How to build an affiliate partnership that works for your customers and your business
Affiliate marketing can be an effective way to add value for your customers while creating an additional revenue stream for your business.
But the best affiliate partnerships don’t start with commission. They start with a simple question: is this something our customers genuinely need?
If the answer is yes, an affiliate partnership can provide customers with access to a relevant product or service at the right point in their journey, while allowing your business to earn commission on qualifying sales.
For businesses operating in cycling, sport and active travel, insurance is a good example. Customers may need to protect an expensive bicycle, arrange travel insurance for a sporting trip, or make sure they have appropriate cover before travelling overseas to compete.
The opportunity is therefore not simply to advertise another product. It’s to solve a genuine customer need.
Start with your customers
The most successful affiliate relationships are those where there is a natural connection between the products or services being offered.
A bicycle retailer recommending specialist bicycle insurance makes sense. So does a cycling tour operator providing information about travel insurance, or a sports tour company signposting insurance to customers travelling overseas for a tournament.
The closer the relationship between what your customer is already doing and the affiliate product, the more useful that recommendation is likely to be.
Before choosing an affiliate partner, consider:
- Is the product genuinely relevant to our customers?
- Does it complement the service we already provide?
- Is it something customers are likely to need anyway?
- Would we be comfortable introducing the provider to our customers?
- Can we incorporate it naturally into our existing customer journey?
If the answer to those questions is yes, you’ve got the foundations of a useful affiliate partnership.
Don’t just add a banner
One of the most common mistakes with affiliate marketing is simply adding a banner or link to a website and expecting customers to find it.
They might. But there are usually much better opportunities.
Think about when your customer is most likely to need the product.
For a bicycle retailer, that might be immediately after purchasing a new bike.
For a cycling tour company, it could be during the booking process or within pre-departure information.
For a sports tour operator, it might be in a booking confirmation, travel checklist or tournament information pack.
Affiliate links can also be incorporated into relevant website content, FAQs, customer emails and social media.
The objective isn’t to put the affiliate link everywhere. It’s to put useful information where and when customers are most likely to need it.
Make the customer journey simple
Good affiliate marketing should feel like part of the service rather than an interruption to it.
Once a customer follows an affiliate link, the provider should take responsibility for the rest of the journey.
That’s particularly important with products such as insurance.
A Yellow Jersey affiliate, for example, can introduce customers to Yellow Jersey using an approved affiliate link or promotional code. The customer then deals directly with Yellow Jersey to obtain a quote and arrange their insurance.
The affiliate doesn’t need to become an insurance expert or handle the customer’s policy.
That keeps the relationship straightforward: you introduce the customer; the specialist provider looks after the insurance.
Think beyond the first sale
Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be limited to the point of purchase.
Consider the wider customer journey.
A bike shop might introduce bicycle insurance following a bike purchase, but could also include information within servicing communications or customer newsletters.
A tour operator might provide travel insurance information at booking, then remind customers again as part of their pre-departure checklist.
A sporting organisation could include relevant information within event registration, competition guidance or member communications.
These aren’t necessarily additional sales messages. They’re useful opportunities to remind customers about something they may need to arrange.
Affiliate marketing in sports travel
Sports travel provides a particularly good example of where an affiliate partnership can add value.
Someone travelling overseas to compete in a cycling event, play in a football tournament, attend a training camp or take part in another organised sport isn’t necessarily taking a conventional holiday.
Sport may be one of the primary reasons they’re travelling.
That distinction matters when customers are considering travel insurance.
Standard travel insurance may not always provide the cover customers expect when they’re travelling specifically to compete, train, tour or participate in organised sport.
Yellow Jersey Sports Travel Insurance is designed for active travellers, including trips where sport is the primary purpose of travel, with cover available across 500+ sports.
For sports tour operators, clubs, event organisers, training camps, coaching businesses and other organisations whose customers travel to participate in sport, this creates a natural opportunity to provide useful insurance information as part of the travel journey.
The customer can then decide whether the cover is right for them and arrange their insurance directly with Yellow Jersey.
And don’t forget the bike
Bicycle insurance remains another natural affiliate opportunity for businesses operating within cycling.
Customers purchasing bikes, booking cycling holidays, entering events or investing in cycling equipment may also be thinking about protecting their bicycle.
Specialist bicycle insurance can provide cover designed specifically around cyclists and their bikes, including options for theft, accidental damage and riding away from home.
For retailers, cycling organisations, coaches, events, bike-fit businesses and other cycling businesses, providing customers with access to specialist bicycle insurance can therefore complement the services they already provide.
Again, relevance is the key.
The affiliate product should make sense because of what your customer is already doing – not simply because there’s a commission attached to it.
Use content, not just links
A good affiliate partner should help you explain the product rather than simply handing you a tracking link.
Useful content could include website copy, FAQs, email wording, social posts, graphics or information for booking confirmations and customer documentation.
Educational content can be particularly effective.
Instead of simply saying “Buy travel insurance”, for example, an article explaining what customers should consider when arranging insurance for a sports tour can answer a genuine question while naturally directing them towards further information.
Likewise, a bicycle retailer could provide guidance about what to consider when insuring a new bike.
Useful content builds trust. The affiliate relationship then sits naturally within that content.
Track what works
Affiliate links and promotional codes allow sales to be attributed to individual partners.
But don’t just look at the commission earned.
Consider which placements are actually generating engagement.
Perhaps customers respond particularly well to a link in their booking confirmation. Maybe an FAQ page performs better than a website banner. Perhaps a pre-departure email generates the most interest.
Understanding what works allows both the affiliate and provider to improve the partnership over time.
The best affiliate programmes should be collaborative rather than simply “here’s your link – good luck.”
Keep in contact
Affiliate relationships shouldn’t be set up and forgotten.
Products change. Customer behaviour changes. New opportunities emerge.
Regular communication allows both businesses to review what’s working, update marketing materials and identify new opportunities to help customers.
At Yellow Jersey, we work with affiliates across cycling, sport and travel, providing the links, approved messaging and support needed to introduce customers to our insurance products.
Partners can then concentrate on what they do best while Yellow Jersey looks after the insurance journey.
Become a Yellow Jersey affiliate
If your customers cycle or travel to participate in sport, there could be a natural fit with Yellow Jersey.
Our affiliate programme gives businesses the opportunity to introduce their customers to Yellow Jersey Bicycle Insurance and Sports Travel Insurance, while earning commission on qualifying sales.
With Sports Travel Insurance available for 500+ sports, the programme isn’t limited to cycling. We work with businesses and organisations across sport, events, tours and active travel.
We provide the affiliate links, approved messaging and marketing support. Your customers arrange their insurance directly with Yellow Jersey, and you earn commission on qualifying sales.