Shopify Affiliate Program
The Shopify affiliate program offers an excellent opportunity for bloggers to earn passive, recurring income.
It’s easy to sign up for, and since Shopify is such a high-quality product and well-known brand, it’s also easy to sell.
Continue reading if you’re interested in making money as a Shopify affiliate.
Brett Helling is a digital marketing expert with over 10 years of experience building, managing, and scaling websites.
Here’s a quick overview of the Shopify affiliate program:
- Cost Per Action (CPA): Cost per sale
- Commission Rate: 100% for the first two months
- Cookie Duration: 30 days
- Payment Payout Threshold: $25
- Payment Options: PayPal
The Shopify affiliate program is one of the best programs to join if you have a website that teaches people how to make money online, get started with blogging, or build an e-commerce store.
What Is the Shopify Affiliate Program?
Shopify’s affiliate program allows you to partner with Shopify and earn money by referring customers to Shopify.
Shopify wants more subscribers, and it’s willing to pay you for sending them to its website.
The program allows you to monetize your website.
While any blogger can promote Shopify, you’ll make more money if your target audience is interested in blogging, entrepreneurship, working at home, and financial freedom.
How Does the Shopify Affiliate Program Work?
After signing up for the program, you’ll get a unique affiliate link.
You can then use this link in your blog posts or social media content to send users to Shopify.
Tell them about the benefits of Shopify and why they should sign up.
You can also use the link in banners and on landing pages.
If someone clicks on the link, joins Shopify, and becomes a paying subscriber, Shopify will pay you.
The more customers you send to Shopify, the more you will earn.
Is the Shopify Affiliate Program Free?
Yes. There is no cost to join the Shopify affiliate program.
No decent affiliate program will charge you to join.
A good affiliate program knows the value of its product and wants as many qualified affiliates to join as possible.
In the long run, it’s best for its business.
It is confident that the customers you send it will bring it profits, which shows that you can also earn a decent income.
If an affiliate program charges you to join, it reeks of a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme.
It also shows that the product’s leading source of revenue is not from its actual customers but from affiliates interested in making money online.
That speaks volumes as to the quality of the product.
Products to Promote
You can promote any of Shopify’s plans to your affiliates. The best plan to promote will depend on your target audience and their needs.
Shopify Basic
Shopify Basic costs $29 per month. It allows subscribers to create a Shopify store, ship products, and accept payments online.
Two staff members can join this account, and it includes basic reports.
Shopify
The Shopify plan is Shopify’s main plan.
It costs $79 per month, and it’s for mid-sized businesses that have up to five staff members.
You’ll get more advanced reports as well.
Shopify Advanced
At $299 per month, this plan is for larger businesses with up to 15 staff members and eight inventory locations.
It includes a custom report builder.
Shopify Starter
Shopify Starter is a no-frills, $5 per month plan that allows people to sell products on social and messaging apps with a Shopify button.
You’ll get a checkout page so people can buy your product, even without a website.
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is Shopify’s most expensive plan.
It costs a whopping $2,000 per month.
It’s for high-volume and wholesale businesses that need advanced features like 3D product images, a 60% faster checkout experience, and more.
Users can get discounts on Shopify (on some plans) by paying yearly.
Shopify Basic, Shopify, and Shopify Advanced are 50% off for the first year if you pay annually.
That only applies to new customers in the United States and Canada.
Other Things That You Can Promote With This Program
Shopify’s main plans (Basic, Shopify, and Advanced) come with a 14-day free trial.
You can promote this free trial to get more conversions.
Tell your readers how it’s a great way to try Shopify for free without committing or spending any money upfront.
You won’t earn money from anyone who only signs up for a trial account and cancels before the paid membership period kicks in.
However, if they stay on as a Shopify subscriber, you will earn money.
What Products Are Excluded from the Shopify Affiliate Program?
Shopify’s affiliate program applies to paid subscriptions only.
Other Shopify products that customers can buy are not part of the affiliate program.
For example, customers can pay a Shopify Partner for a custom theme design, but you can’t earn money by promoting that.
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Shopify affiliates usually make $58 per referral, on average.
You can earn more money by sending more people to Shopify and getting more sales.
Shopify Affiliate Program Commission Rates
Shopify has a simple affiliate commission rate.
It’s 100% for the first two recurring payments and 0% afterward.
Therefore, you will earn more money by encouraging people to sign up for a more expensive Shopify plan.
For example, let’s say you get someone to sign up for Shopify Basic, which costs $29 per month.
If the person pays for one month, you will earn $29.
If they pay for two or more months, you will make a total of $58.
Even if they keep paying for their third and fourth months, Shopify caps your total earnings from that referral at $58.
However, if the person signs up for the Shopify plan, you will earn $79 or $158, depending on whether they pay for one or two months.
If they sign up for Shopify Advanced, you will earn $299 or $598.
All these figures apply if the subscriber is paying monthly, not yearly.
How much you will earn will depend on a few factors:
- How many paid referrals you get
- The plans they sign up for
- Whether they stay on for at least two months
If most of your referrals cancel after the first month, your earnings will go down.
Remember that you also won’t earn anything from trial members, so the percentage of your referrals who convert from the trial to paid subscription also matters.
Shopify Bounty Program
The Shopify Bounty Plan is a bonus program in which Shopify will pay affiliates 200% of the fees for using Shopify that your referral pays for the first month.
For example, if your referral signs up for Shopify Basic, Shopify will pay you $58 for the first month instead of $29.
This program does not apply to Shopify Plus.
Commerce Coach Program
If you have a good track record as an affiliate and are a high-performing affiliate who brings in a lot of referrals, Shopify may invite you to join the Commerce Coach program.
This program allows you to earn a flat rate of $150-$225 for each merchant you refer, depending on your tier.
You will also get access to a Partner Manager, who will work with you one-on-one to boost your affiliate campaign.
To increase conversions, Shopify will give Commerce Coach members access to exclusive Shopify promotions to offer their subscribers.
This program is by invitation only.
How Long Does The Shopify Cookie Last?
The Shopify cookie lasts for 30 days. Affiliate cookies allow affiliate programs to match customers to your affiliate link.
Let’s say Bob visits your website and clicks on your Shopify affiliate link.
However, he has failed to sign up at the moment.
Perhaps Bob isn’t sure which e-commerce platform he wants to use and is doing more research.
Maybe he just doesn’t have the time at the moment to go through the signup process.
Two weeks later, Bob remembers that he wants to set up a Shopify account and build an e-commerce website.
He types “Shopify.com” into his browser and visits Shopify directly without clicking on your affiliate link first.
Shopify will still count Bob as one of your referrals because it is within the 30-day cookie period.
However, if Bob visits Shopify after those 30 days without clicking on your affiliate link again, or if Bob clears cookies from his browser or visits Shopify from another device, Shopify won’t count him as your referral.
While 30 days might not sound like a lot, consider the fact that Amazon has a cookie period of only 24 hours for its affiliates!
How Payments Work
One of the best parts about the Shopify affiliate program is that it pays out twice a month via PayPal.
If you consistently refer people to Shopify, you will get your payment once every two weeks, approximately.
When first starting, it can take a couple of months to get your first payment.
When Does Shopify Pay Affiliates?
Shopify has two payment periods per month. Your balance must be at least $25 to receive a payment.
If it is less than that, Shopify will roll over your payment until the next payment period and continue doing so until your balance reaches at least $25.
Note that it can take up to two months after a referral makes a payment for Shopify to pay you for it.
Therefore, you may have to wait several pay periods while the referral is still pending.
Is the Program Worth It?
Before determining whether the Shopify affiliate program is right for you, you need to weigh the pros and cons of joining this program.
After all, there are other e-commerce products and website-building platforms you can promote (see the alternatives section later in this article).
Pros of the Shopify Affiliate Program
The main benefits of the Shopify program include the following:
- A commission rate of 100% for the first two months
- The ability to earn more with high-ticket plans, like Shopify Advanced
- Bonus possibilities, including the Commerce Coach program
- It’s a platform with a reputation behind it – there’s a lot of positive information about Shopify online
- Shopify is a very high-quality product that you can sell to your readers in good faith
Cons of the Shopify Affiliate Program
Here are some reasons you may not want to become a Shopify affiliate:
- You stop earning commissions after the first two months, making it more challenging to earn a recurring income
- Shopify does not automatically approve everyone to join as an affiliate
- You can only receive payments via PayPal
- Many users won’t convert from trial members to paying members, and you won’t earn anything from them
- The 30-day cookie window, as opposed to a 60 or 90-day window, will cause you to lose out on some referrals
Conclusion: Is the Shopify Affiliate Program Worth It?
Absolutely.
While the two-month limit is concerning, keep in mind that many affiliate programs only give you 25% commissions or less.
Since you’re getting 100% of the first two months, it’s the equivalent of eight months of membership if you were to be earning 25% and four months of membership if you were to be earning 50%.
Many people will abandon their Shopify sites and cancel their subscriptions after a few months.
One out of five businesses fail within their first year, and the failure rate for an e-commerce store may be higher since the competition is more significant than for a local business.
Besides, even stores that don’t fail may switch to other e-commerce building platforms.
Since many referrals won’t keep paying for Shopify for many months, the amount of money you’re losing out on isn’t necessarily that high.
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How to Join
Now that we’ve established that the Shopify affiliate program is worth joining, let’s explore how you can sign up.
Requirements To Join the Shopify Affiliate Program
To join Shopify, you must already have a website.
Not any website will do – it must be an active website with an established audience or reader base.
You must put out original content, whether blog posts or podcasts, and you must have experience with Shopify or another e-commerce website.
How To Apply [Step-by-Step Tutorial]
Here’s how to apply to the Shopify affiliate program:
- Visit this page.
- Click on the Apply Now button in the top-right corner.
- Fill out the form and agree to the terms and conditions.
Shopify usually approves conversions within 15 business days. That’s three weeks.
You will get an email with your affiliate link after Shopify approves you. If Shopify doesn’t approve you, it will not notify you of the rejection.
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