Affiliate marketing is an effective business model, or so it seems.
The industry has been growing with a lot more marketers joining on an everyday basis. If it wasn’t so successful, new marketers wouldn’t be attracted to it, likewise product sellers.
My goal is to help you make the best use of the affiliate system. Not by joining an affiliate network as a vendor, but running your own affiliate program.
This is a big step up, and don’t I know it?
And as with every big move, you’ve got to be equipped with the right knowledge.
So I’m bringing you the top 10 affiliate marketing tools to use. There are many more in the market but these 10 came out tops after researching.
If affiliate networks are doing it right with the way your affiliate program is managed, why seek for affiliate software?
Hold that thought because we will be finding answers to the question in a bit.
Why You Should Use the Affiliate Marketing Software
Affiliate marketing is a business relationship between a seller and a marketer. The seller offers products for sale while the marketer promotes the products.
Seller makes more money from products sold and only pays the marketer when the sale is made. Marketer sells products to her audience and gets paid for any lead that completes a sale.
That actually covers affiliate marketing in a nutshell, though not so simple.
You see, there has to be a system that manages this business relationship for it to run smoothly.
There are two methods that businesses have always used to manage their affiliate programs.
The first is the use of affiliate networks such as ShareASale and ClickBank. These networks are required to manage the affiliate business of their clients, also known as vendors.
The affiliate networks get paid commissions for every lead or sales they facilitate. This is a great option if you need to outsource your affiliate marketing management.
The second method is running the affiliate program yourself. In order words, you control and manage all that concerns your affiliate business.
This method is quite engaging since you are more involved in its running. A benefit of going this way is that you get to keep more of the sales revenue.
You’re not paying any affiliate network a commission for every sale. To manage your affiliate marketing business well, you will need this type of affiliate marketing software.
Here’s my top 10 pick for affiliate marketing software for 2020.
1 – Omnistar
Omnistar provides brands with easy-to-use, but reliable affiliate solutions.
It simplifies the creation and management of affiliate programs. If you need a system that makes it easy to recruit marketers for your products, this is it.
Omnistar helps you build your affiliate business from the ground up. And also makes the process of expanding your affiliate team less stressful.
Omnistar integrates with over 30 apps, so you can use it across many ecommerce platforms.
There is a 15-day window to test Omnistar and see if it fits.
Omnistar offers a lot of benefits for small and medium-sized businesses. It is easy to get around, set up, get running. Plus the team at Omnistar offers great customer support to users.
Omnistar may not be the best solution if you need plenty of payment options for marketers. Also, it doesn’t integrate nicely with CRM since it only provides support for name and email address.
2 – iDevAffiliate
Looking for a marketing solution that delivers the basic needs? One that comes equipped with the basic things you need for your affiliate campaigns?
Then iDevAffiliate must just be that solution you need. It is an affiliate tracking solution best suited for small businesses with limits on spending.
You can also use this software to create customized payment structure and payouts.
The software integrates easily with most carts and ecommerce platforms. Brands will find it easy to customize their affiliate campaigns to sync with their brands.
3 – PartnerStack
This company has evolved into a brand helping to build great partnerships. If your marketing goals include revenue growth, increase in distribution and efficient marketing, PartnerStack may be what you need.
From a single dashboard you can manage everything about marketing, not just the affiliate side of things. It’s a full featured solution with tools for affiliate, referral, real-time reporting and payouts.
The dashboard is simple and enables you to reach out to your partners directly. It grants you control over payouts, client management and referrals.
Integrating this affiliate solution on other platforms may not be as easy as others in its league.
4 – Ambassador
Ambassador is a robust affiliate software/tool designed to meet B2B and B2C marketing needs.
The software is a full referral toolkit that offers a way for marketers to increase their earnings. The software can also be used to achieve customer and income growth.
Want to streamline all that has to do with your affiliate business?
Then use this software to automate things like enrollment, tracking, and partners’ rewards – which include influencers and all members of your affiliate team.
Ambassador puts a lot of power in your hands if you know how to use it. You can even use it to segment marketers and markets based on your needs.
The pricing plans for Ambassador cater for brands based on size. Prices are only available upon a request made to the company.
Ambassador is a robust software/tool that may scare off the faint hearted. A bit of technical skill is required in order to set up the affiliate software.
After the set up, most other features on the software are quite easy to work with – making it easy to customize certain features to help brand your campaigns.
5 – Kartra
Kartra is a robust business platform designed for online marketers, for both the potential and experienced. The affiliate solution provides an easy-to-use interface for driving business growth and sales tracking. It comes with a built-in affiliate system to manage all that the business needs to succeed.
Kartra comes loaded with features that include design-based drag and drop templates. These templates come with designs that you can edit and use for campaigns. This can prove very helpful for the less skilled users.
Kartra allows you to customize more, automate campaigns and sales funnels.
Users of Kartra have no need to add other marketing tools, as all you need is found in Kartra. It also allows you to design a member’s package for your affiliate team.
Though Kartra is a quite complex tool, the set up is made as easy as possible. Instructions are given to you to guide you all through the set up.
You will need proper guidance in order to use more advanced features on Kartra.
To get the best pricing plan, you will need to contact the company support.
6 – JVZoo
JVZoo is the affiliate platform of choice for online marketers who are involved in the creation of digital products. The creators of these products can also promote the same on the platform.
JVZoo makes it quite easy for these sellers to promote their products before their target audience. Also, the platform supports the listing, sale of products, and enlisting of affiliates.
JVZoo enables its users to host and create landing pages on their websites. Experienced marketers can take advantage of JVZoo to drive their offers online – helping them gain access to a wide range of product launches, wide range of online courses and sales funnels.
Using this platform for your online sale lets you access so many online offers to promote.
Vendors get paid when people check out through PayPal, though there is a 30-day wait period.
The newbie to this platform can access lots of learning resources and videos to guide them.
Sign up on JVZoo is free, though you will need to contact the company support for pricing details.
7 – FirstPromoter
FirstPromoter is a full featured SaaS (Software as a Service) affiliate solution. It helps brands track and manage their affiliate programs.
It enables businesses in launching their own affiliate and referral programs within a few minutes.
This affiliate solution also integrates nicely with Stripe, Recurly, Braintree and Chargebee.
The set up follows a simple step-by-step guide that makes program launches easy for all. You can also track, manage and optimize every part of your affiliate programs.
You will enjoy solid customer support, customizable dashboard, and fraud protection. You can also set up multi-tiered affiliate structures and commissions.
The features on FirstPromoter also include tracking of referrals with or without affiliate links.
There is a free 14-day trial period for anyone interested in using FirstPromoter.
8 – ShareASale
ShareASale is a trusted affiliate network that helps brands manage their affiliate programs.
ShareASale is a great tool for tracking the real time efforts of marketers. Click tracking, sales boosting, and improvement of marketing tactics is part of the gains from ShareASale.
Brands of all shapes and sizes can make use of this affiliate network.
Want to see growth in affiliate sales over time?
Then this network may just be the best solution that will help you out.
It is one big network running a wide range of affiliate programs. Users find it quite easy to generate custom affiliate links for product pages. It’s equally easy to join, even for those who have little or no experience with affiliate programs.
Business accounts start at $550 and an account creation deposit of $100. There are also recurring fees charged based on sales made per month.
9 – ClickBank
ClickBank is one of the longest standing affiliate marketing programs. Its focus is mainly anything digitized with the major emphasis on courses. It’s rare to see affiliate programs as big or popular as ClickBank.
The approval process for the new members of ClickBank is anything but hard. That’s why it remains a good choice for those who are new to the affiliate business. It is free to join and the platform provides lots of learning resources to guide new users. You can also find massive posts about ClickBank online.
Want to know all there is about making money on ClickBank?
Then join the ClickBank University for all courses you will need for your campaigns.
Vendors enjoy great customer support from the ClickBank team.
The affiliate program presents one of the best income earners for affiliates. You can select your payout method from the different options.
On ClickBank, too much control over affiliate programs is vested in the network itself. Vendors are not involved on how refunds are issued. There is also a limit to what they can say or do about money back guarantees.
10 – CJ Affiliate
Once upon a time, CJ Affiliate was once called Commission Junction. That has all changed now because the same company has evolved. It is now one of the biggest and trusted affiliate networks in the world.
CJ Affiliate is a business friendly affiliate network that helps brands link up with their market. Brands can leverage on CJ Affiliate to deliver Omni-channel, and data-driven solutions – helping them to connect and engage with their target market.
Brands can also create affiliate programs, build productive partnerships with one another and reward affiliates.
CJ Affiliate gives brands a lot of room to customize their affiliate offers and make a wide array of tools available for affiliates to use in promoting offers.
Contact the company to get more details about CJ Affiliate pricing and plans.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is a very effective business practice for growing your revenue.
You can approach the affiliate business in either of two ways.
One way is to engage an affiliate network to manage your affiliate program. They do all the heavy lifting for you while you produce a list of offers for marketers to promote.
The second way is to run the affiliate program yourself. This option gives you much more control over the affiliate process.
The post offers you 10 tools that can be used to manage your affiliate business. Some of those tools are best suited for small business needs, while others cater for larger affiliate needs for the bigger brands.
You can start with the solution that best appeals to your business needs.
Do you want to venture into the business of affiliate marketing with or without the knowledge of affiliate marketing? Congratulations, I found the right affiliate marketing program for you – Wealthy Affiliate Program!
The WA affiliate program is one that pays its affiliates a 50% recurring commission on every referral that pays their monthly membership subscription.
Hey there Morgan,
The list of the best affiliate marketing tools you have given in this post is quite valuable. I am just stepping foot into affiliate marketing and I can really use almost all the tools you recommend here. I think I am going to start with iDevAffiliate tool first and then slowly get into the others as I progress. I have also bookmarked your website for future visits since I have seen you offer really great information on affiliate marketing. Cheers.
Hey Dave, glad you enjoyed reading my affiliate marketing tutorial and bookmarked it for future visits! I carefully selected those tools, so you can find them useful immediately and build a successful affiliate marketing business in no time. Do not hesitate to let me know if you need assistance with anything going forward. Thanks for stopping by..Drop by anytime!
Well, I learned something new about affiliate Marketing that i never knew before; software for affiliate marketers.Very interesting. i knew there were businesses that set up affiliate marketing to help sell their products and I knew there were networks that did the heavy lifting for businesses that didn’t want to do all that work. I am a member of Wealthy Affiliates and I hope to see some green stuff eventually as an affiliate for a company.
I wished that you would have spent more time on WA and explained their education program for those who want to become “wealthy affiliates.” But all in all, you expanded my knowledge and I’m sure your readers gained new knowledge about online marketing. It is one of the biggest industries out there today and more and more people are investing in the internet. You have enlightened a lot of companies on a way to grow their business.
Thanks for commenting on my affiliate marketing tutorial, Barbara! Literally, the successful affiliate marketers of today leveraged on tools to build their business from scratch, which most newbie affiliates don’t do. Yeah, there are tools that your affiliate marketing business requires to be successful. And this is what this post is focused upon for you. Thanks again for stopping by!
In your report of 10 tools to help affiliate marketers grow their business, you have offered ways to grow the affiliate business. When using the program Omnister, you are selling a program you have designed yourself? I have not seen this place to offer your own program. In fact, the first 5 were unfamiliar to me. The last 5 I have of course seen and heard of.
Was the ability to make more money for each sale the main reason for sharing this information? Or is some of the software easier to use than others? I have considered being an affiliate for products that are offered but want to make wise choices. I do not yet have a product of my own to offer so, what do you consider most important for deciding which one to work with? I had always thought that choices were made based on what fit our niche. Are there other considerations?
Thank you for the introduction of a new product for me.
Thanks for leaving a comment on my affiliate marketing tutorial, Sami! Much appreciated! Yes, with the aid of those tools mentioned in this post, you will be able to generate more sales and make more profits than ever. That is the big secret of the pro affiliates out there. They implemented tools like these and succeeded in affiliate marketing. Thanks for stopping by.. drop by anytime!