s most e-commerce entrepreneurs will be able to tell you, finding and connecting with your customers is one of the biggest challenges dropshippers will face. Your success is completely dependent on your ability to market your products. One way to overcome this is to use affiliates to find those customers for you, and these Shopify affiliate marketing apps make the process easier than ever before.
But, before we dive into the specifics about how one Shopify affiliate marketing app is better than the others, let's quickly circle back to the basics.
What Is An Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is a marketing initiative where you sign up people as affiliates and they help you sell your products. The affiliate can be a celebrity, a business, a blogger, or a regular individual. The main requirement is that they can send interested traffic to your online store. This can be accomplished using a unique link or coupon code that recognizes them as the referral source. Once a customer uses it, your system will recognize the affiliate as the source of the referral.
The difference between a referral program and an affiliate program is the intention. A referral program usually asks pre-existing customers to refer their friends and family in exchange for a discount or an in-app credit. An affiliate program, on the other hand, is closer to advertising. The affiliate will usually have a source of traffic such as a blog, podcast, or Youtube channel that they are looking to make some money from. And they might not have been a user of the product before the arrangement.
Benefits of Affiliate Programs
More sales
The main benefit of an affiliate program is the revenue that it generates. Typically, an affiliate will be referring traffic that wouldn't have purchased anything from you otherwise. And for each sale that this traffic produces, the affiliate will receive a commission. Either as a flat rate, or more commonly as a commission. Since these sales are from new customers, and you only pay when a sale is made, affiliate marketing is highly scalable and profitable. The affiliate marketing industry is expected to generate $7 billion in 2021 in the United States alone. There's plenty of room for you to get involved.
More public recognition
One of the biggest affiliate programs in the world is hosted by Amazon. This means there are thousands of websites that are being incentivized to talk about Amazon, its products, and its services. This undoubtedly puts millions of eyes on Amazon every month and increases its presence in the public eye. As far as brand awareness goes, running an affiliate program is one of the best ways to get your name and products out there.
Better SEO presence
Search engine optimization (SEO), the system that allows your website to be found in Google search results, places a lot of value on backlinks. Backlinks are links on other websites that direct people to your website. If your affiliate program uses affiliate links, then by default your affiliates will need to link to your website in order to make any sales. These links will improve your SEO presence, which will lead to more people finding you through Google and other search engines. Google traffic (aka 'organic' traffic) comes without any affiliate commissions or ad spend and is highly profitable.
The Best Shopify Affiliate Marketing Apps for Explosive Growth
#1: UpPromote: Affiliate Marketing
Shopify Rating: Shopify Rating: 4.9/5 across 2356 reviews (Updated April 10th 2023)
Pricing Range: Free - $199.99 per month
Free Trial: 14 days
Summary:
UpPromote is one of the best Shopify affiliate/ referral marketing apps on the market. It comes with most of the best features you could ask for, with the exception of being able to embed your affiliate portal directly into your website. UpPromote is tried and tested, with nearly 1000 reviews at the time of writing this. The app also comes with a free plan that is excellent for helping you get started. However, UpPromote bases its pricing on the number of affiliate orders you are processing each month, so beware of that as you continue to scale.
Key Features:
- Even a free plan will allow you to set up an unlimited amount of affiliates.
- Expand the affiliate team by free listing on UpPromote Marketplace by converting your customers into affiliates feature or Multi-level Marketing feature.
- Automates payment procedures using PayPal integration. The Schedule Auto-payment with PayPal feature is officially realized.
- You can attempt to turn your customers into affiliates with a post-purchase referral ask.
- You can set up commission tiers for affiliates to be placed based on performance.
- There are affiliate links, coupon codes, and links that automatically apply coupons.
- Can set up an MLM structure, where affiliates can enlist other affiliates and take a percentage of their commissions.
- You can connect your affiliate program across multiple stores.
- Integrates with Partial.ly (payment plan app).
- The system can prevent self-referrals, track order refunds and adjust commissions.
- There's an UpPromote marketplace where you can enlist new affiliates/influencers.
Downsides:
- We couldn't find any features that UpPromote is missing..
#2: Affiliate Marketing Goaffpro
Shopify Rating: 4.8/5 across 1207 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: Free - $24 per month
Free Trial: 15 days
Summary:
If you're looking for a Shopify affiliate marketing app that comes with all of the most desirable features at an affordable price, Goaffpro is probably your best bet. Goaffpro has everything you will need to start and grow your affiliate program from scratch. Compared with similar apps, Goaffpro is very affordable, and won't attempt to charge you any commissions on your orders. The paid plan is only $24 per month, regardless of your order volume. This app provides tremendous value.
Key Features:
- You can set up an unlimited amount of affiliates, even with the free plan.
- You can attempt to turn your customers into affiliates with a post-purchase referral ask.
- There are customizable commission tiers, so you can reward high-performers with higher rates.
- You can pay out your affiliates automatically through the Paypal integration.
- You can set up different rates for different products.
- The affiliate registration pages are customizable, even on the free plan.
- You can automatically generate coupon codes and links for affiliates.
- Can set up an MLM structure, where affiliates can enlist other affiliates and collect a portion of their commissions.
- You can send out bulk emails to your affiliates.
- You can integrate your Facebook pixel with your affiliate portal to track visitors.
- There's an in-app marketplace for you to connect with new affiliates.
Downsides:
- We couldn't find any features that Goaffpro is missing..
#3: Refersion Affiliate Marketing
Shopify Rating: 4.8/5 across 860 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $89+ per month
Free Trial: 14 days
Summary:
Refersion is another one of the best Shopify affiliate marketing apps, and it manages to stay competitive with Goaffpro and SecoMapp. The main difference with Refersion is that most users will sell enough orders that they are forced to pay a commission on each sale. The app's website does not specify what the commission rate is, and instead asks you to contact their sales department. To us, this makes the app less appealing, knowing that we'll need to negotiate and pay a percentage of our affiliate revenue in perpetuity.
Is the app well designed? Definitely. But, are the extra fees justified, knowing that Goaffpro is only $24 per month? Well, that's open to interpretation. But, here's what the Refersion offers:
Key Features:
- You can set up an unlimited amount of affiliates.
- You can attempt to turn your customers into affiliates with a post-purchase referral ask.
- Affiliates can be given customized links and coupons automatically.
- You can set up different commission rates for different products.
- Affiliate payouts can be automated through the Paypal integration.
- You can customize your affiliate registration page with your own branding and form fields.
- You can embed the registration page on your own site.
- The settings allow you to choose whether you want to pay commissions on your order totals, or if you want to exclude tax, shipping, or item costs (the app can see all of that from Shopify).
- You can find new affiliates/influencers in the Refersion marketplace (for free).
- Integrates with OneClickUpsell, Carthook, Paypal, ReCharge, Klaviyo, & Bold Recurring Order.
Downsides:
- The paid plan only allows for up to 130 affiliate orders per month. After 130 orders, they set you up with "performance-based pricing" aka commission-based.
- There's no dedicated folder for you to provide your affiliates with marketing materials.
#4: Referral Candy
Shopify Rating: 4.8/5 across 1345 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $49 plus commission - $333 per month
Free Trial: 30 days
Summary:
Referral Candy is a referral app that covers most of the features we would look for in a Shopify affiliate marketing app. You can tell that it isn't designed to set up an aggressive affiliate program, but it's still great for early and middle-stage growth. Our main complaint about Referral Candy is that they take a commission on your affiliate revenue regardless of what plan you are on, as well as a base rate. This adds up over time.
Key Features:
- You can onboard an unlimited amount of affiliates, and process unlimited orders.
- There's a dashboard to track sales, and you can compare your performance to industry benchmarks.
- You can generate customized affiliate links and coupons automatically.
- Your affiliate registration page will be fully customizable and can be embedded into your site.
- There's a Fraud Centre where you can review suspicious transactions, and cancel rewards if needed.
- You can integrate ReferralCandy directly into your MailChimp and Klaviyo email flows.
- The app allows you to easily track your shares and clicks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Messenger.
- You can automate your payouts so affiliates receive their rewards automatically.
- Integrates with Klaviyo, S-Loyalty, PayWhirl, ReCharge, Recurring Orders.
- You can integrate your Facebook Pixel and Google Ads ID for enhanced data analytics.
Downsides:
- You can't set up commission tiers, or different rates for different products.
- There's no MLM functionality.
- There's no marketplace for you to find new affiliates.
#5: GH Affiliate Marketing App
Shopify Rating: 4.9/5 across 120 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $39 - $199 per month
Free Trial: 14 days
Summary:
GrowthHero (GH) is a lesser-known Shopify affiliate marketing app that still manages to keep up with the big players. Most of the features you've come to expect by now are present, including a nice selection of email marketing integrations. The price point is similar to SecoMapp and Referral Candy, and you'll probably be fine with the $89 per month plan unless you surpass 1500 affiliate orders/month. This is a solid pick, but since there are only 120 Shopify reviews, it's a bit less tested than some of the other contenders.
Key Features:
- You can onboard an unlimited amount of affiliates, even on the $39 per month plan.
- There's a post-purchase widget you can set up to convert customers into affiliates with referrals.
- You can organize your affiliates into groups with commission tiers.
- There's a Paypal integration so you can pay out your commissions automatically.
- You can set up coupon codes or links for your affiliates.
- The affiliate registration pages are fully customizable and can be set up to reflect your brand's look and feel.
- You can embed your affiliate portal directly on your website.
- There's an MLM feature that allows affiliates to enlist other affiliates and take a percentage of their commissions.
- You can incentivize affiliates to perform certain activities, like publishing videos & blog posts that mention you.
- You can set up a folder of marketing materials that your affiliates can access.
- Integrates with Klaviyo, Sendgrid, and Mailchimp, allowing you to set up email workflows for your affiliates.
Downsides:
- The number of affiliate orders you can process per month depends on the plan.
- There doesn't appear to be a Facebook Pixel integration available.
#6: Affiliatly Affiliate Marketing
Shopify Rating: 4.4/5 across 105 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $16 - $129 per month
Free Trial: 90 days
Summary:
Affiliatly is a Shopify affiliate marketing app that covers most of what you're looking for but is missing a few key features that keep it from being able to compete with the top 3 apps on this list. However, Affiliatly confidently offers a 90-day free trial, so it might be worth giving a shot. That is, assuming you don't need the MLM feature this app is lacking.
Key Features:
- There's no limit on the number of referral orders you can process in a month.
- You can add a popup to your checkout to invite your customers to become your affiliates.
- You can track your affiliates' sales through affiliate links, coupon codes, or even QR codes.
- Payouts can be automated through the Paypal integration.
- You can manually control the affiliates' earnings in case of changes in the product's price, or partial refunds.
- Products can be set up to pay different commission rates or none at all.
- You can choose how affiliates generate earnings (per visit, per sale, flat rate, percentage, etc).
- Underperforming/inactive affiliates can have their account deactivated or blocked.
- You can customize the app's interface to match your brand's look and feel.
- Integrates with ReCharge, CartHook, Recurring by Bold, and Zapier.
Downsides:
- Each plan limits the number of affiliates you can set up.
- There's no MLM feature.
- You can't embed your affiliate registration page directly on your site.
- There's no option to set up a folder of marketing materials for your affiliates to draw from.
#7: LeadDyno Affiliate Marketing
Shopify Rating: 4.5/5 across 605 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $29 - $149 per month
Free Trial: 30 days
Summary:
LeadDyno is an interesting Shopify affiliate marketing app that comes with most of the features you would want, but they oddly chose to limit the number of visitors you can receive through your affiliate links. Instead of paying for a higher plan to onboard more affiliates or process more orders, you'll be upgrading to let more visitors click through to your website. If that's something you can tolerate, then this app's slick interface and other features might be just what you're looking for.
Key Features:
- All of the plans allow you to onboard an unlimited amount of affiliates.
- You can automatically invite new customers to join your affiliate program.
- You can set up your own plan for commissions, with circumstances that need to be met for them to be paid.
- The Paypal and Coinbase integrations allow you to pay out commissions automatically.
- You can automatically generate affiliate links and coupon codes.
- There's an MLM feature that allows your affiliates to enlist other affiliates and take a percentage of their commissions.
- You can customize your affiliate portal to reflect your company's brand aesthetic
- You can send out email blasts/newsletters to your affiliates.
- There's a folder where you can create a library of marketing materials for your affiliates to access.
- Integrates with WordPress, ReCharge, Slack, ZohoCRM, Klaviyo, Hubspot, AWeber, and MailChimp.
Downsides:
- This app limits the number of unique visitors you can receive per month through your affiliate links and makes you upgrade to a higher plan if you surpass it.
- The affiliate registration page can't be embedded on your website.
- There's no marketplace for you to meet new affiliates.
#8: ShoutOut - Affiliate Marketing
Shopify Rating: 4.6/5 across 77 reviews (Updated March 22nd)
Pricing Range: $59 per month
Free Trial: 7 days
Summary:
We almost didn't include ShoutOut in our list of the best Shopify affiliate marketing apps because it only has 77 reviews, but the features were enough to bring us over. This app only has 1 plan, and it basically comes with unlimited everything. Unlimited affiliates, unlimited sales, unlimited coupon codes. There really aren't a lot of limitations with this app, it just hasn't been tested as much as the other ones. But, if you're able to tolerate that sort of uncertainty, there might be a solid amount of value hidden in this app.
Key Features:
- You can onboard an unlimited amount of affiliates.
- You can automatically ask your customers to join your affiliate program, post-purchase.
- Your account will allow you to set up an unlimited amount of affiliate links & coupon codes, and process an unlimited amount of affiliate orders.
- Can set up commission tiers, and have affiliates automatically change tier depending on their performance.
- Can set up a flat commission rate for your entire site or have it vary by product.
- You can set up a custom affiliate registration page and embed it directly on your site.
- There's an MLM feature that allows your affiliates to enlist other affiliates and take a percentage of their commissions.
- Integrates with MailChimp, Paypal, ReCharge, Google Sheets, Microsoft Office 365, and 1500+ others.
Downsides:
- No marketplace to find and connect with new affiliates.
- There isn't an in-app folder for you to provide your affiliates with marketing resources.
#9: OSI Affiliate Software
Shopify Rating: 4.7/5 across 32 ratings (Updated Nov 3 2021)
Price Range: $47-$97/month, with annual discounts
Free Trial: 15 Days
Summary:
As the newest addition to our list, OSI Affiliate Software brings a lot to the table. This app allows influencers to promote your brand, and turn customers into loyal marketing agents. There are two plans available, and they both rank in the middle of the pack of the rest of the apps in this list. Overall, OSI is a solid choice for affiliate software, and has more than enough features to get the job done.
Key Features:
- Discount codes & coupons
- User friendly affiliate dashboard
- Exit intetn & timed pop-ups
- Commission payouts through Paypal integration
- Bonus survey tool to convert customers to brand ambassadors
- Promo code tracking on Instagram
- Multi-tier referral programs
- Deep linking to any page of your website
- Marketing assets folder for affiliates to access
- Integrates with Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Drip, Slack, Hubspot
Downsides:
- No MLM program
- Affiliate dashboards aren't fully customizable
Wrapping Up:
Hopefully, this post helped you find a Shopify affiliate marketing app that will work for your business! We should also mention that all of these apps are fully compatible with DropCommerce. In fact, one of our most successful users has built her entire marketing strategy around using affiliates to drive sales.
If you haven't read her case study, you should definitely give it a look. And if you aren't using DropCommerce yet, what are you waiting for? It's the best Shopify app for finding dropshipping products from North American suppliers, hands down.
Note: This article was written primarily based on the availability of features and each app's Shopify reviews, not on our experiences using each app.
If you enjoyed this article on the best Shopify affiliate marketing apps, then check out:
The Best Shopify Review Apps For Establishing Trust In 2021
The Best Dropshipping Products For Fast Results In 2021
How This Dropshipping Business Owner Sold $2.3M In Her First Year With A Simple Sales Strategy
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