First up, let’s discuss the main terms. An affiliate commission rate is your cut from every sale made through your unique affiliate link. Think of it as a slice of the sales pie you enjoy. How big that slice is depends on a number of factors, such as the industry you’re in, the product you’re promoting and its price.
Typically, most affiliate programmes offer commission rates between 5% and 30%. But wait, some programmes may even offer as low as 3% for certain products. Mostly, the rates are between 5% and 10%.
Breaking Down Commission Rates By Industry
Fitness and Health Products
Do you fancy earning good money while promoting a healthy lifestyle? Fitness and health products could be your thing. Depending on the online shop, commission rates can range from 15% to 40%.
Retail and Fashion
The glitz and glamour of the retail and fashion industries are tempting, but these industries tend to offer lower commission rates – usually between 5-10%. Higher overheads and lower profit margins make higher commission rates a luxury here.
Digital Products
Digital products such as software, ebooks or online courses can be a goldmine. They typically offer higher commission rates in the 25-50% range. Some can even reach 75%, especially for digital products with minimal overheads.
Services
Services such as web hosting or online marketing tools often offer recurring commissions. This means that as long as the customer subscribes, you keep earning! The percentage is usually between 10-30% of the subscription price.
Financial Services and Insurance
These industries offer different commission rates. Credit card companies usually offer flat commissions between $50 and $100 per successful referral. Insurance companies may offer a percentage of the policy cost, usually between 20-40%.
Amazon Associates
Amazon may not offer the highest commission rates, but the sheer volume of products and visitors to the site still makes it a popular target for many affiliates. Amazon affiliates can earn up to 10% in commissions. Compare that to eBay, which offers a 1%‒4% commission range, with a maximum payout of $550 for a qualified sale.
Keep in mind, however, that Amazon lowered commission rates for most product categories in April 2020. For groceries, the commission dropped from 5% to 1% and for furniture from 8% to 3%.
Despite these changes, affiliate campaigns on Amazon are still growing: there are 15 independent Amazon Affiliates programmes you can join. Earnings from these programmes can vary from $100 to $20,000 per month!
So if you are serious about affiliate marketing and want to make a lot of money (which is possible!), you need to know the approximate prices in each industry.
And yes, in some cases high commission rates may seem attractive to you, but don’t forget to consider other factors such as conversion, sales volume and average order value.
Don’t hesitate and get the most out of affiliate marketing! And we will continue to delight you with interesting articles. Stay tuned!
