ConvertKit gets 1/3 revenue from affiliates

Their total revenue is $33M ARR

ConvertKit makes $33m annually and a THIRD of their revenue comes from affiliates (like Pat Flynn).

Here are 6 lessons from their former affiliate manager:

1. Properly onboard affiliates. It could be via a simple email onboarding campaign or using a knowledge management/training tool or even 1:1 calls with top affiliates.

2. Really think about your terms of service for affiliates.

3. Treat affiliate relationships as any human to human relationship – Send them gifts on Christmas, meet them in person and understand their business to help them sell your software better and make this partnership profitable.

4. Events are a great medium to recruit new affiliates. ConvertKit sponsors a couple of events every year for this specifically.

5. To hire top affiliates like Pat Flynn, rope in your CEO to do the outreach – It’s much easier to convince a top affiliate when a company head reaches out.

6. Webinars & live workshops are quite successful for affiliates. You can customise them according to the audience, like a webinar for email marketing for new moms. These workshops get hundreds of trials by the hour and they can be tailored to suit a specific audience.