19 Important Affiliate Marketing Statistics To Know
Understanding the facts and figures behind how affiliate marketing works, will allow you know what you should be doing to increase your affiliate profits. Because of this, we’ve gathered together the 19 most important affiliate marketing statistics that every affiliate marketer should know. If you’re interested in doing affiliate marketing or simply understanding why it’s a great industry to be in, you’ll appreciate the metrics and facts too.
While these affiliate marketing statistics relate to being an affiliate, some of these stats are also applicable to other industries. Feel free to use these facts and figures in your own content or articles, please make sure to refer to us as your source!
General Affiliate Marketing Statistics To Know
Each of the following statistics on affiliate marketing has been either researched independently by ourselves, or by outside sources we’ve referred to for their expertise. Each of these facts & stats will allow give you a better picture on where affiliate marketing is today, and whether or not you should learn more about this growing industry.
1. The affiliate marketing industry is growing steadily every single year and will continue to do so.
All statistics show across the board that affiliate programs and affiliate marketing in general, are on the rise. This is great as it means more people across the world have access to a method of generating income that they didn’t have before.
2. Most people believe that affiliate marketing is a good business practice.
Unlike network marketing, people find affiliate marketing to be a much more ethical and transparent business practice. Whether an affiliate is selling software or some kind of physical product, the average person is okay with being referred to a product or service by another person.
3. Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest businesses to start.
According to our own research, we have found that it is usually easier to start doing affiliate marketing, then nearly any other kind of business. When you factor in the fact that you don’t have to manage all of the same resources as a normal business, you find that being an affiliate marketer is less difficult.
4. People trust affiliates to refer them quality products and services
While sales people are still not trusted very much, you’ll find that affiliate marketers are however. More people then ever before are willing to trust a referral to a product or service from any given ethical affiliate marketer.
5. Affiliate marketing can convert higher then other forms of marketing
According to WordStream, affiliate marketing tends to convert higher then other forms of marketing through the world. This means that it takes less marketing from affiliates to produce the same results as other marketing practices. Email marketing still remains to be the highest converting form of marketing to date, however.
6. Becoming an affiliate requires less resources then starting a “normal” business
While starting a business where you are marketing products as an affiliate for another company, you don’t have to use all of the same resources as a normal business owner. For example, most companies who have affiliates do the upselling, producing of products, and customers support for you. This makes affiliate marketing comparably easier to start then almost any other business model.
7. Affiliate marketing stats show it is the most popular side hustle to start
With Amazon and Walmart starting their own affiliate programs, among many other large corporations doing the same over the years – affiliate marketing is now the most popular side hustle throughout the world. People from all walks of life are looking to become entrepreneurs, and often that seems to be as an affiliate marketer.
Large scale affiliate programs have hundreds of thousands to even possibly millions of affiliates underneath their program. In fact, 1.2% of all websites in the world use Amazon affiliate marketing business practices on their site.
8. Being an affiliate marketer is a completely legal business practice & business model across the world.
Yes, almost every country across the world has allowed and fully support marketing as an affiliate. There are specific affiliate programs that are monitored to make sure they are compliant, otherwise marketers are free to advertise nearly any affiliate program however they want.
Affiliate marketing is entirely legal and should be as it is an ethical business practice.
Affiliate Marketing Market Growth Statistics
The following stats show how the affiliate marketing industry has grown over the years.
9. 8 out of 10 businesses on average use affiliate marketing in some way or another.
Yes! Affiliate marketing is quite popular throughout the world, especially when you consider this amazing fact. When 8 out of 10 businesses are using affiliate marketers to bring in customers for them, you can say that this industry has grown quite rapidly.
10. Affiliate statistics show affiliate marketing is done more in the United States than any other country
The United States is fairly open an accepting of marketing done through the affiliate business practice. So much so, that doing affiliate marketing is more popular in the U.S. then anywhere else in the entire world!
11. 83% of affiliate marketers use affiliate marketing to grow brand awareness quickly
Coupon Affiliates research shows that a brand can quickly grow by using affiliate marketing in combination with their regular marketing. This means that companies can see better brand acknowledgement and recognition over a period of time using affiliates.
12. Spending in the U.S. on affiliate marketing is projected to reach up to $8.2 billion this year, higher than from $5.4 billion in 2017
The growth of this rapidly popular industry is skyrocketing. More businesses are investing in affiliate marketing and believe in can be a great part of growing their profits over the years. Especially as we head into a creator economy, and a vastly growing number of people are starting side hustles or becoming affiliate entrepreneurs.
13. 68% of affiliate influencers use social media platforms to promote products
The influencer industry and affiliate industry have seemingly merged together. The growth of influencers who are affiliates that use social media platform suggests that this trend will continue to escalate over time. This definitely is one of the top affiliate marketing statistics we’ve shared so far.
(According to Similar Web)
Affiliate Marketing Salary & Pay
14. The top 10% of affiliate marketers are earning a full time income, on average over $100,000 per year.
Yes, this is substantial and an important statistic to hear. This means that many people in the affiliate marketing industry are earning generous and above average incomes. Which means that this industry is serving the world and helping people make more money then they would in other jobs or businesses.
This research is reported by Glassdoor, Indeed, and other jobs sites that report affiliate marketing income claims.
15. Affiliate marketing strategies and jobs tend to add revenue to businesses bottom lines
For most businesses that run affiliate programs, they’ve found that this business practice usually adds positive revenue to their bottom lines. TrueList has great market research and they have some accurate data the support this claim. Think about all of the influencer marketing corporations are using to grow their consumer base!
16. Profit margins for being an affiliate are higher then most other industries
After looking into the profits and costs of running an affiliate marketing business .vs. any other business model, a good portion of affiliates experience higher profit margins. Research has shown that there are much less management and physical costs associated with being among marketers who are affiliates.
(Research done by EMoneyPeeps)
17. You can sell anything as an affiliate marketer.
The variety of affiliate industries and affiliate niches is quite expansive. Here’s a list of kinds of affiliate offers and products you can sell…
- Health and wellness
- Courses
- Coaching
- Home goods
- Software
- Services
- Electronics
- Toys
- Investing
- Stationary
- Lighting
- Clothing
- Home improvement
- Pets
- Sports
- Arts & Crafts
- Etc… You name it!
Marketers can choose how and what they sell, whenever they want to sell it!
18. High ticket affiliate marketing is the most profitable form of affiliate marketing
With over 2 decades of testing affiliate marketing offers of every kind, we’ve found that high ticket affiliate marketing is by far the most profitable, and it has the highest profit margins. Why is this? Because by being high ticket and having higher prices, you earn more per sale. This gives high ticket offers an edge over lower ticket ones.
This additional earnings made per sale allow marketers to invest more into their business.
19. The average salary for an affiliate marketing manager is around $79,910 per year.
According to comparably.com, most affiliate marketing managers make around $79,910 per year. However on the extreme end of the earnings spectrum, some affiliate managers make upwards of $200k-$390k per year.
This is relatively an exceptional salary to earn.
If you take a look at the total number of affiliate marketers and then see how many are in each country, you’ll find that the United States by far beats out every other country in the world. Affiliate marketing will continue to grow in the U.S. and other countries.
Why Are These Statistics The Most Important In Affiliate Marketing?
These statistics share the story of the impact affiliate marketing is having throughout the online world. They are important to use to refer to facts about the affiliate industry and how it works as well.
The facts show the honest truth and represent that truth to you. Marketing has been a big part of the global economy and how businesses grow. These affiliate marketing stats show you a piece of this contribution to the world. Many marketers have became an affiliate over time.
Do Affiliate Programs Share Their Affiliate Marketing Statistics?
It depends on the affiliate marketing program. Some affiliate programs will share their total number of affiliates, or income earning from all of their affiliates. Often however, any given affiliate program won’t share publicly each of their affiliates information. That is usually secure and private. It’s good to keep marketers information private.
Other Affiliate Marketing Stats And Facts
There are a variety of other affiliate marketing trends that seem to indicate positive growth for the industry. Here’s a quick list of some facts & figures that may be important to know if you’re involved (or want to get involved) with affiliate marketing.
- Affiliate programs tend to pay a better commission percentage then the sales industry.
- Affiliate marketing, is fun and great for anyone to do!
We hope you enjoyed this article and found it reliable & truthful. While being accurate and an enjoyable read! The data and statistics we’ve shown have been tested and researched.
With our kindest regards,
Jon Weberg
Richard Weberg
