Ulta Affiliate Program

Types of products: Wide range of beauty products

Where to join: Ulta Affiliate Program at Impact Radius

Commission structure: 2% of sales amount

Cookie length:  30 days

Payment Methods: Paypal

Ulta Beauty is one of the most popular vendor of women’s beauty products ( a few for men as well).

Their prices and shipping policies are competitive and they have strong brand recognition. They have over 800 stores that adds to the brand loyalty.

Beauty products are an evergreen niche that are in high demand. Let’s take a look at their affiliate program

How to Join the Ulta Affiliate Program

The Ulta affiliate program is managed by Impact Radius. It is very inclusive and almost all sites are approved.

There is a very simple application that needs basic information about you and your website.

Go to our affiliate programs page for more program reviews.

Ulta Products

Ulta products include:

  • Makeup
  • Nail care
  • Skin care
  • Hair Care
  • Bath and Body
  • Fragrances
  • Mens
  • and more …

The beauty industry is huge so it certainly is a viable, if not competitive, niche.

beauty industry size

Ulta Affiliate Commission Rates and Rules

The Ulta commission programs pays 2% of the sales amount. This is unfortunately a very low commission rate. They have a 30-day cookie period which is much better than Amazon’s for instance.

Ulta former affiliate program paid much better when they were with Commission Junction.  It was more like Sephora’s program with department/category-based commissions that went as high as 7%.

The usual rules regarding no bidding on ads with their trademark names. Interestingly they do provide a list of suggested bidding keywords:

  • Makeup
  • Skin Care
  • Bath and Body
  • Hair Care
  • Cosmetics
  • Fragrance
  • Smashbox Cosmetics
  • bareMinerals.

Affiliate Tools and Support

Impact Radius always does a great job of making banners and ads available for their partner companies. Ulta also offers a number of additional tools and promotions for affiliates to help close business.

  • Free shipping offers
  • Free gifts with qualifying purchases
  • Promotions like buy one, get one free
  • Coupons
  • Special offers for affiliates

How to Promote Ulta Online

The first thing to look at is what products are selling best at Ulta. According to a recent customer survey, the top 10 Ulta products are:

  • Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs, and Rosewater, $7
  • Sexy Hair Big Sexy Hair Spray & Play Volumizing Hairspray, $19
  • Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo, $23
  • Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer, $400
  • IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Foundation Full Coverage Moisturizer with SPF 50+, $40 
  • Urban Decay Cosmetics Naked Heat Eyeshadow Palette, $54
  • Tarte Double Duty Beauty Shape Tape Contour Concealer, $27
  • Benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash Super Curling & Lifting Mascara, $25
  • Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II, $98
  • Beachwaver S1-Dual Voltage, $129

As you can see the top products rang from as high as $400 for the Dyson hairdryer to $7 for facial spray. With a 2% commission rate you will need a lot of transactions to earn any significant revenue. Though Ulta provided a suggested list of bidding keywords, I can’t imagine using paid advertising for a 2% payout.

If you are already active in the beauty niche I would continue to create long-tail keyword content to drive traffic. But remember the beauty space is very competitive for keywords. Take the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer. It has a fairly low search volume of 333/mo. That would normally be an attractive amount for low competition keywords. Unfortunately, there are 26,700 pages with the keyword “Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer” in the title. I had to double check that, 26,700!! You will have never rank for that keyword. You will want to be narrower with the keywords you focus on. For instance the keyword “Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer for curly hairstyles” is searched more often at 1,000 month but only has 22 articles with that in the title.

Once you establish your content marketing strategy, you may want to check for the product at Amazon (which will likely convert better) or the  Sephora affiliate program that pays up to 7.2% on a category-based commission system.

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

Pros and Cons — Ulta Affiliate Program

 

ADVANTAGES

A very strong brand

A broad range of products

DISADVANTAGES

Low 2% commission rate

Should You Become a Ulta Affiliate?

Ulta is a great beauty site. They have a strong brand and with over 800 stores most consumers of beauty products are aware of them. Many of their customers are repeat buyers who shop monthly or more.

There are no reasons to not join but the payouts at 2% are very low. When they were at CJ they paid 5-7%. Perhaps they will increase the rates again in the future.

We also have a roundup of 14 makeup affiliate program reviews all pay more than the 2% of Ulta.

FAQ

How much does Ulta pay its affiliates?

Ulta pays 2% of the sales amount. It is best for frequent buyers.

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

Ulta uses a 30-day cookie. As long as the customer purchases within 30 days of arriving with your affiliate link you will receive the commission.

What products are eligible for affiliate sales?

Ulta is a beauty and makeup retailer. All products that your referred customer purchases at Ulta.com will earn commissions.

Does run its own affiliate program?

Ulta's affiliate program is managed by Impact Radius. Impact provides affiliate support and marketing materials.