Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies offer some lesser-known affiliate programs, but they represent very lucrative opportunities
Top 20 SaaS Software Affiliate Programs in 2022. Source: depositphotos.com
If you have a social platform, some spare time, and are looking for another source of income, affiliate marketing is the way to go. Affiliate marketing is a marketing model in which third-party promoters earn commissions for advertising products and driving conversions for a company using personalized affiliate links.
SaaS as an industry is continuously growing, and so is affiliate marketing. With more and more SaaS companies turning to affiliate marketing to generate traffic, there is a growing demand for affiliates. Currently, SaaS affiliate programs offer some of the highest commission rates and serve as a passive stream of income due to their recurring commissions on monthly or yearly subscriptions.
Things to Look Out For
Before signing up for affiliate programs, you should consider some factors, such as technical capabilities, commission rates, payouts, cookie lifespan, brand recognition, and vendor transparency. Ideally, you can find a company that offers cookieless tracking with an easy-to-use API, high commissions, and good brand recognition. Commission rates for SaaS affiliate programs are typically around 20%, but you should also consider the price of the products and the difficulty of marketing them. Choose a program that will justify your efforts.
Also, check the payout terms – frequency, payment methods, and payment threshold – to make sure they are convenient for you. If the company does use cookies for tracking, look for the longest possible cookie lifespan as that is crucial for your earnings; if a purchase is made from your affiliate link after a cookie expires, you won’t get credit for the purchase. Don’t consider any programs with a cookie lifespan shorter than 30 days.
Abstain from promoting poor-quality products from unknown brands, as they are harder to advertise, have lower conversions, and can even ruin your reputation. And lastly, make sure the terms and conditions of the affiliate program are clearly defined before you start working.
The Best Affiliate Programs
Now let’s discuss some of the best SaaS affiliate programs currently on the market and what they can offer you.
1. Akurateco
Akurteco is a white-label payment software provider that offers three main products: a payment orchestration platform, a white-label payment gateway, and payment gateway source code. They offer a generous 30% of their net revenue for every successfully placed client once they set up the system and begin accepting payments. You get a commission not only on the initial purchase of the software, but also on the user’s following transactions. Therefore, this is an excellent option for a passive source of income.
Cookie lifespan: 180 days
2. OmniSend
OmniSend is a marketing automation platform designed for e-commerce that automates emails, SMS, and push notifications. They offer up to a 300% one-time commission for referred businesses that join a paid plan, meaning you can earn up to $1200 per successful referral. They make it easy for you to market their product by providing content bundles and an account manager that will help you maximize your earnings.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
3. HubSpot
Hubspot is a software developer for inbound marketing, sales, and CRM. They offer up to one year of 15% recurring commissions or a 100% flat rate for the first month’s revenue. They also offer monthly bonuses for free user sign-ups ranging from $5 to $25, based on the number of referrals. You are provided with all the necessary marketing materials: demo videos, banners, etc. Hubspot has a good reputation and is one of the most well-known brands in the SaaS industry, meaning their expectations are high, but their products are also easier to promote.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
4. Wix
Wix is a web development software that provides drag-and-drop tools for designing websites and mobile sites. They offer a $100 payout per sale with unlimited referrals. You get the necessary creative resources and an intuitive dashboard to track traffic, view statistics, customize reports, check payments, and more to help maximize your earnings.
Cookie lifespan: 30 days
5. Tribe
Tribe is a customizable community platform that assists businesses and creators in launching their own branded online communities. They offer subscription and renewal commissions in three tiers: 15% for your first 10 conversions, then 20% until you drive 50 conversions, after which you earn a 25% commission. You get access to a portal with images, email templates, videos, and other marketing content.
Cookie lifespan: 60 days
6. Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows merchants in any industry to set up online stores and sell their products. They offer a 200% commission on their plans ranging from $29 to $299 per month for the first two months after the user signs up. You get access to the creative resources you need, educational materials, and detailed performance insights in your personalized dashboard.
Cookie lifespan: 30 days
7. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email marketing tool designed for content creators that helps in building landing pages and selling products and services over email. You can earn commissions from people signing up for their webinars or purchasing one of their packages. They offer a recurring 30% commission for every sale on plans that range from $29 to $2000 per month. You get access to a training course, a commission calculator, a dashboard to track your progress, pre-made graphics and videos, and webinar content.
Cookie lifespan: 30 days
8. AWeber
AWeber is an email marketing app that assists in creating mailing lists, landing pages, push notifications, designing newsletters, and other tools that are in high demand with businesses. They offer 30% commissions on plans that cost $19.99 per month. You get access to an advocate’s toolkit with articles and ads to post, visitor and sales stats, email sale notices, and customer referral newsletters.
Cookie lifespan: 365 days
9. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an e-commerce platform that helps with online store creation, search engine optimization, marketing, and more for small to enterprise-sized businesses. They offer a 200% commission for the first monthly payment of new customers or $1500 per referral for the Enterprise plan. There are no commission caps or minimum commitments, and with more referrals, you can increase your commission. They provide you with pre-made banners, blogs, webinars, and other promotional content, a comprehensive dashboard for tracking your progress, and an account manager who can help you make the most of affiliate marketing.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
10. Weebly
Weebly is a website builder that makes it easy for users to create personal websites, blogs, or online stores and provides e-commerce tools to help them grow their business. Weebly offers an affiliate program through the ShareASale network. They offer a 30% commission with no limits on your earnings; you can earn $80+ EPC and even more with regular bonus opportunities.
Cookie lifespan: 120 days
11. Canva
Canva is a design software that offers easy solutions for producing high-quality graphics with its layouts, photos, designs, and more. They have good brand recognition with an existing 60 million active users, and you can earn up to $36 for each new Canva Pro subscriber. They provide all the tools necessary for promotion, priority support, and tracking software to view your progress.
Cookie lifespan: 30 days
12. SurveySparrow
SurveySparrow is a survey and customer experience management platform that helps users create well-designed surveys. They offer a lifelong 25% commission for every sale you bring on plans starting at $149 per month. High-performing affiliates can receive a $500 bonus if they generate over $5000 a month. They have multiple channels for communication, such as Slack, Google Hangout, and email, as well as an affiliate manager who will provide training and support throughout your affiliate journey.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
13. Teachable
Teachable is a platform that assists creators and coaches in creating their own course website and controlling the branding, student information, messaging, and pricing from one place. They offer up to 50% in recurring commissions, and you receive higher commission rates with more conversions. You get access to a partner portal and can use your tracking links to monitor how well different activities perform.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
14. PipeDrive
Pipedrive is a CRM tool that suits many different business models. It helps manage leads, track communication, create reports, and more. They offer a 20% commission of all revenue from the first year that a client uses a program. There is no minimum sales requirement or a cap on your earnings. They provide you with an inventory of all the marketing material you need, a reporting dashboard from PartnerStack, and dedicated support from Partner Commerce to help you succeed.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
15. Markup Hero
Markup Hero is a screenshot and annotation tool made to increase productivity and improve communication. They offer 30% recurring commissions on monthly or annual plans or other products that average $48 per year. Even though the commissions might be small, it is easy to make a lot of conversions. You can create customizable referral links, get a personal dashboard to track your clicks and earnings, and get paid monthly via PayPal.
Cookie lifespan: 180 days
16. Woorise
Woorise is a platform that helps users create a range of promotional campaigns, landing pages, and engaging forms (e.g., hosting giveaways). They offer up to 30% in recurring commissions, and you get the option of earning cash credit which you can apply to your own monthly plan or get paid via PayPal once you acquire $100. After signing up, you get access to a personalized dashboard where you can track your conversions and see your progress.
Cookie lifespan: 120 days
17. Fiverr
Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelancers to offer their services worldwide. They offer a $15-$150 CPA or a hybrid $10 fixed CPA plus 10% RevShare for a year. There are four products you can promote:
- Fiverr business: $100 CPA once the user spends $100 + 10% RevShare for 12 months
- Fiverr affiliates: a lifelong 10% of every referred affiliate’s earnings
- Fiverr learn: 30% of every course order
- Fiverr workplace: 50% of every unlimited plan
You get access to marketing materials, support, and a dedicated affiliate manager, as well as an intuitive dashboard to launch, manage and monitor campaigns.
18. FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software primarily designed for small and medium-sized businesses. They partner with ShareASale for their affiliate program, offering up to $10 for each free trial sign-up and up to $200 for paid plans. You get support from a dedicated affiliate team and poaching protection. They provide you with marketing materials, article and email ideas, strategies and tips, and performance tracking and insights.
Cookie lifespan: 120 days
19. Pabbly
Pabbly provides business applications like form creation, email marketing and verification, subscription billing and management, and more in one place and carries five products. They offer 20-30% recurring commissions for each sale, and they make monthly payouts. If a user comes to the website through your link for one product but buys a different product, you will still get credit for the sale. You get access to an intuitive dashboard to track your earnings and a support team that helps you achieve your goals.
Cookie lifespan: 30 days
20. Unbounce
Unbounce is a drag-and-drop builder that lets users create and optimize landing pages to improve conversion rates. They offer a lifelong 20% commission for every referral. Your referrals also get 20% off their first three months of using Unbounce. You get a dedicated partner coach, a custom dashboard to track your progress, marketing material, and training resources to help you increase your earnings.
Cookie lifespan: 90 days
Some Advice
Signing up for every possible affiliate program won’t get you the most money. The key to success in affiliate marketing is trustworthiness. It is better to promote products related to your niche that you believe in, and even better if you use them yourself. Carefully look over this list, see what products you can effectively market, and get to promoting!
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