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How to Turn Loyal Customers into Affiliates with WooCommerce

In the context of e-commerce today, loyal customers are extremely valuable. Their repeat purchases and referrals improve your brand’s overall equity and visibility.

However, turning loyal customers into affiliates is an approach that can further amplify this value. With WooCommerce, the process of setting up an affiliate program is easier than ever by leveraging tools like the WooCommerce Affiliate plugin, which makes managing commissions and affiliates easy.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to create an affiliate out of loyal customers in order to ensure a win-win outcome for both parties.

What are the Merits of Using Loyal Customers as Affiliates?

A loyal customer is already pretty much an advocate for your business. A loyal customer is someone who is satisfied with what they purchase, trusts your products and services, and more importantly, will actively promote your store to other people.

One of the ways that brands can appreciate that loyalty is by allowing them to earn extra income through an affiliate program.

Transforming loyal clients into affiliates will offer various benefits, such as:

  • Improved Brand Awareness: Loyal customers can bring new customers to your store through their recommendations and referrals.
  • Higher Sales Volume: Out of all marketing strategies, affiliate marketing through word of mouth is proven to have the highest conversion rate.
  • Budget-friendly Marketing: The affiliate XP is a low-budget strategy to grow the business, as advertising only costs when sales are achieved.
  • Better Customer Retention: Providing affiliate opportunities to place trust in clients can increase the relationship between clients and business entities and increase their lifetime value as well.

How To Use WooCommerce To Turn Loyal Clients Into Affiliates:

Step 1: Know Your Best Customers

The first thing that needs to be done to convert loyal clients into affiliates is to understand the brand loyalists in your business ecosystem. To identify such customers:

  • Track Client Buying Patterns: Analyze the clients who have made considerable recurring purchases throughout their tenure in business with your brand. 
  • Check Their Activity Levels: Clients who actively participate in social media brand campaigns, review postings, and loyalty contests make great affiliate prospects. 
  • A Loyalty Program: Directly reach out to the most active members with the highest points in your loyalty program.

After all, as an online retailer, you understand that few of your clients are more profitable than others. Don’t hesitate to invite them to join an affiliate program where you explain the perks of being a brand ambassador.

Step 2: Installing an Affiliate Plug-in for WooCommerce

An affiliate program cannot work without a trustworthy tool. The WooCommerce Affiliate plugin created by a development company named DevDiggers is the answer to all your requirements of setting, managing, and maximizing affiliate activities on WooCommerce.

To configure the plug-in:

  1. Log into your WordPress dashboard.
  2. Click on Plugins and select Add New.
  3. Search for the WooCommerce Affiliate plugin. Install and activate it.

With the plugin, you can manage affiliate links, set commission rates, and even track the sales of each affiliate who has direct access to the store.

Step 3: Create an Easy To Understand Commission Structure

Develop an attractive commission plan that is also easy to understand so you can get loyal customers interested in becoming affiliates. Keep in mind the following commission strategies:

  • Percentage-Based Commissions: The most common and simple approach where the affiliate receives a percentage for each sale.
  • Flat-Rate Commissions: These can be useful if you offer a constant price on your products.
  • Tiered Commissions: Good for motivating affiliates as you can set higher commissions for those who achieve higher sales.

These commission options can be adjusted to suit your company’s requirements at any point through the settings of the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin.

Step 4: Marketing Resources For Smoke Cartel Affiliates.

Make it easier for your loyal patrons to join your affiliate program. The signup process can easily discourage potential affiliates. To maximize sign-up:

  • Facilitate Automatic Acceptance: Think of approving loyal customers on submission of affiliate applications without any manual intervention.
  • Create Signup Pages: Using the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin, create a custom affiliate registration page that is easy to see and complete.
  • Use Affiliate Signup Pages for Program Promotion: Devoted customers should be sent personalized invitations with direct links to the affiliate sign-up page.

What stands out the most is that their time is valued alongside making an already simple process even easier and more appealing if an affiliate program exists.

Step 5: Marketing Resources For Website Affiliates.

To make the most out of your affiliate program, equipping your affiliates with tools that help market your products is imperative. This may include but is not limited to:

  • Banner Ads and Graphics: Create visually appealing graphics such as display banner ads for easy placement on affiliates’ personal sites, blogs, or social media pages.
  • Product Links: Thanks to the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin, tracking links and specific products are automatically created for the affiliates’ use.
  • Discount Codes: Conversion rates have a higher chance of increasing when special discount codes are provided to affiliates, who can then share them with their audience.

Providing affiliates with resources helps boost their eagerness to actively promote your store’s products.

The Top Techniques to Help Loyal Customers Turn Into Affiliates

Once your affiliate program is in place, consider these suggestions in order to enhance your affiliate program efficiency and attraction:

1. Exclusivity for the Affiliates

Affiliated loyal customers can also be rewarded by providing them with special perks to enhance engagement. Some of these include higher commission rates, first access to new products, and other exclusive discount codes.

This motivates customers to remain active affiliates since giving them a sense of belonging to a certain group enhances their feeling of being included.

2. Be Proactive with Communication to Your Affiliates

While communication keeps affiliates loyal and engaged, for maximum value, make sure to have an open line of contact at all times. One way to do this is by sharing monthly performance and product updates, as well as actionable tips, using newsletters and emails.

Recognize high-performing affiliates publicly so that you can inspire your newer affiliates while continuing to assist them proactively with any queries they may have.

3. Provide Milestone Incentives

In an effort to boost the productivity of the affiliates over a specified period, consider implementing milestone incentives. For example, the affiliate could be rewarded a bonus for their 10, 50, or 100 sales milestones.

Affiliates will have a far better experience with their work since they can track these milestones through the dashboard of the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin, which allows them to engage with the platform more cooperatively.

4. Monitor and Improve Affiliate Results

Using the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin’s built-in analytics, you can track the contribution of each affiliate and determine who the best ones are.

You should use this data to refine your commission structure, update your promotional materials, and tailor your messages. Your affiliate program becomes far more valuable with this new performance-based optimization.

5. Hold Time-Limited Affiliate Contests

To drive affiliate engagement, create content in celebration of holidays or promotional sales with bonuses for affiliate programs and set timestamps for these challenges. Increased affiliate activity can stem from a sense of urgency that is created from time-limited contests and offers.

How to Reach Loyal Clients with Your Affiliate Program

Now that your affiliate program is running, here are a few pointers that can help you let your loyal customers know about them and encourage them to join your program:

1. Send Invitation Emails to Customers

Email marketing is one of the best tools for reaching your devoted customers. Construct an email detailing the benefits of your affiliate program and encourage them to sign up.

Make sure the affiliate signup page is linked and put a call to action button in the email. Also, you can start off with some bonuses for those who register in a certain period of time.

2. Advertise it Using your Social Media Pages

Use your Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote your affiliate promo.

Cover success stories, testimonials of current affiliates, and remind fans of the benefits of being an affiliate.

This is one way of generating interest and ultimately more registrations.

3. Advertise the Affiliate Program on Your Website

Create an affiliate page for your WooCommerce store’s website and include affiliate program information with a signup link and the commission schedule.

Visibility and sign-up rates can be increased with ease by featuring your affiliate programs prominently in high-traffic areas on your website, such as the homepage banner or the footer of the website.

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Turning Loyal Customers Into Affiliates

Below are some common mistakes when turning loyal clients into affiliates that you should avoid:

  1. Unattractive Commission Offers: Commission offers are set too low. If clients find commission rates unworthy, they may not bother enrolling. Ensure your offerings are competitive. 
  2. Lack Of Help: Some affiliates may need assistance in tracking their sales, promotional ideas, marketing strategies, and even troubleshooting. Insufficient resources might lead to continuous disengagement and dissatisfaction of the affiliates.
  3. Late Payments: Affiliates have to be certain that their payments are timely and dependable. Withholdings should be reliable. Consider using the automated payments provided by the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin.
  4. Excessive Program Policy Requirements: Avoid needlessly complex policies and guidelines that dishearten loyal clients from joining. Complicated wording should not be used.

Final Thoughts

To help expand your WooCommerce store, try changing loyal clients into affiliates. This method could aid in expanding recognition for your brand. 

New customers could be brought to your store, and the existing clientele could be engaged through a straightforward, well-structured affiliate program with the help of the WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin.

To gain loyal customers, offer an enticing affiliate scheme, and equip affiliates with everything they need to succeed, do the steps above. 

With this, you are able to form a community of passionate supporters of your brand who are willing to promote your products, increase sales, and expand the market with very little initial investment. 

Ready to take your WooCommerce store to the next level? Start turning your loyal customers into affiliates today, and watch your business flourish!