands use this affiliate marketing tool to track the commissions earned by their referrals, affiliates, and influencers.

Tapfiliate's main features are:

• Brand Asset Manager : Provides pre-made brand assets to help affiliates promote their products. You can upload logos, social media templates, and HTML banners to ensure that all marketing your affiliates do on behalf of your business remains on brand.

• Top Affiliate Bonus : We reward top affiliates who reach a certain number of referred customers by paying them a bonus.

• Multilingual Support : If you want to expand your customer base and reach international customers, you can leverage affiliates who have a local audience. Tapfiliate supports 6 languages, including French, Spanish, and German.

G2 rating : 3.6 out of 5 .

Pricing : Starting at $89 per month, with a 14-day free trial.

5. Post Affiliate Pro

Post Affiliate Pro is a platform that handles all aspects of your affiliate marketing program. It manages everything from inviting influencers to monitoring results and paying out commissions.

Ecommerce brands use Post Affiliate Pro to:

• Clone your site : Create custom landing pages for each affiliate’s audience. It’s easier to drive sales when new customers see people they know, like, and trust on your product pages.

• Top URL Reporting : Find your top performing products after excluding all non-affiliate sales. Sharing this information with your affiliates can make it easier for new affiliates, especially, to promote your best-selling products and earn their first commission.

• Advanced Payment Integrations : Many affiliate programs only allow brands to pay commissions through PayPal. Post Affiliate Pro integrates with tools like ReCharge, WorldPay, and Stripe, allowing affiliates to pay in the way they prefer.

G2 rating : 4.5 out of 5 .

Pricing : Starting at $129 per month, with a free trial.

6. LeadDyno

LeadDyno is a Shopify app designed for software as a service (SaaS) and e-commerce businesses that helps you run your own affiliate program. Use the dashboard to recruit and engage affiliates. As your sales increase, so does your business revenue through affiliate marketing.

Key features available to LeadDyno customers include:

• Branded Dashboard : Add your brand name, logo, and custom colors to your affiliate dashboard and connect it to your online store.

• Affiliate Invitation Form : Provide an onboarding form where you can collect key information about your potential affiliates. This form allows you to check their audience size, social media links, number of followers, etc., and only accept those who meet your criteria.

• Mobile App : Affiliates can check their reports on the go with LeadDyno’s mobile app. This is especially useful for affiliates with offline audiences.

G2 rating : 4.2 out of 5 .

Pricing : Starting at $49 per month, with a 30-day free trial.

7. UpPromote

UpPromote is an affiliate software solution designed for small business owners looking for a tool to manage their affiliate marketing operations with little or no software budget. Easy to use even for users with limited technical knowledge.

• Real-time tracking : Real-time reports let you see immediately which affiliates are driving sales. No need to wait for your referrals to make a purchase.

• Professional Email Templates : We provide pre-made templates to send emails to new affiliates, confirm payments, and motivate partners to continue promoting your products.

• Affiliate Marketplace : The UpPromote Marketplace allows you to search for influencers in your industry. This is a great way for beginners, including new brands without a loyal customer base, to get started with their first affiliate program.

G2 rating : 4.5 out of 5

Pricing : A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $29.99 per month.

8 Things to Consider When Choosing Affiliate Marketing Software

1. Online Store Compatibility
2. Affiliate Analysis
3. Commission Structure Flexibility
4. Cookie Window Options
5. Payment Options
6. Fraud Detection
7. Built-in CRM
8. Automation

As you build your affiliate program and prepare to attract affiliate partners, it’s important to know what to look for in an affiliate marketing tool. Here are some things to consider when choosing software to support your affiliate marketing efforts.

1. Online Store Compatibility

When choosing affiliate marketing software, look for compatibility with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify. Integrating business tools provides transparency across your brand and gives you complete visibility into the revenue your affiliates generate for your business. Access to real-time tracking information can help you make informed affiliate marketing decisions.

2. Affiliate Analysis

A successful affiliate marketing program provides clear insights into your top affiliate partners. Choose an affiliate management tool that shows you how many sales and clicks each affiliate has generated, and how much of your traffic has converted to purchases. (The average conversion rate for affiliate marketing is 0.5% to 1% .)

3. Commission Structure Flexibility

There are many ways to reward your affiliates for bringing in customers. These include coupon codes, cash bonuses, and percentage commissions. Choose a software that gives you the flexibility to integrate different commission structures into your affiliate program. For example, you need software that supports pay-per-sale, pay-per-action, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, etc.

4. Cookie Window Options

How long does it take for your affiliate audience to visit your site and make a purchase? High-priced items usually have a longer purchase process, while cheap, trendy items can convert to a sale within one session. Consider your average sales cycle and choose an affiliate tracking software that supports custom cookie window properties. This is the period of time before your affiliate commission expires before a customer takes action.

5. Payment Options

To streamline and streamline the process, look for affiliate software that syncs with your business bank account or PayPal. Ideally, you should be able to pay your affiliates with just a few clicks, without the need for spreadsheets or manual payments.

6. Fraud Detection

Unfortunately, some marketers may try to earn commissions by sending spam traffic or creating fake orders. To avoid this from happening, make sure your affiliate software has fraud detection features and reliable customer support.

7. Built-in CRM

Sending seasonal promotions, marketing messages, and new product launches helps affiliates create their own campaigns. Choose a tool that includes built-in customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities and seamlessly integrates with email marketing and direct messaging, reducing your tech stack to one tool.

8. Automation

Affiliate platforms often automate things like affiliate invitations, onboarding new influencers, and paying out commissions. By automating your affiliate marketing program, you can focus your resources on other areas and run your business more efficiently.

What affiliate marketing tools are included in your technology stack?

There are a lot of affiliate software options to choose from when starting an affiliate program for your business. Looking for more options? The Shopify App Store has a number of affiliate marketing tools, many of which offer free trials. Try one out and see which one best suits your needs.

Affiliate Marketing Software FAQs