[Guide] How to create an affiliate program for your e-commerce site?

Need a guide to affiliate marketing for your e-commerce site ? Get a crash course by reading this article! Discover the techniques and tools used by affiliates to attract web traffic from Google, how to create an effective affiliate program to increase your product sales, and the affiliate platforms used by freelancers, VSEs, SMEs, ETIs and major accounts. Ready to save time? Here's a simple digital marketing lesson just for you, dear e-merchant:

See all software Affiliate Marketing

Understanding how affiliate marketing works

Affiliate marketing is, above all, performance marketing. Let's start with a few definitions to help you master the basics.

Defining affiliation

The term affiliate program is used to describe an activity capable of driving traffic to a website using the tools of online advertising on other websites.

The mechanics of customer acquisition are as follows: an advertiser (merchant), known as the affiliator, displays its ads on the websites of affiliates (website publishers) and remunerates them according to the actions carried out by visitors.

The affiliate is remunerated on the basis of an action carried out by the visitor and corresponding to a performance objective defined in advance.

Examples of pay-for-performance objectives:

• sales objective: the visitor clicks on the advertisement displayed on an affiliate's website to go to the advertiser's website and buy a product, thus becoming a customer;
• qualified lead generation objective: the visitor clicks on the advertisement displayed on an affiliate's website to go to the advertiser's site, and fills in a contact form to request an online quote or download a white paper.

An affiliate program differs from Google Adwords advertising in that the advertiser pays its affiliates solely in exchange for performance achieved, for actions carried out by web users on its e-commerce site.

Affiliation platform: definition

An affiliation platform is a neutral online service that links affiliators and affiliates:

• it gathers requests from advertisers and brands,
• it offers a network of affiliates and publisher sites,
• It is an online marketplace,
• it measures the return on each affiliate's campaigns,
• centralizes management and commissions,
• it remunerates affiliates according to performance.

At first glance, an e-commerce affiliation platform looks like a simple website: in reality, it's equipped with advanced technology. The term "software" is therefore more appropriate when referring to platforms.

Commission mode: affiliate remuneration

Each objective has its own method of affiliate remuneration :

• CPL, or cost per lead: the affiliate site is remunerated when the surfer fills in a form on the advertiser's site, if this is the objective;


• CPA (cost per action): this is the most popular remuneration method today, as it corresponds to a real action carried out by the surfer, such as a purchase;


• CPC (cost per click): commission is paid according to the number of clicks on the ad. This is how Google Adsense works. The more in-demand the sector, the higher the price;


• CPI or cost per integration: web users integrate a widget on their sites, and the affiliate is paid according to the number of integrations carried out;


• CPM or cost per thousand page views: this type of commission is becoming increasingly rare. Using a cookie to prevent fraud, it can still be used to boost a website's authority in its sector.

It's in the advertiser's best interest to develop a network of partner sites by building long-term relationships with affiliates: the choice of the type of affiliation commission paid to the affiliate must be both attractive to the affiliate and profitable for the advertiser.

Which affiliation platform to choose?

There are many affiliation platforms in France. So how do you choose your affiliation platform? Answer:

For advertisers, the main criteria in choosing a platform are the quality of the affiliate network (88%), the expertise of the teams (74%) and the reliability of tracking (66%).

Source: Collectif Performance Acquisition (CPA)

The 3 main selection criteria

Which affiliation platform should you choose ? 3 criteria for selection:

• Criterion n°1: the quality of the affiliate network. The primary interest for a e-commerce site is to find a significant number of affiliates, and sites publishing quality content to exploit;


• Criteria n°2: performance measurement and tracking. Indicators must be precise and customizable, as they enable affiliates to be remunerated according to the sales they generate;


• Criterion no. 3: simplified management at every level. A good affiliation platform must simplify the management of product flows, financial flows, payments, tracking, etc., in order to ensure the loyalty of both affiliates and affiliate customers.

When a platform combines these 3 criteria, it offers innovative technology that enables it to offer high-performance advertising solutions for both advertisers and affiliates.

Understanding the 3 types of affiliate solutions

There are many different solutions available on the affiliate marketing market. To help you make the best choice, the table below explains the differences between the 3 main types of solution.

As an advertiser, you need to ask yourself the following question: is the management of my affiliate program strategic for the development of my business?

👉 The answer is no: in this case, it's advisable to opt for a SaaS solution to benefit from a pool of quality affiliates, using 1TPE or Selldorado.

👉 The answer is yes: in this case, it's advisable to choose a solution like Effiliation, for example. You'll then benefit from personalized support to set up a customized strategy tailored to your objectives.

👉 White-label technical solutions such as Effinity MarTech or Hasoffers are aimed at specialized agencies and marketing departments experienced in affiliate marketing for advertisers.

2 traditional affiliation platforms

Effiliation: a platform with dedicated support

Effiliation is the platform dedicated to advertisers looking for guidance and a personalized approach to implementing a winning strategy to achieve their objectives.

Also positioned as a B2C and B2B affiliation consultancy, Effiliation - the Effinity Group's historic affiliation service - offers the opportunity to combine several acquisition levers to arrive at the most effective combination.

Site publishers are not left out:

• they also benefit from support in accessing advertisers by affinity,
• they benefit from the Effinity Group's innovative technology (API for data access, browser player for deeplink, etc.),
• they track their performance using precise reporting tools.

Effiliation enables hyper-customization of the affiliate partner program to maximize the return on investment and performance of each affiliate campaign for both parties.

Affilinet, display marketing performance

This platform has already won over companies such as Grosbill, Thomas Cook and matelsom.

Focus on affilinet's Performance Ads tool: display marketing from affilinet generates sales through personalized, automated advertising on affiliated publisher sites.

Please note: Awin and Affilinet have merged under the name Awin. Discover Awin on video:

This is a great strength for both advertiser and affiliate: visitor behavior is analyzed. Their centers of interest come to the fore.

The tool leverages the site's traffic to deliver the ad to the right person for better conversion.

Here again, the idea is to offer contextualized, high-quality content.

Note: affilinet offers its platform to advertisers, agencies (white-label platform) and publishers. Each will find its own advantages, including tracking functionalities, management of advertising tools, retargeting, product catalog feeds, etc.

2 white-label technical solutions

Effinity Martech, the relevance of personalization for e-tailers

Effinity's SaaS tracking and partner management solution appeals to e-merchants and larger affiliates such as SMEs, ETIs and major groups like PriceMinister, boulanger and M6 web.

A host of advanced functions enable you to manage costs per click (CPC), CPL, CPA, conversions, affiliate programs and banner rotation.

Effinity Martech enables e-tailers to deliver the right offer to the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

A suite for everyone:

• the advertiser controls multipoint and multidevice tracking, measures performance and remuneration in real time, controls its couponing affiliates, simplifies product flow management and saves time with tag management that encapsulates publisher tags;


• affiliates enjoy a high degree of autonomy in balancing their relationship with the advertiser, a simplified billing tool and dynamic, varied advertising space;


• agencies use the white-label platform, customize the interface, manage several advertisers within the same interface and create all their multi-media campaigns.

Hasoffers: an alternative American technical solution

A solution widely used in the United States, Hasoffers also offers instant visibility of the performance of each affiliate campaign, enabling real-time decision-making.

Main features of the solution :

• affiliate management and tracking,
• banner management, tracking of clicks and conversions,
• commission management,
• coupon management,
• automation of certain tasks,
• etc.

Hasoffers can also communicate with third-party applications such as billing solutions.

The platform generates reports focusing on mobile usage. This enables certain users of the solution to understand user behavior.

2 SaaS solutions for small accounts

1TPE for the sale of digital products

Self-employed entrepreneurs and small businesses have access to an affiliation platform dedicated to the promotion of their virtual products and intangible products such as training courses, ebooks, software, tutorials and videos, supported by a network of 165,299 affiliates.

Affiliates can earn up to 70% commission on sales:this is a pay-for-performance system.

The advantages of the 1TPE platform :

• payment system management (cheque, Paypal transfer, bank transfer),
• sales tracking,
• affiliate payment,
• VAT management, mandatory declarations,
• customer support and refund management.

Selldorado for small e-commerce sites

Smaller e-commerce sites, such as very small businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs, are particularly keen to use the affiliation platform, as it offers a better return on investment than Google Adwords advertising.

The quality of the sites makes it possible to display offers or advertisements in a contextualized way.

An offer is much more likely to perform when it has a strong affinity with relevant content!

By using the Selldorado platform, e-tailers benefit from the advantages of the Affiliation network (parent company):

• a unique pool of 15 million buyers,
• full support for the implementation of couponing leverage,
• automated operation for cashback offers (% refund to the buyer),
• conversion management, recurring commissions,
• program management, tracking, payment, etc.

See all software Affiliate Marketing

What traffic-acquisition tools should I use?

Affiliates are generally well-versed in webmarketing techniques: some advertisers leave them free to choose the advertising material or affiliation techniques they wish to use, while others prefer to control their brand image by providing advertising creatives and precise guidelines themselves.

It's essential to define the conditions contractually, so that everything is clear.

Overview of existing levers.

Affiliate a site or blog that Google likes

In simple terms, this means advertising on sites that appear on the 1st page of Google search engine results.

These websites have worked on their SEO (Search Engine Optimization): they have optimized their text content for Google's natural referencing. Mathematically, these sites attract a large audience, which is generally of high quality for e-tailers.

You can choose between 3 options:

• choice n°1: use text links, image or video banners on content sites. The site offers a wealth of quality information for the surfer. The audience is qualified in relation to a specific theme: visibility for the advertiser is therefore very good;


• choice n°2: use coupon, promo code or cashback sites. The Internet user's buying intention is clear: he or she is looking to obtain a discount, rebate or financial advantage by visiting this type of site. Affiliates can entice visitors with coupons, by email, a banner or a simple text link;


• choice n°3: online price comparison sites. Conversion rates work well for e-commerce advertisers. Internet users want to buy at the lowest price. They find it in online product catalogs.

Buying keywords, or sponsored links

This involves responding to a request from an Internet user who performs a search by typing in a key expression on a search engine such as Google or Bing, with a text ad containing a link, like Adwords.

This can boost your site's SEO or lead the surfer to a specific action.

This practice requires a mastery of the world of SEO, and is generally entrusted to agencies or consultants specialized in SEO and paid search: a keyword study is indeed necessary upstream.

Email acquisition

Some affiliates have a qualified e-mail base: this audience can be subjected to special offers of limited duration, for example, or to an e-mailing scenario that encourages them to make a purchase over time.

Some sites may also place a banner or sponsored link in their newsletter.

Advertising on social networks

Affiliates with Facebook pages, and therefore an audience for a given theme, use a range of levers to make their affiliate campaigns profitable: Facebook Ads, clickable links in text statuses associated with the publication of a video, sponsored content, and so on.

Other affiliates master Youtube, Twitter Ads, Instagram and more. It all depends on the sector and the target audience!

Retargeting advertising

When an Internet user visits the advertiser's site without making a purchase or taking any action, it's possible to push messages via ads on the affiliate sites they visit.

Pure product promotion, webinar, price comparison... anything is possible, depending on the context.

If certain recipes work for one sector, they don't necessarily work for others. To complete our guide to e-commerce affiliation, we offer you the advice of the Collectif Performance Acquisition on creating a successful affiliation program: