How do you find affiliates?

You find affiliates by starting with the people who already like your store, then looking for creators and sites that reach the same buyers. An affiliate is a person or business that promotes your store and earns a commission, a reward for each sale they refer. Your best first affiliates are usually customers, email subscribers, and partners who already recommend you.

What you will learn

• Who to ask first, and where to look after that
• How to choose affiliates who can really sell
• What to say when you ask someone to join

Start with people who already know your store

These people need the least convincing, because they already trust your product:

• Repeat customers: people who ordered more than once, or who left a good review.
• Email and text subscribers: tell them that the program exists, and link the page where they can join.
• Social followers: look for people who tag your store or answer questions about your products.
• Business partners: people who serve the same buyers without competing with you. A store that sells running shoes might ask a local running coach.

Also make the program easy to find. Add a link to your signup page, the page where people join your program, in your store's footer or menu, so that people who already like your store can join without asking.

Where to look for new affiliates

When you have asked the people closest to you, look further out:

• Creators in your niche: search YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram with the same words your buyers use. Look for people who already review or compare products like yours.
• Bloggers and review sites: search for "best" plus your product type. Sites on the first page of results often earn money from affiliate links already, so they know how a program works.
• Newsletters and podcasts: a small audience that trusts one voice can sell more than a large one that does not.
• Marketplaces: a marketplace lists your program so that affiliates can find you. On a Shopify store, Shopify Collabs, Shopify's own tool for working with creators, is a good place to start. Affiliate networks, third-party companies that connect many stores with affiliates, also have them, and they usually charge a fee on referred sales for that access.

How to choose affiliates who can sell

Follower count is easy to see and easy to overrate. Check these things first:

• The audience matches your buyers. A small channel about your exact product type beats a large general one.
• People trust them. Read the comments. Questions about what to buy are a better sign than a high number of likes.
• The content keeps working. A search result or a YouTube review can bring sales for years, while a story disappears.
• They disclose. Good affiliates tell their audience when a link earns them money, and many countries require it.

You do not need to get this exactly right at the start. Accept a small group, see who brings sales, and put your time into those people.

How to ask someone to join

A short and specific message works better than a long pitch. Include these four things:

1. Why you chose them: name a post or a video of theirs, so that the message is clearly not a mass email.
2. What they earn: the commission, and how and when you pay it.
3. What their audience gets: a discount code, a code they enter at checkout for a lower price, if you offer one.
4. One next step: a link to your signup page.

Example message: "Hi Sam, your review of trail packs last month was the clearest one I have read. We make a 40-liter pack that I think your viewers would like. Our affiliates earn 10% on each sale, paid monthly, and we can give your viewers a 10% discount code. If you want to try it, you can join here, and I will send you a pack to test."

To decide what to offer, read What is an affiliate commission?

After someone says yes

Many affiliates join and then never share a link, so the first days matter. Send each new affiliate their link or code, a few facts about your best products, and your rules. Check in after the first couple of weeks, and ask what would help them.

Simple Affiliate does not include a marketplace: you invite customers and partners yourself, and they join through your store. Affiliates sign in with your store's customer accounts, so there is no separate network account to explain.

To see how affiliates join your store in Simple Affiliate, read How to onboard new affiliates in the help center.