How to set affiliate rewards for a software product

Your reward is the first thing a creator reads about you. It decides who joins, and it's the one number you can change to grow the programme without spending on anything else. This lesson is how to set one creators say yes to, and what it costs you.

Start from the usual deal

A new programme starts from the deal that fits what you sell:

• Subscriptions: 20% of every payment for 12 months. It's the usual software deal, and the one creators look for.
• One-off sales: 10% of each sale.

Both are only a starting point; change anything before you go live.

Choose what you pay for

• Every payment, for some months or for as long as the customer pays. Creators earn on renewals, so they keep promoting a product people keep.
• The first payment only, when your customers pay once or you'd rather keep it simple.
• A lead: a signup, a trial or an event you name, paid once per customer. Useful when your free plan is the product people start on.
• Different rewards for different cases: by plan, billing interval, first or later payment, new or returning customer, country, or the creator's tier.
• Groups: your best creators can be in a group with a higher reward, and promotions can move creators up when they reach a target.

What it costs you: a worked example

You sell a plan at 50.00 a month and pay 20% of every payment for 12 months.

• The creator earns 10.00 on each payment.
• Our fee is 15% of the reward, on top: 1.50.
• You pay 11.50 for each payment, and 138.00 over the 12 months for a customer who stays the whole time.

There's no monthly fee and no fee on your sales; you only pay when a customer pays you. Put that next to what a paying customer costs you today through ads.

What makes creators say yes

• A recurring reward on a product people keep.
• A free plan or trial, so the first click is easy for their audience.
• A discount for their audience: a creator's code with a discount gives their viewers a reason to use it, and a code beats a click.
• A fair cookie window. 30 days is the default; you can set up to 90.
• Fast, fair approvals. Creators talk to each other.

Changing rewards later

• A raise applies at once.
• A cut reaches existing members 30 days after you make it, and customers they'd already brought keep earning at the rules they were brought under.
• Ending the programme stops recurring rewards 30 days later. Creators are told all of this when they join.