- Introduction to B2B affiliate marketing
- What is affiliate marketing in B2B?
- How does B2B affiliate marketing work?
- How do you set up a B2B affiliate program?
- Successful B2B affiliate marketing cases
- Frequently asked questions about affiliate marketing
Introduction to B2B affiliate marketing
What is B2B affiliate marketing and why is it growing?
B2B affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where companies (merchants) pay external partners (affiliates) a commission for generating leads or sales through their marketing efforts. Unlike traditional advertising, where you pay for exposure regardless of results, in affiliate marketing you only pay when a specific action is completed. This makes it a risk-minimized growth channel that is particularly attractive for B2B companies with limited marketing budgets.
B2B affiliate marketing is experiencing significant growth. According to Forrester Research, B2B affiliate marketing is expected to grow by 10-15 % annually by 2027, driven by increasing digitalization, more specialized B2B influencers, and better tracking technology. Danish B2B companies are discovering that affiliate partners can reach audiences they struggle to attract themselves and that the quality of affiliate-generated leads is often higher than leads from traditional channels because they come with a recommendation from a trusted source.
In this guide, you'll get a complete understanding of how B2B affiliate marketing works, how to set up a profitable program and what best practices drive success. You'll learn from concrete case studies from successful B2B companies and get a step-by-step process for launching your own affiliate program.
What is affiliate marketing in B2B?
What does affiliate marketing mean in a B2B context?
Affiliate marketing in B2B is a partnership-based distribution model in which companies (merchants or advertisers) work with external partners (affiliates or publishers) to promote their products or services for a performance-based commission. Affiliates can be industry blogs, consultancies, software review sites, LinkedIn influencers, or complementary software companies. They promote the merchant's solution to their audience through content, recommendations, or integrations, and receive a commission when their efforts result in a qualified lead or sale.
In B2B, affiliate marketing differs from B2C on several critical dimensions. B2B sales typically have longer sales cycles (often 3-12 months), higher transaction values (often $10,000-1,000,000+), and involve more decision makers. This means that B2B affiliate programs often focus on generating qualified leads rather than direct sales, and that the commission structure needs to account for the longer time from lead to closed deal. B2B affiliates also need to have deeper product understanding and credibility in their niche to influence professional buying decisions.
How does B2B affiliate marketing differ from traditional B2B marketing?
B2B affiliate marketing differs from traditional marketing by its performance-based model and distributed nature. In traditional marketing (e.g. Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, content marketing), you invest resources up-front and hope for a return. You pay for ad impressions, clicks, or time spent creating content, regardless of whether it generates results. In affiliate marketing, you only pay when a specific action is completed (typically a qualified lead or a closed deal), shifting the risk from you to your affiliates.
The distributed nature means that instead of having one centralized marketing team creating all content and running all campaigns, you have a network of partners, each promoting your solution to their unique audience. This gives you access to audiences you couldn't otherwise reach and credibility through third-party recommendations. When a respected industry blogger or consultant recommends your solution, it often has more impact than your own marketing because it is seen as independent and credible.
Affiliate marketing complements rather than replaces traditional marketing. The most successful B2B companies use affiliate marketing as one channel in a diversified marketing mix, where affiliates drive awareness and leads at the top of the funnel, while the company's own sales and marketing team nurture and close deals.
What types of affiliates are there in B2B?
B2B affiliates can be categorized into several types, each with unique strengths and suitability for different products. Content affiliates run blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, or LinkedIn profiles focused on specific B2B topics. They create in-depth guides, product reviews, comparisons, and tutorials that help their audience make purchasing decisions. Examples include industry blogs like “SaaS Marketing Blog” or LinkedIn influencers with large followings in specific niches.
Review sites and comparison sites like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, and Software Advice act as affiliates by listing and reviewing B2B software and services. They generate traffic through SEO on searches like “best CRM software” or “HubSpot alternatives” and earn commission when visitors click through and buy. These platforms have high purchase intent because users actively research solutions.
Complementary software partners (technology partners) integrate your solution into their product and recommend it to their customer base. If you sell a marketing automation platform, a CRM vendor can be an affiliate partner that recommends your solution to customers who need marketing automation. Consultants and agencies (consulting affiliates) implement or recommend your solution as part of their consulting services. A digital marketing consultant can be an affiliate for HubSpot, Ahrefs, and Semrush by recommending these tools to clients and receiving commission.
Influencers and thought leaders in B2B (industry influencers) have built credibility and followings through expertise on LinkedIn, Twitter, or industry events. They can be affiliates by recommending tools they use and believe in. Finally, affiliate networks such as Impact, PartnerStack, or Everflow act as intermediaries between merchants and affiliates, handling tracking, payment, and affiliate recruitment.
How does B2B affiliate marketing work?
What process does a B2B affiliate sale follow from start to finish?
A B2B affiliate sale follows a systematic process that starts with a potential customer discovering your solution through an affiliate and ends with you paying commission to the affiliate after a successful conversion. The process involves several technical components (tracking, attribution) and business agreements (commission structure, payment terms).
The process starts when an affiliate promotes your solution to their audience. This can be through a blog article (“Top 10 marketing automation tools for B2B”), a product review, a competitor comparison, a tutorial video, a webinar, or a direct recommendation on LinkedIn. The affiliate includes a unique affiliate link (or tracking code) in their promotion that identifies that the traffic comes from this particular affiliate.
When a potential customer clicks on the affiliate link, a click event is registered in your affiliate tracking system and a cookie is typically placed in the user's browser. This cookie has a lifetime (cookie duration), often 30-90 days in B2B, because purchasing decisions take time. If the user converts (e.g. signs up for a free trial, books a demo, or buys) within the cookie duration, the affiliate is credited for the conversion.
Your affiliate tracking system detects the conversion and matches it with the correct affiliate. Depending on your commission structure, the commission payable to the affiliate is calculated. If you pay per lead, the commission is typically paid out shortly after lead generation. If you pay per sale, the commission is paid after the deal is closed and possibly after a return period has expired. The affiliate can see their performance (clicks, conversions, commission) in an affiliate dashboard and you can see which affiliates are driving the most value.
How do you track conversions in B2B affiliate marketing?
Tracking in B2B affiliate marketing is more complex than in B2C due to longer sales cycles, multiple touchpoints, and offline components. The most common tracking method is cookie-based tracking, where a unique affiliate link places a cookie in the user's browser when they click. If the user converts within the cookie period, the affiliate is credited. The challenge is that B2B buyers often research on one device (e.g. mobile) and convert on another (e.g. desktop) or use different browsers, which can break cookie tracking.
To deal with this, many B2B companies use server-side tracking or first-party tracking, where conversions are recorded at the server level rather than in the browser. This is more reliable and is not affected by cookie blocking or cross-device behavior. Some companies also use coupon codes as a tracking mechanism, where each affiliate gets unique codes to share with their audience. When a customer uses the code to make a purchase, the affiliate is credited.
In B2B, where sales often involve offline components (e.g. sales meetings, contracts), it's important to have a process to match offline sales with affiliate leads. This can be done by asking new customers how they heard about you or by integrating your CRM (e.g. HubSpot, Salesforce) with your affiliate tracking system so that leads are automatically tagged with affiliate information that follows them throughout the sales funnel.
What commission models are used in B2B affiliate marketing?
B2B affiliate programs typically use one of four commission models, each with pros and cons depending on your business model and sales cycle. Pay-per-lead (PPL) is the most common model in B2B, where affiliates are paid a fixed commission for each qualified lead they generate. A qualified lead can be defined as someone who fills out a demo form, signs up for a free trial, or downloads a whitepaper. PPL commissions typically range from $50-500 per lead depending on lead quality and industry.
Pay-per-sale (PPS) or pay-per-acquisition (PPA) pays affiliates a percentage of the sale price or a fixed commission when a sale closes. This is common for B2B software with shorter sales cycles or lower transaction values. PPS commissions typically range from 10-30 % of first-year value for subscription-based products, or 5-15 % for one-time purchases. The advantage of PPS is that you only pay for actual revenue, but the disadvantage is that affiliates bear more risk because they don't control your sales process.
Recurring commission pays affiliates a percentage of the customer's payments as long as the customer remains active. This is common for SaaS companies and creates strong alignment between you and your affiliates because they have an incentive to refer customers who stay long term. Recurring commissions are typically 10-20 % of monthly or annual subscription and can continue for 12-24 months or for life.
Hybrid models combine elements of the above. For example, you can pay a fixed commission for lead generation plus a bonus if the lead converts to a customer, or a higher commission for the first year plus a lower recurring commission for subsequent years. Hybrid models can maximize both lead volume and lead quality by rewarding affiliates for both.
How do you set up a B2B affiliate program?
What steps should you follow to launch your first affiliate program?
Launching a successful B2B affiliate program requires careful planning and execution across strategy, technology, and recruitment. Follow this step-by-step process to minimize risk and maximize the chance of success.
Step-by-step guide to setting up a B2B affiliate program:
- Define your goals and KPIs - Before you start, be clear about what you want to achieve. Do you want to generate more leads, increase brand awareness, or expand into new markets? Set specific goals like “generate 100 qualified leads per month through affiliates within 6 months” or “achieve 10 % of new customer acquisition through the affiliate channel within 12 months”. Also define which KPIs you want to measure: number of active affiliates, leads per affiliate, conversion rate from affiliate leads, customer acquisition cost (CAC) for the affiliate channel, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Choose your commission structure - Based on your business model, sales cycle, and customer lifetime value, decide which commission model makes sense. If you have a long sales cycle, consider pay-per-lead to make it attractive to affiliates. If you have high customer lifetime value, consider recurring commission to attract quality-conscious affiliates. Benchmark against competitors in your industry to ensure your commission is competitive. Remember to include cookie duration (typically 30-90 days in B2B) and payment terms (typically 30 days after conversion).
- Choose an affiliate tracking platform - You need technology to track clicks, conversions, and commissions. Popular B2B affiliate platforms include PartnerStack (specialized in B2B SaaS), Impact (enterprise-level tracking), Rewardful (simple Stripe integration), FirstPromoter (SaaS-focused), and Tapfiliate (flexible and affordable). Choose based on your tech stack, budget, and need for features like CRM integration, multi-currency support, and fraud detection.
- Create affiliate materials and guidelines - Your affiliates need tools to promote you effectively. Create an affiliate resource page with banner ads in different sizes, product images, logos, email templates, social media posts, and product descriptions. Write clear guidelines on what affiliates can and cannot do (e.g. no brand bidding in Google Ads, no spam, no false claims). The easier you make it for affiliates to promote you, the more they will.
- Recruit your first affiliates - Start with low-hanging fruit: existing customers who love your product, industry influencers you already have relationships with, and complementary software partners. Personalized outreach works best in B2B. Send a personal message explaining why they would be a good fit as an affiliate, what they can earn and how the program works. Possibly offer higher commissions or bonuses to the first few affiliates to build momentum.
- Onboard and support your affiliates - When affiliates sign up, give them a structured onboarding process. Send a welcome email with links to resources, explanation of tracking, and suggestions on how they can promote you. Offer ongoing support through a dedicated affiliate manager, regular newsletters with tips and updates, and a community (e.g. Slack channel) where affiliates can share best practices.
- Optimize based on data - Monitor your affiliate program performance monthly. Which affiliates are driving the most value? Which promotion methods work best? What is the conversion rate from affiliate leads? Use these insights to optimize. Give top-performing affiliates higher commissions or exclusive access to new features. Identify underperforming affiliates and offer support or end the partnership. Test different commission structures and promotional materials to find what drives the best performance.
What criteria should you use to select affiliates?
Choosing the right affiliates is critical to the success of your program. Not every affiliate is a good fit, and working with the wrong ones can damage your brand or waste your resources. Assess potential affiliates on three dimensions: relevance, quality, and reach.
Relevance is about whether the affiliate's audience matches your target audience. If you sell marketing automation to B2B SaaS companies, a blogger who writes about B2B SaaS marketing is highly relevant. A blogger who writes about e-commerce is not. Research the affiliate's content, their audience demographics (often seen through their media kit) and what other products they promote. The better the alignment between their audience and your target audience, the higher the conversion rate will be.
Quality refers to the affiliate's credibility, content standards, and ethics. Read their content to assess whether it's in-depth, well-researched, and helpful, or if it's thin, clickbait-like, and full of affiliate links. Check their domain authority (via Ahrefs or Moz) to see if they have SEO power. Check if they have a history of spam, false claims, or black-hat tactics. Your brand will be associated with your affiliates, so choose partners you are proud to work with.
Reach is all about the size and engagement of their audience. An affiliate with 100,000 followers but low engagement is often less valuable than one with 10,000 highly engaged followers. Look at metrics like blog traffic (via SimilarWeb), LinkedIn engagement (likes, comments), email list size, and YouTube views. But remember, in B2B, quality is more important than quantity. A niche influencer with 5,000 followers who are all decision makers in your target audience can drive more value than a generalist with 100,000 followers.
How do you motivate and support your affiliates to perform better?
Successful affiliate programs are not “set it and forget it”. They require active management and support to keep affiliates motivated and productive. Start with regular communication. Send monthly newsletters to your affiliates with updates on new features, success stories from other affiliates, promotion tips, and performance highlights. This keeps your product top-of-mind and gives affiliates fresh content to share.
Offer tiered commission structures where affiliates can earn higher commissions when they reach specific milestones. For example, you can offer 20 % commission for the first 10 sales, 25 % for 11-50 sales, and 30 % for 50+ sales. This creates incentive to increase your efforts. Also run periodic bonuses or competitions, such as “the affiliate who generates the most leads in Q2 wins an extra bonus of 10,000 DKK.” This creates excitement and short-term motivation.
Give your top-performing affiliates exclusive access or benefits. This could be early access to new features, higher commissions, co-marketing opportunities (e.g. co-hosted webinars), or direct access to your product team for feedback. When affiliates feel valued and like true partners rather than just a source of revenue, they will invest more in promoting you.
Offer hands-on support through a dedicated affiliate manager who can answer questions, help with technical issues, and give promotion advice. Create a resource hub with high-performing content that affiliates can reuse or be inspired by. The easier you make it for affiliates to succeed, the more they will promote you.
Successful B2B affiliate marketing cases
Which companies have had success with B2B affiliate marketing?
Many global B2B companies have built significant parts of their growth on affiliate marketing. HubSpot, one of the world's leading marketing automation platforms, has a comprehensive affiliate program that pays 100 % of the first month's payment or 15 % recurring commission for 12 months. HubSpot's affiliate program is primarily run by digital marketing agencies and consultants who implement HubSpot for their clients and receive ongoing commission. The program generates an estimated 20-30 % of HubSpot's new customer acquisition.
Shopify, although primarily B2C, has a powerful B2B affiliate program aimed at web developers, agencies, and e-commerce consultants. They pay an average of $200 per new customer and their top affiliates earn over $1 million annually. Shopify's success is due to the fact that they have made it extremely easy for affiliates to promote them with extensive resources, high commission, and a 30-day cookie duration.
Ahrefs, a leading SEO tool, has an affiliate program that pays 20 % recurring commission for 24 months. Their program is popular with SEO bloggers, digital marketing agencies, and content creators who write about SEO. Ahrefs invests heavily in supporting their affiliates with dedicated affiliate managers, regular webinars, and high-quality promotional materials. Their affiliate program drives an estimated 15-20 % of new customer acquisition.
ConvertKit, an email marketing platform for creators, has an affiliate program that pays 30 % recurring commission for 24 months. Their program is particularly successful because they target influencers and content creators who use ConvertKit themselves and naturally recommend it to their audience. ConvertKit's affiliate program is so successful that some affiliates earn over $50,000 annually from ConvertKit commissions alone.
What can Danish B2B companies learn from these cases?
These cases illustrate several key principles for successful B2B affiliate marketing. First, high commission is crucial. All of the companies mentioned offer competitive or industry-leading commissions because they understand that affiliates have many options for what they can promote. If your commission is low, affiliates will prioritize other programs. Calculate your customer lifetime value and be generous with commission because the affiliate channel typically has a lower CAC than paid ads.
Secondly, recurring commission is powerful in B2B SaaS. When affiliates know they will receive recurring commission, they have an incentive to refer long-term customers and to help with onboarding and retention. This creates alignment between your goals and your affiliates’ goals. Third, affiliate support is critical. All successful programs invest in dedicated affiliate managers, extensive resources, and ongoing communication. Affiliates are not just a passive distribution channel; they are partners that require nurturing and support.
Fourth, affiliate marketing works best when your product has product-market fit and strong word-of-mouth. If your customers don't love your product, affiliates won't recommend it because it damages their credibility. Make sure your product is so good that people will naturally recommend it before you invest heavily in affiliate marketing. Finally, patience is key. All the companies mentioned took 12-24 months to build their affiliate programs. Start small, learn from what works and scale gradually.
How can small and medium-sized Danish B2B companies get started?
Small and medium-sized Danish B2B companies can't necessarily copy HubSpot or Shopify's approach directly, but can adapt the principles to their scale. Start with a pilot program with 5-10 hand-picked affiliates you already have relationships with. This could be satisfied customers who are willing to recommend you, industry influencers you've networked with, or complementary software partners. Use a simple tracking platform like Rewardful or Tapfiliate that costs $50-200/month and integrates with Stripe or your CRM.
Offer a competitive commission based on your customer lifetime value. If your average customer is worth $50,000 over their lifetime, you can offer $5,000-10,000 commission (10-20 %) and still have a profitable channel. Start with pay-per-lead if your sales cycle is long to make it attractive for affiliates to join without waiting months for commission.
Invest time in creating quality resources for your affiliates. You don't need fancy video ads or professional photoshoots. Start with simple assets like product descriptions, screenshots, case studies, and email templates that affiliates can use. Create a simple affiliate guide that explains how the program works, how they track their performance and when they get paid.
Communicate regularly with your affiliates. Send a monthly email with updates, tips, and recognition of top performers. Be available for questions and feedback. Measure performance carefully and optimize based on data. After 6-12 months, you will have learned enough to scale the program by recruiting more affiliates, increasing commissions for top performers, and automating more of the process.
Frequently asked questions about affiliate marketing
What is the difference between affiliate marketing and influencer marketing?
Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing overlap, but have important differences. Affiliate marketing is performance-based, where partners are paid based on actual results (leads, sales). Influencer marketing typically pays a fixed fee for exposure (e.g. a sponsored Instagram post) regardless of results. In affiliate marketing, the partner bears the risk because they only earn if they drive conversions. In influencer marketing, you pay for reach and awareness, but with no guarantee of ROI.
Many modern collaborations combine both models. You can pay an influencer a small fixed fee plus an affiliate commission for sales they generate. This gives the influencer a base compensation that makes it attractive to join, while you still get performance-based upside. In B2B, the hybrid model is often most effective because B2B influencers (e.g. LinkedIn thought leaders) have smaller followings than B2C influencers, but higher engagement and purchase intent.
How long does it take to see results from an affiliate program?
B2B affiliate programs typically take 6-12 months to build momentum. The first 3 months are spent setting up technology, recruiting the first affiliates and onboarding them. Months 4-6, affiliates start publishing content and driving the first leads, but volume is still low. Months 7-12 see acceleration as more affiliates become active, their content starts to rank in search engines, and word-of-mouth spreads among potential affiliates.
Be patient and focus on the right metrics in the early stages. In the first 3 months measure the number of affiliates recruited and onboarding-completion rate. In months 4-6 measure active affiliates (those who actually promote you) and leads generated. In months 7-12 measure lead quality, conversion rate, and CAC compared to other channels. Many companies give up too early because they expect immediate results. Affiliate marketing is a long-term investment that pays off over time.
How do I avoid affiliate fraud?
Affiliate fraud is a real problem, especially in pay-per-click or pay-per-lead programs. Common fraud tactics include cookie stuffing (placing cookies on users' computers without their knowledge), fake leads (filling out forms with false information), click fraud (generating artificial clicks), and brand bidding (bidding on your brand name in Google Ads to steal credit for conversions that would have happened anyway).
Protect yourself against fraud by using an affiliate platform with built-in fraud detection that identifies suspicious patterns such as abnormally high click-through rates with no conversions or many conversions from the same IP address. Set clear guidelines in your affiliate terms about prohibited tactics such as brand bidding, incentivized traffic, and spam. Monitor your program regularly for anomalies. If an affiliate is suddenly generating 10x more leads than usual, investigate.
Use lead validation to ensure quality. If you pay per lead, implement a process where your sales team qualifies leads before commission is paid out. This can be as simple as calling the lead to confirm they are real and interested. Only pay for leads that meet your quality criteria. In B2B, fraud is less common than in B2C because it's harder to fake a qualified B2B lead, but it's still important to be aware.
Can I run an affiliate program if I have a long sales cycle?
Yes, but it requires the right commission structure. If your sales cycle is 6-12 months, most affiliates won't be willing to wait that long for commission. The solution is to use pay-per-lead instead of pay-per-sale. Pay affiliates a commission when they generate a qualified lead (e.g. a demo booking), not when the sale closes. This gives affiliates immediate (or almost immediate) compensation and makes your program attractive.
Alternatively, you can use a hybrid model where affiliates get a smaller commission on lead generation plus a larger bonus when the lead converts to a customer. For example, 500 kr. per qualified lead plus 5,000 kr. when the lead becomes a customer. This balances affiliates’ need for quick compensation with your need to pay primarily on actual revenue.
Also, make sure your cookie duration is long enough to cover your sales cycle. If your average sales cycle is 6 months, set the cookie duration to 180 days or more. This ensures that affiliates get credit even if the conversion happens long after the initial click.
How do I integrate affiliate marketing with my other marketing channels?
Affiliate marketing works best as part of an integrated marketing mix, not as an isolated channel. Use affiliates to drive awareness and leads at the top of the funnel, while your own content marketing, email nurturing, and sales teams move leads through the funnel. Ensure that affiliate-generated leads get the same high-quality experience as leads from other channels by integrating your affiliate tracking system with your CRM so that leads are automatically tagged and enter relevant nurturing flows.
Avoid cannibalism by setting clear guidelines on what affiliates can and cannot do. Typically, prohibit brand bidding in Google Ads so affiliates don't compete with your own paid search campaigns. Also, prohibit using your brand name in their domain names or social media handles to avoid confusion. Coordinate promotions so affiliates get early access to information about product launches, promotions, or special offers that they can promote to their audience.
Measure attribution correctly by using multi-touch attribution models that recognize that a customer often interacts with multiple channels before converting. If a customer first clicks on an affiliate link, then sees a Google Ad, and finally converts via organic search, which channel gets credit? Affiliate marketing typically uses last-click attribution (the last channel before conversion gets credit), but be aware that this can undervalue affiliates’ role in creating initial awareness.
Do you need help?
InboundCPH helps B2B companies design and implement successful affiliate programs. Contact us for a no-obligation conversation about how we can help you.
