A new affiliate program with a public sign-up page and no partners is like a store with the lights on and the door locked from the inside. The first twenty partners do not come from the sign-up page. They come from you, one conversation at a time.
Start with people who already recommend you
Your best early partners are people already talking about your product without being paid. Find them:
- Customers who sent you customers. Ask new customers how they heard about you; the names that come up are your first invitations.
- Your support inbox. Customers who write long, thoughtful emails often write publicly too.
- Mentions. Search social networks, forums and newsletters for your product’s name.
- Reviews. People who left detailed reviews on software directories already did the hard part.
These people convert best because their recommendations are already genuine. Paying them simply makes it worth doing more often.
Consultants and agencies
Anyone who sets up software for clients — consultants, agencies, freelancers, implementation partners — chooses tools on clients’ behalf. One agency can bring a customer a month for years. Look for:
- agencies that list your category of tools on their site;
- freelancers on marketplaces who mention adjacent tools;
- consultants who write tutorials about the problem your product solves.
They care about recurring commissions, being credited even when a client signs up weeks later, and sometimes a partner discount for clients. Offer a group with terms that suit them.
Creators and newsletters
Creators who write or make videos for your audience can send customers in bursts. They need deep links to specific pages, a promo code they can read aloud, a few good assets, and quick visible reporting so they can see a post worked.
Start with smaller creators who genuinely use your product. Their audiences trust them, and they are more likely to say yes than the biggest names.
Integration and technology partners
Products that integrate with yours share your customers. A partnership where each recommends the other in the right place — the integration directory, onboarding, documentation — can be worth more than many individual affiliates. These partners often need a lead form rather than a link, because their referrals come through conversations.
How to invite
A personal invitation beats a blast. For each person:
- Say why them. “You’ve recommended us to three people we know of — thank you.”
- Make the offer concrete. The rate, the window and when they get paid, in one sentence.
- Make joining one click. An invitation link that drops them into the portal with their link ready.
- Give them a first idea. “Your newsletter readers ask about X a lot; this page answers it.”
A short example that works:
Hi Sam — you’ve pointed three teams our way this year, thank you. We’ve started a partner program: 30% of what each customer you send pays, for their first 12 months, paid monthly. Here is your invitation link; your referral link is ready the moment you open it. If it helps, the comparison page we just published answers the question your readers ask most.
Send twenty such emails and you will typically get a handful of active partners. That is a good start.
Remind them to disclose
Paid recommendations must be disclosed. In the US, the FTC treats an affiliate link as a material connection that needs a clear disclosure close to the recommendation. Put a one-line reminder in your invitation and your welcome email, with an example of good wording. Partners who disclose properly protect you and themselves.
Give the first ones extra attention
Your first partners are also your teachers. Ask what confused them, which assets they used, and what stopped them from promoting you more. Fix those things before you open public sign-up. A small boost — a higher rate for their first three months, or a bonus on their first customer — rewards the early risk they took.
Then open the door
Once a few partners are earning and your portal has answered their questions, publish your sign-up page, link it from your footer and pricing page, and mention it in your product’s settings or billing area. Customers who see “earn by recommending us” next to their invoice are your next cohort.
Twenty well-chosen partners who each send a customer a month will outperform two hundred who signed up and forgot. Recruit like it is a sales process, because it is one.
Doing this in Affiligato
Invite partners by email from the partners page, into the group whose terms fit them; each gets their link the moment they join, with no password to set. Give consultants a group with recurring terms and creators one with a promo code, and each group can have its own sign-up link, approval setting and description.
If your first partners already promote you through another tool, import them from a CSV with their existing codes, and links that use the other tool’s parameter keep crediting them. When you open the door, the public portal page takes applications with your terms and any questions you want answered.
