Discounts, Voucher Codes & Coupons – Is There More To Affiliate Marketing?

If you’ve explored the possibility of affiliate marketing before, you’ll likely have been exposed to a myth or two at some point. As frustrating as this is for us affiliate marketers, we can’t hide from the fact that the channel has historically been shrouded in false claims and misconceptions. Some believe that affiliate marketing is simply a passive income stream requiring no input, while others think it’s solely the domain of influencers and reality stars. Neither of these claims is true and the same applies to perhaps the most pervasive affiliate marketing myth of all: that you cannot work with affiliates without offering discount codes, vouchers, and coupons. 

While tools like discounts and voucher codes are highly popular and incredibly beneficial if you’re looking to instigate huge growth, they do essentially require you to lower the cost of your products and services which can be pretty offputting. Fortunately, the reality is that discount codes are just one part of what is a hugely varied and rewarding marketing channel. There are a huge variety of other types of affiliate partners you can work with to make the channel a success and we’ve created this guide to explain in more detail.

Do I Have To Offer Discounts To Do Affiliate Marketing?

At Fuel, there have been multiple occasions where we’ve onboarded a client – perhaps for a shiny new website or some carefully planned social media or PPC campaigns – and identified that they could have similar success within the affiliate space. All have been excited to listen to our ideas, but many have questioned whether they have to offer discounts to have a slice of the affiliate pie.

The short answer is no – you do not have to offer discount codes to do affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing encompasses a broad spectrum of tactics beyond purchase-driven incentives like these. Think of it like this – the objective of affiliate marketing is to reach audiences that your existing and more traditional marketing audiences may be unable to access. Discounts through cashback sites or targeted at closed user groups are fantastic at achieving this, but so are other kinds of partnerships focused more on content or collaboration. These approaches can do exactly what affiliate marketing sets out to do (add value, build trust and establish authority) without necessarily reducing prices.

That said, we’re not here to disregard the benefits of incorporating discount codes, vouchers or coupons into your affiliate marketing strategy. Whilst always a great way to gain conversions, the right approach to voucher codes can help increase new customer purchases, affect basket values and encourage purchasing of certain products or ranges on a website. Discounts and voucher codes will be here to stay – it’s just important to remember they are not the only affiliate tactic you can deploy.

Alternative Affiliate Marketing Tactics

There are a number of reasons why discount or coupon-driven partnerships may not align with your brand or goals. Perhaps you feel voucher codes would diminish a hard-earned premium brand feel or simply do not have room to play around with your margins in this way. In these circumstances, there are still plenty of affiliate marketing strategies to explore:

Content-Driven Partnerships

Good content is one of the most powerful ways to build relationships with potential customers, educate them on your product or service, and ultimately drive revenue. By forming partnerships with affiliates like bloggers, influencers and more mainstream publications like Good Housekeeping or Men’s Health, you can tap into engaged audiences without taking even a penny off your prices. Whether it’s through detailed product reviews, tutorials or industry insights, these kinds of content-driven affiliate partnerships allow brands to establish credibility while generating high-intent traffic that converts. 

Cause & Charity Driven Partnerships

Increasing numbers of consumers want to purchase from brands that support the causes they care about. Affiliate marketing is a great way to ensure that this happens, as you can partner with affiliates who advocate for charitable initiatives or align with socially responsible causes to create an authentic connection with your audience. This type of partnership can involve donating a portion of each purchase to a charity or may support a cause in another way through alternative social or environmental initiatives – Easyfundraising and Give as you Live are some which have worked particularly well for our clients. 

Loyalty Schemes

If customer retention is a priority for your business, loyalty-based affiliate partnerships can be highly effective. By offering rewards, points, or exclusive perks to customers who return and repurchase, you encourage repeat business and foster long-term relationships. A well-structured loyalty scheme, whether through a platform like Nectar or Perkbox, provides a different kind of incentive to a discount and keeps your customers engaged over a long period of time.

Closed User Groups

Closed user groups are a great way for brands to target specific audiences with offers that they do not want to be used by the general public. This might mean working with a website like Discounts For Teachers which requires a customer to verify they work in a certain field (in this case, teaching) and with that, they get access to an offer or reward. This can be a brilliant way to show your support for Key Workers or young people looking to find their way in the world, with the chance of creating loyalty to your brand in the long run that sees them return again and again.

CSS Partners 

CSS partners like ShopForward and Redbrain can be a great addition to your affiliate programme, using their expertise to bring customers to your website on a CPC basis but using the commission they earn from the sales to cover the cost of those clicks. Whether using a CSS partner to cover your whole CPC strategy or to support your existing one, we have found some great benefits in working with these types of partners.

Cashback

A staple of the affiliate channel and with good reason, cashback sites like TopCashback and Quidco continue to be hugely popular with shoppers as they build up their cashback across a plethora of brands to either withdraw as a cash amount or as vouchers to use for shopping elsewhere. Seeing a guaranteed percentage of your basket value come back to you as a reward is a great incentive for shoppers and, for challenger brands, it can be a superb way to position yourself against the established names in your sector and offer an aggressive commission rate to gain market share.

How To Choose The Right Affiliate Strategy

Ultimately, the best affiliate marketing strategy will be one that matches your business goals. Sometimes this will involve partnering with discount networks and offering coupon-related incentives, but this won’t always be the right way to reach new audiences. If cutting prices with voucher and discount codes doesn’t align with your brand, that’s okay! There are still plenty of other areas of affiliate marketing to explore from content partnerships to loyalty schemes. 

At Fuel, we’re on hand to help you find an affiliate marketing mix that works for you. We’ve got experience working across the entire affiliate marketing space and offer a comprehensive and risk-free affiliate programme management service so that you can maximise the opportunities available in this space. To find out more, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email – seve@fuel-growth.com – or contact us online.