TL;DR
- Moved off ShareASale, which handled one-time purchases but not subscriptions or free trials
- Built a recurring commission structure that affiliates are excited to promote
- Recruits through a dedicated affiliate landing page and a “refer a friend” offer to existing customers
- Saw more consistent affiliate signups within the first few months
Why CustomGPT chose FirstPromoter
Accurate tracking and low costs as the program grew
Results
700K+ in revenue from 1,600+ promoters
Key Tips
Brilliant Directories’ advice for launching an affiliate program
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Treat it like a growth channel
Run your affiliate program like any other growth channel. It needs clear goals, ongoing attention and a compelling offer.
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Give affiliates a reason to promote
Affiliates need a strong reason to promote you over competitors and the many other products they could recommend.
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Start small, invest in relationships
Focus on real partnerships rather than just handing out links.
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Turn customers into affiliates
Existing customers already trust the product. Turn them into customer-affiliates and reward them for spreading the word. Brilliant Directories calls this one of its most effective tactics.
Insights
More insights from Brilliant Directories
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How do you recruit affiliates?
A dedicated landing page explains the program, who can join, the commissions and the benefits. They also promote the program to existing customers as “refer a friend.”
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Do you use any specific tactics to onboard and activate affiliates?
FirstPromoter trigger emails send every new affiliate a structured onboarding sequence with next steps, ready-made assets and encouragement. A dedicated “Affiliate Concierge” helps with questions, custom tracking links and promotion ideas.
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What are the most important metrics you are following?
They track five metrics: new affiliate signups, how many affiliates are standalone and how many are customer-affiliates, return rate of referred customers, long-term value of referred customers and clicks and conversions from affiliate landing pages, blog posts and newsletters.
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Which features have been the most helpful for your affiliate program?
The API, which lets them integrate FirstPromoter into their custom payment flow. Trigger emails and flexible campaign settings also help.
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Did you try other affiliate management platforms? If so, why weren’t they right for you?
They used ShareASale for many years. It worked for simple one-time purchases, but it lacked support for recurring SaaS subscriptions, free trials and long-term customer value. Commission and branding customization were also limited.