An affiliate program is one of the most rewarding and powerful eCommerce sales channels available to merchants across the globe. For online store owners and affiliates alike, affiliate marketing a rich and lucrative opportunity to forge powerful partnerships and garner an endless flow of conversions and profits.

In addition to being one of the easiest to implement and most cost-effective marketing tools, affiliate marketing can provide your store with countless short and long-term benefits.

Let’s take a look at some of the major perks an affiliate program can offer your online store.

Extend Your Brand’s Reach

An affiliate program can dramatically and exponentially increase your store’s exposure. The further you’re able to extend your brand’s reach, the bigger the impact your brand and business will have on consumers. A strong impression is key to succeeding in eCommerce, and a formidable online presence, bolstered by the power of your affiliates, will not only help you build trust with potential customers, but it’ll allow you to gain a powerful edge over your competitors, too.

Increased Sales

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and simplest ways to quickly boost sales for your online store. As most affiliate programs are automated, running at all hours of the day, you’ll always have a band of brand ambassadors working to bring qualified leads to your online store. Better yet, your store may acquire leads and attract traffic from sources you may otherwise not typically have access to, making it easy to tap into a rich supply of new customers.

Cost-Effective Marketing

One of the more unique attributes of an affiliate program is that it’s a type of performance based marketing. As commissions are only awarded when an affiliate has made a sale, this marketing channel alleviates any concerns or potential for yielding a negative ROI. With how much money is lost to failed advertisements every year, having a channel that’s guaranteed to reduce waste is an incredibly invaluable resource, and can provide you with a great deal of peace of mind.

Whether you’re paying a commission of 5%, 10%, or 15%, you can feel secure knowing that an investment is only awarded when a return has already taken place.

Easy Tracking

Tracking the success and progress of your marketing efforts is one of the more burdensome and labor-intensive aspects of a marketing campaign. Fortunately, most affiliate programs offer convenient and comprehensive tracking tools to monitor your affiliates’ activity and to get a better idea of where improvement is needed. You may decide a particular affiliate requires a higher commission, or that another affiliate isn’t delivering the results you’re looking for.