Why should you use affiliates to grow your subscription box business?

Discover how partnering with affiliates can grow your subscription box business by expanding your reach, building trust, and driving more sales.

* This post contains affiliate/referral links. I could make a commission at no charge to you if you purchase my recommended products.  Please read my disclosure and privacy policy HERE.

You don’t have to grow your subscription box business all by yourself. Especially when you partner with affiliates. Affiliates get your subscription box in front of new audiences and build trust and credibility – after all, it’s not just you saying they need to subscribe to your amazing subscription box! 

I partner with affiliates for all of my subscription boxes and, spoiler alert, they are responsible for a LOT of the success I’ve had in launches over the years.  

Want to see how partnering with affiliates can help you take your subscription box business to the next level? Keep reading!

How can affiliates help you grow your subscription box business? 

Growing your subscription box business means growing your audience. You need to get in front of more people - your ideal customers - and share your amazing, just-right-for-them box with them.

Where can you find these people - and then get in front of them? You could pay for ads, drive traffic from those ads to your website, and hope they buy. 

Or…

You could pay someone to get in front of THEIR audience – that just happens to have a whole lot in common with your audience – but only pay them when a member of their audience subscribes. That’s right - you only pay once someone becomes a subscriber. 

It almost seems too good to be true, right? 

I’m talking about affiliate marketing. This shifting trend in marketing has been getting more and more popular over the past several years. 

Why should you consider using affiliates to help you grow your subscription box business? 

1. Affiliates already have an audience. 
2. Affiliates can drive immediate sales to your sites. 
3. You’re paying for actual sales - not leads or engagement. 
4. An affiliate’s audience already knows, likes, and trusts them. 
5. You pay an affiliate for actual sales rather than relying on ads that “might” generate sales. 

If your subscription box is the right fit for an affiliate’s audience, they can instantly generate sales for you. And those sales continue month after month. And that means more recurring revenue! 

Where can you find affiliates for your subscription box?   

Now that you see how valuable affiliates can be to growing your subscription box business, one question needs to be answered. Where to find them! 

The best affiliates can be your own subscribers! 

Anyone who is consistently active and posting on social media and loves your box could be a perfect fit. 

• Are any of your subscribers doing live unboxings on their own pages? 
• Do any of your subscribers have large followings of their own?
• Is their audience filled with your ideal customers? 

Reach out to any current subscribers who meet these criteria and see if they’re interested in making money for themselves by selling for you!

If none of your subscribers meets these criteria, reach out to other influencers in your niche. Check YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok for people who might be a good fit. Ask them if they would like to be an affiliate for you. 

It’s important to remember that affiliates will represent you and your brand. Spend some time getting to know them and their content to make sure they align with your brand and personal values. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to influencers you think would be a good fit for your subscription box and your brand. Most YouTubers and IG influencers do this for a living. They know the power of their following and usually welcome another revenue stream.

How much should you pay affiliates? 

When it comes to how - and how much - to pay affiliates, you have options. 

Subscription boxes can have a one time sign up commission or a recurring affiliate commission. A recurring commission is paid to your affiliate each time that subscriber’s account gets charged. 

Whether you decide on a one-time or recurring payment, ask yourself: 

• How much profit margin do you have? 
• What would make an affiliate WANT to sell your box?  
• How can you set this up to be a win/win - for you AND your affiliate? 

Affiliate payments range from 5%-30%. Remember - consider your profit margin in your subscription box business. You need to be profitable - make sure you’re not giving it all away! 

Consider what amount will incentivize your affiliate to share and drive more traffic to your site. You’re asking them to do some work for you - what will make it worth their while? 

When considering how much to pay an affiliate, think about how much you normally spend on marketing. Is there money that could be shifted over to cover affiliate marketing commissions? 

Remember, you are paying affiliates for actual sales, not leads and clicks. Actual sales.

How should you manage your subscription box affiliates?  

Managing affiliates can get tricky. Make this process seamless and easy by integrating an affiliate software with your site. In my business, we use and love Affiliatly. This link takes you to my affiliate account with them.

Inside an affiliate software, subscribers or influencers can create their own accounts, generate links for your products, check sales, and track how much commission they’ll receive. 

Make it easy for your affiliates to work with you! Provide images for them to use on their social media. Give them email scripts to use to send to their lists. Surprise and delight them the same way you surprise and delight your subscribers. 

For even more about how and why to make affiliates part of your subscription box marketing strategy, listen to episode 128 of the Launch Your Box Podcast. 

After you launch your subscription box (and take a well-deserved moment to celebrate!), the next step on your journey begins. Growing your audience, keeping subscribers happy, and boosting retention rates are keys to long-term success. When you're ready to take things to the next level, adding affiliates to your marketing strategy can be a game-changer. So don't wait—start exploring affiliate partnerships today!