How to launch an affiliate program in just three days

We did it, here’s how.

Published in

The Startup

5 min readDec 12, 2018

GenM is a start up on a growth sprint and we make calculated decisions very fast. We live in our data and can move quickly when we need to. Recently, after a few discussions, we made a Friday decision — we’d launch an affiliate program by the following Wednesday. Not a soft launch or a half-baked effort, but a fully functioning affiliate program ready to hit the ground running in just three days.

No fear of failure here, folks. Just an ambitious team on a mission. The winning ingredients ended up being a) careful planning and b) sourcing the best affiliate software we could get our hands on. How to plan? Where to source? Let’s jump right in.

I’m writing this exactly one week after our launch; we have over 40 affiliate partners signed up to our program, with our first affiliate-generated sale made this morning. This is just the beginning of a new marketing channel for us and maybe it could be for you, too!

The Plan

The first thing we did was assess our resources. We established that 2 people would work on the project, we had x amount of money to spend, 3 days to complete the launch-ready project, and 0 time to waste.

The second thing we did was determine team tasks. Who would take care of things like sourcing the affiliate software, setting up technical integration, onboarding affiliates, creating assets, and prospecting new affiliates?

The third part of the plan was a set-in-stone timeline. This is what it looked like:

Preliminary: Source an affiliate platform and set up account.

Day 1: Discuss and finalize project execution plan including resource assessment, team tasks, execution timeline. Complete technical integration of affiliate platform.

Day 2: Create and execute affiliate on-boarding/success funnel, test the entire process.

Day 3: Program distribution and send invitations. Begin on-boarding.

Source an affiliate platform

Something we learned right away: not all affiliate platforms are made equal. This is an important aspect of the quick-launch plan as you’ll want to make the right decision for your needs. Here’s a list of a few affiliate platforms that we initially compared:

Payment Rails a great choice if you’re taking more of a do-it-yourself approach or plugging automated payment into an existing system.
Refersion simple to set up, inexpensive.
CJ Affiliate tried-and-true, all the bells, and whistles.
Ambassador all-in-one referral software, highly rated.
PartnerStack great interface and fully featured with a lot of customizable options (this ended up being our choice.)

The winning criteria to look for:

A quality affiliate marketplace that you can tap into
Budget-friendly cost and fees
Customer service that could be accessible throughout your launch
UI that both you and your partners would love to use
Features that give you full control of your program

Once you’ve chosen your affiliate platform, waste no time in getting started. We created a to-do list based on our affiliate platform’s documentation and made our way through it efficiently.

Work on your funnel

The affiliate journey, from sign up to the first sale, is important. Not only do you need to get affiliate partners to join your program, but you should be focused on retaining them, encouraging them, and ultimately helping them to promote your product in the most effective way possible.

The 4-point affiliate success funnel, from top to bottom:

Invite. Arguably the most essential aspect of launching an affiliate program: asking affiliate marketers to join. I will go into detail about this in the next section.
Onboard. Once an affiliate joins, your onboarding sequence should be inviting, informative, and encouraging. Automated emails are a great way to connect with your new affiliates in a timely way — but don’t shy away from personal approaches as well. Invite your new recruit to book a call with you, get to know their audience/community, and collaborate with them.
Nurture. A great way to provide immediate value to your affiliates is to create assets that they can use. Assets can be email copy, graphics, videos, and banners which your affiliate can use when sharing their referral link. This saves them time and makes it exponentially easier for them to get started. Once they do get started, celebrate milestones with them: first 10 link clicks, first sign up, first sale, first commission payout.
Sale. The best part! Now that you have a new partner who’s excited to be advocating for your product, there’s nothing like that first sale. The beauty of the affiliate sale is that it’s a true win-win — they make some cash and you gain a new, valued customer.

Invitations and distribution

An essential part of any successful affiliate program is, well, the affiliates. It’s important to plan how you’ll acquire affiliate partners. Here’s an overview of how to find your affiliates:

Your users/members/customers: the best place to start is to personally invite a select group of people who have used what you’re selling.
Affiliate marketplace: as I mentioned before, choose an affiliate platform that has a marketplace in which you can feature your program.
Distribute to affiliate networks: there are a few great affiliate communities (Affiliate Fix, Associate Programs, Affiliate Programs) where you can share your program to connect with affiliate marketers seek opportunities.

The key here is quality over quantity. To start, you should be looking for a few great advocates for your brand. Once you’ve managed that, you’ll have a solid foundation to grow upon.

The Takeaway

Here’s some wisdom from Lindsay Fox to take with you, “Personal relationships are always the key to good business. You can buy a network; you can’t buy friendships.” For best returns: treat your affiliates like friends, form relationships and grow together.

Feel free to 👏 and help others to find this article + learn about how we’re helping entrepreneurs get their marketing done over at genm.co