5 Successful SaaS affiliate marketing cases & what you can learn from them

Even the most successful SaaS businesses are organized chaos. How many other business types have engineering, product, customer service, marketing, and RevOps departments even in the first month of operation? The world of SaaS is complex, and even those with a 20% CAGR still only have an 8% chance of survival.

But if you narrow in on one sub-department — SaaS affiliate marketing programs — those prospects start to look up. Why? Because even the best software companies need quality partnerships to drive revenue and reach their target audiences.

Now, how do you ensure a solid, revenue-generating affiliate program for your SaaS business? You might start with your tech stack. For example, Tapfiliate’s affiliate tracking software includes flexible commissions and payout structures, perfect for the monthly/yearly subscription models common for SaaS business owners.

After that? You’ll need to secure the right partnerships, conduct audience research, and conduct A/B testing to see what works to secure the best, most lucrative affiliates.

You don’t need to go in blind. Next step? Look at SaaS businesses with killer programs and follow suit. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Keep reading for our roundup and analysis of the best SaaS affiliate programs!

First, we’ll cover a few basics:

What is SAAS affiliate marketing?

When SAAS brands recruit people to promote their software using word of mouth marketing in exchange for a commission, that’s called affiliate marketing.

 It’s like a customer referral program but on a much larger scale.

The people or companies who promote the SAAS brands are known as affiliates – they can be influencers, review sites, blogs. In fact, there are several different affiliate types.

How they are rewarded is up to the SAAS brand – they could be rewarded for a lead signup, or when a free trial lead converts to a paid plan. Their commission might be a set cash amount, or a percentage of the sale value. It could be a one-off payment, or a recurring payment for as long as the customer remains with the brand, or it could be a recurring payment capped at 6 months.

With a SAAS program sales can be tracked in a couple of different ways and many people use affiliate tracking software to do this for ease and automation. Tapfiliate is a great option for SAAS brands.

To find out if we are the best fit for your business, start your free 14-day trial today.

Tracking with an affiliate link

The first tracking method is using an affiliate link or referral link. An affiliate link can be used anywhere you’d normally add a link (think blog posts, emails, social media posts, banners, etc.) It always requires a click to track sales.

Tracking with a coupon code

The second method is to track using a coupon code. This is also known as clickless tracking because it doesn’t require the potential customer to click on a link to track the sale. As long as you have assigned the coupon code to your chosen affiliate in your shopping cart backend and in your affiliate tracking software, then the sale will track to the correct affiliate.

What are the benefits of a SAAS affiliate program?

Having a SAAS affiliate program has several advantages, and driving revenue is only one of them. These are the most popular:

Increased reach and sales

The SAAS space is competitive. According to research, there are 30,000 SAAS brands with the USA taking the lion’s share with 17,000 of those. There are approximately 14 billion SaaS customers worldwide, and new brands are popping up all the time.

It’s essential to grab some of that market share for yourself.

So how do you stand out from your competitors?

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing. It’s particularly effective with something like SaaS where people take more time making a decision than they would with impulse purchases. They want to ensure their decision is correct, so spend time doing their research before buying. They don’t want to make an expensive mistake.

That’s why having an army of affiliate partners to promote your brand is essential to building trust and driving revenue.

Targeted advertising

Who wouldn’t want to access a built-in relevant audience of potential buyers?

Many affiliate marketers have engaged audiences who like and trust what they say. And the affiliates know what type of content works best with their audience, so what they create aligns in a way that drives sales and conversions.

If you as a brand tried to create the same content, it wouldn’t be as impactful because it’s coming from you. Of course you want to sell them something because you’re the one making money from it. But coming from that content creator that they love and trust? Then it’s a different story.

Scalable growth

Growth is essential for a SaaS brand’s survival. But you want to grow at a pace that is scalable, and affiliate marketing is perfect for that. Whether you’re a new SaaS brand, or you’ve been around for a while, being able to scale without being overwhelmed is critical.

Affiliate marketing is great for this because you pay for performance and you can scale up or down depending on your budget and growth.

What makes a SAAS affiliate program successful?

Successful SaaS affiliate programs primarily owe their success to these three foundations:

• A great product that people love: Put yourself in an affiliate’s shoes. Would you endorse a product with a 2.1 Trustpilot rating and social media channels with endless angry customer comments? Of course not. Your future affiliates want to back a product that they don’t have to sell that aggressively. They’ll be much more likely to take you on if your customers are already raving about your customer service or product efficiency.
  

• Engaged affiliates: Affiliates might not carry the same weight as investors, but your performance still depends on their engagement. So what if you signed them onto your program? Your affiliate program management takes it from here, closely monitoring each affiliate campaign for performance insights. How do you keep affiliates engaged? Incentives work like a charm. Use commission increases, events, competitions, freebies, and bonuses to keep them happy. Happy affiliates translate to better campaign performance, leads, and conversions — trust us on this one.
  
• Active affiliate recruitment: Good things come to those who wait — unless you’re a SaaS business. Your affiliate program will suffer if you wait for affiliates to flock to you. And if you’re not hunting for quality partners? Your competitors will snatch them up! The most successful partner programs take an active approach with an affiliate recruitment strategy. Either they infuse this in their regular marketing strategy, optimize their affiliate landing pages, or use affiliate software that finds them new prospects. Or a mix of all three.

Pssst. We cover all three with our personalized affiliate portal, connection with Admitad Partners, and impeccable user experience. Try Tapfiliate’s 👉 free 14-day trial today

Next on the docket? We’ll explore the best SaaS affiliate programs and why they’re so successful.

5 successful SAAS affiliate marketing programs & key takeaways

We’ll cover five SaaS affiliate marketing programs in our review.

But what are we looking at? We’re exploring how each program does the following:

 Engages affiliates

• Markets their products
• Onboards and trains affiliates
• Makes the platform user-friendly
• Handles affiliate commissions

Everything else is gravy. Let’s dive in!

ClickFunnels

Based in Eagle, Idaho, ClickFunnels is a dynamic funnel-builder that helps every type of entrepreneur sell products, services, and subscriptions online. The company does this through unique sales funnels — one for network marketing, freelance agencies, coaching businesses, B2B lead generation, and affiliate marketing.

 With an easy drag-and-drop editor, users can create various website landing pages for different stages of the customer journey: awareness, interest, decision, action — aka, conversions or business transactions.

Users pay between $127 – $208 per month, depending on whether they choose basic plans or enterprise plans. The platform is well-liked, boasting an average of 4.5/5-star ratings on review sites like G2 and Trustpilot.

Here are a few areas of ClickFunnels’ affiliate program that caught our eye:

Events: ClickFunnels recently launched ClickFunnels 2.0, an upgrade dedicated to SEO, complete with even more funnels and functionalities to create eCommerce stores, A/B testing, analytics, membership sites, and more. 

But before they launched 2.0, they got affiliates excited about it with a dedicated landing page promoting the launch for affiliates.

They made the timeline clear to affiliates – by creating a marketing plan it was simple for affiliates to understand and work into their own marketing plans. They dedicated enough of a budget for affiliates to promote the launch with giveaway prizes. On top of that, they were prepared with many video resources explaining the product — easy as pie for an affiliate’s content calendar.

ClickFunnels also started a buzz on social media for their own customers. These social media launch tactics win ClickFunnels approval from Hootsuite, which touts video teasers and promotions as solid strategies. Brands can create buzz for smaller and bigger launches alike — just don’t do it all the time. Your affiliates will get bored, and each subsequent launch will lose its shine.

In-depth training: ClickFunnels boasts an impressive affiliate training oeuvre for new affiliate recruits. Right on the sign-up page, future affiliates can access a free ebook download for tips and best practices. How about onboarding and affiliate training?

Well, how many other SaaS affiliate programs offer a dedicated bootcamp series? The series includes video-recorded interviews of top affiliates in the program for future affiliates to learn from and a 100-day plan you can execute every day for 1 hour.

Proper training is essential for affiliate partnerships. If your new affiliates can’t find their way, they’ll flock to an easier path — competitors will happily fulfill that need.

Tiered product-based commissions: SaaS and eCommerce affiliate programs can’t function properly without flexible commission rates and payout structures. ClickFunnels keeps rates pretty standard across the board — until affiliates start bringing in more revenue. Once they meet that milestone, affiliates can take home 30%, then 40% in recurring commissions. That 40% figure makes ClickFunnels one of the highest-paid affiliate programs, as this is much higher than your average commission rates. Plus, this counts for every subscription payment unless there’s a specific cap.

Say an affiliate makes 15% for the first 50 conversions, 30% for anything past 100 — they’ll work that much harder to take you to 100 conversions with this tiered rate. Product-based commissions could incentivize higher order values if a more expensive range of products garners higher commissions for affiliates.

Affiliates are incentivized to the max because passing those thresholds translate to literal passive income after the customer’s first month.

Key takeaways for your affiliate program

• Create a buzz around new launches. Get your audience and potential partners pumped! Maybe you’ll plan a discount or giveaway through your existing affiliates. Or, you might create some hype with a countdown email campaign!
• Offer in-depth training for affiliates to feel comfortable and grow. Don’t send your affiliates in blind. Create a solid onboarding program and offer one-on-one consulting to ensure alignment and engagement.
• Incentivize with tiered or product-based payment structures. Sweeten the deal with flexible payout structures. If you see massive revenue potential for selling specific products, pay product-based commissions. Similarly, find ways to reward strong performance through tiered structures. Play with it a little and find out what works on both ends.

SEMRUSH

SEMRUSH is a popular SaaS platform for marketing management and analytics, specifically for SEO and SEM, including keyword research, market analysis, and visibility boosts. Users pay anywhere from $120-$150 per month for local and on-page SEO, competitor research, reporting, and other advanced features. The consensus? People like SEMRUSH — the company has a strong presence in their industry, with thousands of happy customers. 

But where did all those customers come from?

You can bet their affiliate program, BeRush, was to blame in part. And affiliates are attracted to SEMRush’s affiliate program, with over 150 applicants every day.

But how did they get so much interest to begin with?

Reward every stage of the funnel: Most SaaS brands have one conversion that they reward in their affiliate program. Perhaps it’s a monthly subscription sign-up or even an annual plan lead. But SEMRush offers commissions and rewards throughout every stage of the funnel. Here’s what their rewards look like:

• $0.01 for new signups
• $10 for trial signups
• $200 for subscription sales

Of course, this might not be as attractive as the recurring commissions on a monthly subscription. However, the $200 flat fee is likely more than what affiliates would earn for less pricey leads. No wonder they receive so much interest; however, this is a situation where affiliate vetting is crucial. Without a proper filtration system, SEMRush would risk spammy clicks.

Automate where you can: So, how did SEMRush manage to sift through 150 applications per day? They used their own traffic analytics software to score each potential affiliate based on their traffic volume. After that, they automated the whole qualification process. How? They integrated the analytics program into their affiliate program via API — no more exporting needed. Now, they could easily compare traffic stats like volume, bounce rate, and sources to trigger a score.

120-day cookie: Cookie lifespan, or cookie duration, refers to how long an affiliate has to earn a commission off a lead. The standard is a 30-day cookie period — anything shorter will send potential affiliates running. But SEMRush offers a whopping 120-day window, which is appealing to affiliates, especially when there is a longer time to conversion.

Dedicated affiliate manager/team: SEMRush has experienced account managers supporting affiliates throughout the process. This makes it easier for affiliates to transition, since SEMRush is there to answer any questions.

Key takeaways for your affiliate program:

• Reward every stage of the funnel if you can. Don’t just offer value once you snag a new affiliate sign-up. Make your brand useful at every stage with helpful resources to entice potential affiliates.
• Automate affiliate recruitment, rewards, and anything else to save time. Tapfiliate can help with our branded affiliate sign-up pages and customizable commissions and rewards.
• Offer longer cookie duration to stand out from competitors. 30 days is standard, so why not offer 45?

Speaking of automation, Tapfiliate’s affiliate platform automates conversion tracking and commissions. Plus, our integration with Integromat makes it easy to integrate with pretty much any app in your tech stack. Try Tapfiliate with our 14-day free trial!

Convertkit

Convertkit is a marketing platform that helps you engage with your audience, be it through sign-up forms, landing pages, automated email sequences, email templates, and more. You can also use it to sell products.

Users praise Convertkit’s robust features, user-friendly interface, and email marketing efficiency. Furthermore, its low price point makes it accessible to a wide range of audiences (from free plans to $25/month).

Here’s why Convertkit’s affiliate program wins points:

Evergreen webinars that affiliates can use as a funnel: Affiliates spend hours creating content, from carefully researched articles to perfectly edited TikTok reels. While many affiliates prefer speaking to their audience with their own strategies, a little help goes a long way. ConvertKit offers a substantial creative inventory to choose from, like graphic and video assets, easily shareable for a wide range of audiences. But the real show-stopper is Convertkit’s evergreen webinars. These are funnels, powerful tools to convert audiences. In fact, Converkit used to offer co-branded webinars to all affiliates, helping them drive revenue while still promoting their individual brands!

Recurring commission structure for up to 24 months: Some programs cap recurring commissions at three months — womp, womp. We get it, but that’s no way to attract premium affiliates. Convertkit takes note, offering recurring commissions that last a whopping 24 months. Sure, it’s not a lifetime commission — but it’s still substantial. A new subscription just has to stay with Convertkit for two years, earning affiliates income based on that one lead! Plus, the 30% affiliate program commission sweetens the deal even more.

Training course: Onboarding is a big factor in an affiliate’s experience with your program. Convertkit recognizes this and offers a dedicated training course with Pat Flynn, a passive-income expert, where affiliates can transition with valuable success tips.

Key takeaways for your affiliate program.

• Nurture conversions. Try an evergreen webinar or other assets that affiliates can use as funnels.
• Incentivize affiliate performance. Offer long-term, recurring commissions.
• Provide affiliates with impeccable training. Try to score assets like lectures and training materials from a super affiliate they can relate to.

ActiveCampaign

Next on our list is another successful email marketing whiz of a SaaS business: ActiveCampaign. The platform helps digital marketers streamline every aspect of their email campaigns. They also offer landing page creation, split testing, generated email lists, and other automations to enhance your email marketing campaigns and beyond. 

This SaaS business definitely has positive word-of-mouth marketing working for them. For example, they have over 10,000 reviews on review site G2, averaging a 4.5/5-star rating. Affiliates certainly take note of the positive customer experience here.

On top of that, ActiveCampaign’s affiliate program offers serious perks:

Tiered commission rates: Remember ClickFunnels tiered rates that reward milestone conversions? ActiveCampaign follows a similar trend, averaging between 20-30%. Here’s what they offer:

• $20 for $100 spent
• $200 for $1,000 spent
• Maximum commission of 30%

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Attractive affiliate program description: We appreciate the transparency, clearly outlining what affiliates could make before they even sign up. ActiveCampaign knows that dollar amounts speak volumes more than percentages, so the visualization of income really incentivizes affiliates. Moreover, ActiveCampaign shares important data in their affiliate program description: affiliates earn an average of $1,350 per referral. Wow!

The sales team does the selling: Commissions aren’t based on direct conversions from affiliate links. Instead, ActiveCampaign rewards based on leads, yet the commission is based on the customer sales value acquired by the company’s sales team. This is less work for affiliates because bringing in a lead is much easier than achieving a conversion.

Key takeaways

• Tiered commission rates incentivize performance. Wouldn’t you step up your game with a shiny bonus at the end of the tunnel? Your affiliates will too.
• Communicate your value from the get. Affiliate program descriptions should clearly outline potential income for affiliates.
• Leverage lead generation. Affiliate sales commissions requiring only lead generations mean less work for your affiliates.

XERO

Founded in New Zealand, XERO is an accounting software that helps businesses manage bookkeeping, financial statements, and tax preparation. On top of that, it integrates with other apps to streamline business activities.

The platform is especially popular for small and medium businesses and has many key features that support customers. You can find XERO in top accounting software lists from reputable financial review sites, which likely stem from the company’s many positive reviews online.

For an affiliate, credibility is a box that XERO easily checks off. But XERO approaches their affiliate program a little differently. They operate with referral-based partnerships. Meaning? They use actual customers as affiliates, rewarding commissions for referrals (aka a referral program). Who better to promote their platform than the people who actually use it everyday?

Here’s why XERO’s SaaS affiliate program is so successful:

Niche affiliates: Clients are naturally accountants and bookkeepers with the knowledge and network to effectively promote XERO. Niche affiliates offer better prospects for prospective customers. Plus, you can feel at ease since these niche affiliates have expert knowledge in your platform. This makes it easier for them to create content around it and for their audiences to trust their recommendations.

Offer certifications in your product for free: XERO has intricacies like most account software. But harnessing every feature and understanding how to maximize efficiency takes serious study. So much so that XERO offers certifications to qualified experts. Members of XERO’s affiliate program receive free certification, which promotes trust and credibility in affiliate audiences.

Turn your customers into affiliates (also known as a referral program): XERO’s community marketing tactics brought them over 350,000 subscriptions in a one-year period. They’ve built upon the trust audiences have in niche experts as well as their colleague recommendations. Happy customers are powerful marketing tools for sales, and XERO capitalizes on that beautifully.

Key takeaways

• Target highly relevant affiliates in your niche. Get down and dirty with research — follow potential affiliates on social media, start networking on LinkedIn, and see who represents your competitors for inspo.
• Offer free certifications for your product. Affiliates will appreciate the added credibility — more commission for them, and more sales for you.
• Use a referral program to turn your customers into affiliates. You’ve already won half the battle — if you target people who already know and love your product, it’s easy and authentic for them to share your brand with others.

Start your SAAS affiliate program today

There isn’t an exact recipe for a successful SaaS affiliate program. All we can do is see how certain features work for different programs and learn from them. The verdict? A mix of any of these factors can level up your SaaS affiliate program:

• Tiered commissions: These incentivize pumped-up performance and drive affiliate sales.
• Niche affiliates: Prospective customers will trust recommendations from subject-matter experts.
• Solid training: Affiliates should feel confident navigating your affiliate program.
• Dedicated affiliate team: Proper staffing ensures affiliates get every question answered.
• Customer satisfaction: Positive customer sentiment makes it easier for affiliates to trust your products.
• Referral programs: Referrals promote trust and leverage the power of word-of-mouth marketing. 

But the most important factor is how quickly you can grow your affiliate program. We’re talking automation, professional affiliate communication, data-driven insights, and more. 

Tapfiliate offers brands a personalized affiliate dashboard to gain easy insights into their affiliate activities and campaign performance. Ready to step up your SaaS affiliate marketing programs? Try our free 14-day trial today!