31 Tactics to Build an Affiliate Army that Sells $1m For You

In this article, you will learn how to leverage affiliate marketing to acquire new users and grow your software company, complete with real-world examples from successful SaaS CEOs. We’ll explore the strategies top founders have used to build powerful affiliate programs that drive millions in revenue. You will get the 6-part playbook to launch your own affiliate program, supported by over 40 case studies you can use as inspiration. These examples are from top Founders like Stefan Smolders at Expandi, Andy Fletcher at Convertri, and Evo Draganov at Batch, who have used these exact tactics to scale their companies to over $8M in annual revenue and beyond.

The 6-Part Playbook For a High-Converting Affiliate Program

An affiliate program can be one of the most capital-efficient ways to grow your user base. It turns influential voices in your industry into a distributed sales team. This playbook outlines the key steps to building a program that not only attracts partners but also drives significant revenue, with real examples to guide you.

1. Define a Compelling Commission Structure: The foundation of any affiliate program is a commission that motivates partners. While a one-time payout can work, recurring commissions create long-term alignment. For example, Stefan Smolders at Expandi offers VIP affiliates a 30% recurring commission, ensuring they are continuously motivated to promote the product and retain the customers they bring in.
2. Choose Your Affiliate Management Software: Manually tracking clicks, signups, and payouts is a recipe for disaster. A dedicated platform is essential. While many options exist, the team at Expandi found success using a tool called Reditus, which helped them manage their partners and automate payouts, streamlining the entire operation.
3. Create a High-Touch Onboarding Process: Don’t just send generic welcome emails. Treat your affiliates like true partners. Stefan from Expandi emphasizes a personalized onboarding journey, communicating with new affiliates across multiple channels like email and social media to provide targeted support and make them feel part of a community. This approach helped them achieve an incredible 50% free-to-paid conversion rate from affiliate traffic.
4. Recruit the Right Affiliates: Your ideal affiliates are individuals and companies that your target customers already trust. This includes industry influencers, coaches, and even non-competing software companies. Evo Draganov of Batch successfully recruited over 500 affiliates by attending niche industry events and building relationships with prominent coaches and influencers in the real estate space.
5. Leverage a “Launch” Model for Massive Initial Traction: For a huge burst of initial momentum, consider an affiliate-driven product launch with an aggressive commission. Andy Fletcher of Convertri generated an incredible $750,000 in just five days by offering affiliates a 50% commission on a lifetime deal for his new funnel-building software, managed through the JVZoo network.
6. Explore Integration & “Powered By” Partnerships: Think beyond traditional content affiliates. Consider technical partnerships where other apps integrate with yours. Ryan Allis, founder of iContact, successfully scaled by paying integration partners for the development costs to connect their API to his, creating a steady stream of customer referrals from complementary products.

40+ Examples of SaaS Affiliate Strategies

Below are over 40 real-world examples from SaaS founders who have successfully used affiliate, partner, and reseller programs to fuel their growth. Each example provides specific numbers and links to the original source.

• Michał Suski of Surfer SEO shared that partnerships, primarily affiliate marketing, accounted for over 30% of their revenue, generating $3.5 million. They offer a 30% recurring commission to their 3,000+ affiliates.
• Stefan Smolders revealed that Expandi’s affiliate program achieves a 50% free-to-paid conversion rate, driven by a 30% recurring commission for top partners.
• Andy Fletcher of Convertri executed a powerful affiliate launch model, generating $750,000 in six days by offering a 50% commission on a lifetime deal, which brought in 2,300 new customers.
• Evo Draganov from Batch built a network of nearly 500 affiliates by connecting with coaches and influencers at real estate events, making it a primary channel for their $16 million in annual revenue.
• Ryan Allis of iContact, which he sold for $169 million, utilized integration partnerships by paying for the development of API connections, which in turn drove customer referrals.
• Bryn Jones, CEO of GrowSumo, built his entire business as a marketplace for influencer programs, charging companies like Evernote a 10% fee on all payouts made to their affiliates.
• Shuvo Rahman from My Alice explained that their go-to-market strategy relies heavily on partners in nine countries who resell their product, earning a 20-30% commission on the sales they generate.
• Eric Siu of Single Grain shared how his affiliate site drives $3 million in annual affiliate revenue by creating high-value content and leveraging a team of writers and editors.
• Dave Lee of PlusThis, a profitable 8-figure SaaS, uses a reseller program where marketing consultants either get a wholesale rate or a referral commission for bringing new customers to the platform.
• Dale Beaumont of Bizversity noted that franchise groups are a key affiliate channel, allowing him to provide business training to hundreds of franchisees under a single enterprise-style account.
• Arun Siva Shankaran of Funnel Envy mentioned that his company acts as a partner with platforms like Optimizely, integrating their data capabilities to serve customers and splitting the revenue.
• Joe Troyer, founder of Review & Bonus, explained that his early success came from leveraging affiliate launches to build a large buyer list, which he then used to launch his own products.
• Muhammad Ibrahim of Penny.co leverages partners to resell their procurement software, paying out a commission that ranges from 7% to 10% of the revenue generated.
• Alex from Atta.com mentioned that a key part of their growth strategy involves distribution deals with marketplaces that cater to their target audience of developers.
• Yash Siobhan of GetSorale shared that some of his customers who are successful e-commerce brands have shown interest in becoming angel investors, representing a unique form of partnership.
• Neil Patel of UberSuggest built a 9-figure company by acquiring software tools and offering them for free to generate thousands of leads for his primary business, an ad agency.
• Bram Medina of HirePort built a two-sided marketplace that connects companies with recruiters, where recruiters earn over 80% of the placement fee, making them powerful advocates for the platform.
• Scott Sambucci of SalesQualia mentioned that he brings in expert coaches as partners to teach specific topics to his clients, creating a network of valuable collaborations.
• Thomas Smale of FE International explained that many successful SaaS acquisitions they facilitate are from companies that have strong affiliate programs driving efficient, scalable growth.
• Marie Martens of Tally used a non-scalable outreach method on Product Hunt to find her first users, which introduced her to founder communities and Slack groups that became early advocates.
• JP from Ninja Outreach discussed how he discovers acquisition targets by scanning broker websites like Flippa, which often feature businesses with affiliate-driven revenue streams.
• Filippo Baratini of Llamafy developed his churn-reduction tool internally for his first SaaS, Sturpy, before packaging it as a separate product to sell to other SaaS companies, creating a new revenue stream from an internal solution.
• Mattia Salvi of Aryel ran lifetime deals through affiliate partners to gain initial traction and build a community of early adopters for his augmented reality marketing platform.
• Emory from Data Anchor detailed that their main go-to-market model is selling through partners, including resellers and MSPs, who earn a perpetual 30-40% commission on the licenses they sell.
• Gabrielle at Doodle explained that much of their traffic is inherently viral, as participants in a scheduled meeting are exposed to the tool, creating a natural referral loop.
• Vic from CrazyLister explained his company grew from $25k MRR to over $85k MRR by leveraging paid acquisition and affiliate partners who promoted their eBay listing tool.
• Adam from Leadberry leveraged the resources of his existing digital agency to fund and market his new SaaS product, using the agency’s client base as a launchpad.
• John from Content Launch secured a white-label partnership deal that committed 700 paid users to his platform before its official launch, providing a significant revenue baseline.
• Mark Abbott of 90.io grew his company by building software for an existing movement of business coaches (EOS), who then became a natural affiliate and reseller channel for the software.
• Anar from Salence.io started with an agency model, which allowed him to identify a multi-channel outreach sequence that became the foundation for his sales automation SaaS.
• Bram Medina of HirePort created a scalable recruiting platform by building a marketplace of independent recruiters, giving them the tools and deal flow they needed to succeed, which in turn grew his business.
• Corey from Aspireship partners with organizations like The Teacher Career Coach to drive candidates to his sales training platform, creating a viral loop within niche professional communities.
• Joe Troyer highlighted the power of affiliate launches, where partners promote a product heavily for a short period, driving a massive influx of customers and revenue.
• Muhammad Ibrahim of Penny.co combines their software with a B2B marketplace, allowing them to capture revenue through both SaaS subscriptions and a take rate on transactions between suppliers and companies.
• Alex at Atta.com is focusing on distribution deals with large marketplaces like GitHub to get his developer productivity tool in front of a massive, relevant audience.
• Yash of GetSorale noted that some of his larger brand customers have expressed interest in becoming angel investors, highlighting how customer relationships can evolve into strategic partnerships.
• Lawrence at Incentify signed a strategic deal with advisory firm Ryan, who also invested $4.3 million, to onboard over 100 of their enterprise customers onto his platform.
• Jonathan at ClipDrop is pursuing white-label partnerships with global payroll companies, allowing them to bundle his video-based talent acquisition tool with their existing offerings.
• Filippo from Llamafy offers a churn-reduction tool that includes features for upselling customers, which can be offered to partners to help them increase their own revenue from the users they refer.
• Gabrielle from Doodle, which has over 200 million annual users, benefits from a natural viral loop where every meeting scheduled exposes new potential users to the platform.
• Connor Lee of Sona used his service-based business, HipLead, to gain deep insights into the problems of B2B SaaS companies, which directly informed the development of his pure-play SaaS product.
• Dale Beaumont leverages his successful live events business, Business Blueprint, to fund and promote his new SaaS platform, Bizversity, turning his event attendees into his first subscribers.
• John Huibin of Content Launch signed a major white-label partnership that guaranteed 700 paid users before the product was even fully launched, de-risking the move from agency to SaaS.

Conclusion

You’ve just learned how top SaaS founders use affiliate marketing not just as a side project, but as a core engine for growth, driving millions in revenue and acquiring thousands of users. By defining a strong commission structure, recruiting the right partners, and leveraging strategic launches, you can turn your biggest fans into your most effective sales team. If you’re ready to put these strategies into action and explore how capital can accelerate your growth without dilution, check out Founderpath to see how you can get funding to scale your own affiliate program.

Founderpath invests in ambitious founders looking to grow fast. Click here to submit a capital request