Whether you are a Shopify store owner or an affiliate marketer looking to promote Shopify, we have you covered …

Sometimes we affiliate marketers forget just how much we know about email, WordPress, plugins, themes and more. It is a basic part of business for most of us. Along come people with experience in retail looking to create an online presence. Do they really want to develop expertise in hosting, WordPress, WooCommerce, etc? Or do they want to focus on retailing.

Shopify Affiliate Program

Types of products: eCommerce Hosting & Store Builder

Where to join: Shopify Affiliate Program

Commission structure: $58 – $2,000

Cookie length: 30 Days

Payment Methods: Paypal only

Most retailers are not going to become WordPress infrastructure experts. This leaves them two options:

  • Hire an agency to be their backend support. Well again retailers are not IT experts so hiring developers and designers is problematic.
  • Go to a company like Shopify which provides easy to deploy technology for retailers.

Go to our affiliate programs page for more program reviews.

How to Join the Shopify Affiliate Program

The Shopify affiliate program can be picky. They want affiliates whose audience overlaps their products well. It is a slightly confusing application as the affiliate application and the partner application are co-mingled. The detailed steps are below …

Shopify Affiliate Application

Step 1 — Make a Shopify account

shopify-create-account

Step 2 — Background information for new account

account-background

Step 3 — Select a partnership type

shopify-affiliate-partner

Step 4 — Affiliate Application

shopify-affiliate-app

Confirmation

All in all a painless though overly convoluted process.

We have a detailed post with over 40 high ticket affiliate programs — check it out.

Shopify as an Affiliate Marketing Platform

Are you looking for information about having affiliate’s associated with your Shopify store?

Affiliate marketing is a great way to increase product sales. You will reach customers that would never have known about your products. You can create an affiliate program and provide whatever commission rate you want to your products. You my want different product categories to have different conversion rates. Some basic rules for setting up an affiliate program for your Shopify store.

  • Provide images, logos and other collateral material
  • Create a guide to help affiliates understand your company and products
  • Have a set of rules for affiliates to follow
  • Take the time to review each affiliate individually
  • Do not allow coupon sites to join
  • Make a list of other non-qualified sites like gambling, porn etc.
  • Do not allow any of your trademarks to be used in any advertising
  • Always delay payments until a few weeks after the return period
  • After the first commission earned always check the affiliate site again for compliance to your rules

Thanks to the large Shopify developer community, Shopify store owners have a number of options when it comes to creating an affiliate marketing program for their stores.

1. Refersion

Refersion is one of the more powerful affiliate platforms for Shopify. It scales well, has a free trial and has received great reviews.

2. LeadDyno

Another well-received affiliate platforms is  LeadDyno. LeadDyno can be setup with your Shopify store with just a few clicks. You can  pay your affiliates automatically (bad idea always manually check and approve) or with “one-click” using PayPal, or even Coinbase.

3. Affiliatly

Affiliatly is highly recommended by its users. They have a 30-day free trial to get a feel for how it works.

4. Omnistar

Omnistar may have the largest Shopify store user base.They have some big clients like Macy’s so you know they check out. Omnistar has a 15 day free trial.

5. Enlistly

The lowest cost option is Enlistly. They let you easily setup custom affiliate plans by product and affiliate.

What about the Shopify Affiliate Program?

The Shopify affiliate program exists to help Shopify sell more of their products. All Shopify store owners should become an affiliate and let everyone know how much you love the Shopify platform. Put a link with your affiliate id in your signature line … “Proud to be a Shopify Store Owner”. Write articles about your store and Shopify experience and guest post. This will both drive traffic to your store and your Shopify affiliate link.

Remember that Shopify Plus pays as much as $2,000. Consider approaching your network of larger store owners that are not yet online or struggling with Magento or WordPress etc.

Shopify Products

Shopify has 3 main products/pricing levels.

  • Basic Shopify — $29/mo
  • Shopify — $79/mo
  • Advanced Shopify — $299/mo

They all have unlimited products and free trials. The different levels provide lower pricing for credit card handling, more staff accounts, different shipping costs etc.

In addition to the three main products, Shopify has a high-end product called Shopify Plus which is billed as an enterprise-level tool. Remember this is where the $2,000 commission is! They also have a Shopify Lite product that is $9/mo.

shopify-pricing

Shopify Commission Rates and Rules

Shopify pays 200% of the first months billing with the exception of the Shopify Plus enterprise version. That pays a flat $2,000.

  • Lite = $18 commission
  • Basic = $58 commission
  • Shopify = $158 commission
  • Advanced Shopify = $598 commission
  • Shopify Plus = $2,000 commission

Shopify pays so well that they made our Highest Paying Commissions article

Affiliate Tools and Support

Shopify provides lots of marketing material and affiliate guides. They also provide a free 14-day trial so this is n easy close.

They even let you create an  development stores. A  free Shopify account that comes that you can use a development store to test out Shopify. This can help you create content for your audience.

How to Promote Shopify Online

Focusing on content marketing will bring you the most success with the least expense. Search for longtail keywords with less competition for topics. After writing an article remember it’s content MARKETING. You should get the word out about your new article. Post it to social media, let your email list know, drop an appropriate link in Quora, etc.

Another strategy for Shopify stores would be to focus on the WooCommerce, Magento and other non-Shopify solutions. Every store owner who is managing their own backend like this has days of extreme frustration. Keep a list of know commerce sites that are not using Shopify and stay in front of them. Remember every plan has a free 14-day trial so recommend the larger plans like Advanced Shopify where appropriate.

You can use a tool like built-with to find sites using WooCommerce. There are many tools to find out about a companies infrastructure

You are not limited to Shopify.com site for affiliate commissions. In fact, the international sites will have lower competition for search volume.

Shopify International Links

You can edit your affiliate link for international versions of Shopify websites.  Just your affiliate referral handle to the end of the following international domains:

  • USA – https://www.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Canada (EN) – https://www.shopify.ca/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Canada (FR) – https://https://fr.shopify.ca/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • New Zealand – https://www.shopify.co.nz/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • United Kingdom – https://www.shopify.co.uk/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • South Africa – https://www.shopify.co.za/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Indonesia – https://www.shopify.co.id/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Australia – https://www.shopify.com.au/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Nigeria – https://www.shopify.com.ng/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Ireland – https://www.shopify.ie/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Hong Kong – https://www.shopify.hk/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • India – https://www.shopify.in/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Malaysia – https://www.shopify.my/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Singapore – https://www.shopify.com.sg/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Philippines – https://www.shopify.com.ph/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Spanish (international) – https://es.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Spain – https://www.shopify.es/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Colombia – https://www.shopify.com.co/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Mexico – https://www.shopify.com.mx/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Brazil – https://pt.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Germany – https://www.shopify.de/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • France – https://fr.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Italy – https://it.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Japan – https://www.shopify.jp/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]
  • Russia – https://ru.shopify.com/?ref=[YOUR_UNIQUE_REF_HANDLE]

You can also drive traffic to localized Shopify pages by adding your referral handle to the end of the following domains:

Go to our affiliate tips page -- learn how to promote products.

Pros and Cons — Shopify Affiliate Program

 

ADVANTAGES

Strong brand with trust

High Commission Rate

Potential for $2,000 commission

Great Product

DISADVANTAGES

Confusing application process

Only pay on initial purchase — not on upgrades

FAQ

How much does Shopify pay its affiliates?

Shopify pays affiliates a flat fee based on the level of service your lead purchases. The rates vary from $18 -$2000

How long do you have to make a sale from someone who uses your affiliate link?

Shopify has a 30-day last touch cookie. As long as the customer purchases within 30 days of arriving via your affiliate link you will receive the commission.

What products are eligible for affiliate sales?

Shopify has 4 pricing levels for small businesses as well as an enterprise plan. They are all eligible for commissions.

Does run its own affiliate program?

Yes, Shopify has an in-house affiliate program. They provide a dedicated affiliate support team and many banners and other marketing materials.

Should You Become a Shopify Affiliate?

It is a very strong program for those with an appropriate audience. This is always the key. Not just is this a good affiliate program? But is this a good product for your visitors.? If you have a small business retail-focused audience, Shopify can be a real money-maker. And the idea of a $2,000 commission keeps you motivated.